Quick Summary: Capital Ships From a Naval Perspective

[Sprolf]

Not ranting but I just feel it should be known that Sea Navies and Space Navies can't feasibly be compared beyond carrying familiar name designations and classes. People are comfortable with familiar :)

Not exactly, no.
I still feel that we can still draw a few minor or superficial parallels between ship capabilities and whatnot.

Battleship? Moves slow and pummels big things.
Destroyer? Blows smaller things up to save battleships.
Torpedo Boat (or bomber in Freelancer's case): Small, but designed to hit the big boys hard.

Et cetera.

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[ProwlerPC]

This link has been a major reference for me but as for anything from wikipedia you may get sidetracked and become an expert on the mating pattern of Madagascar Leaf Bugs if you click on the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Maritim...f-Defense_Force

Good luck....

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[darthbeck]

[topic]

this is quite amusing and informitive.

but you forgot missile destroyers.
[/tpoic]
you win.

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<span style="font-family:Century Gothic">Violence is Golden</span>

[Sprolf]

Missile Destroyers = Cruiser or Frigate, I presume.
At least in this simplistic and apparently inaccurate scheme.

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[Galacius]

I wish we had frigates, it would make things grand.

[Jinx]

personally i like the "master of orion III" classifications best...

fighters/bombers: only deployed by capital warships - they have no strategical use, cause their range is limited to quick strike or escort duty close to the parent ships.

size is usually something between 6 - 20 meters in length
has atmospheric flight capabilities

corvettes: ships of around the size of a small 20th century destroyer. it has point defense weapons against fighters and bombers and is used as planetary strike craft and escort. it has no weapons against anything larger than other corvettes but can protect a larger ship from a much larger amount of fighters/bombers

size is usually something around 50 meters in length
has atmospheric flight capabilities

destroyers: capital warships that are twice the size of corvettes and make use of multiple small and a few medium weapons. - destroyers act as patrol ships and can act on their own. they still need either fighter escorts or corvettes.

size is usually around 50-100 meters in length
has atmospheric flight capabilities

frigates: ( the largest ships capable of atmospheric flight ) used for heavy planetary strikes, troop transport and bridgehead. they are not so much battleready as destroyers. they are just as well armed as destroyers but slower, bigger and more vulnerable in a whole. - yet they are valuable for planetary invasions.

size is usually around 100-150 meters in length
has atmospheric flight capabilities

cruisers: these are huge capital warships. they have and equal amount of small, medium and large weapons and can damage or destroy anything. - they are the backbone of any fleet. against weaker enemies, they close up quickly - against heavier opponents they can use their long range weapons.

size is usually around 500 meters in length

battleships: these ships are large. they have a lot more armour than cruisers, but sacrifice mobility. they are mainly used for major space blockades or ambushes. - they pack countless medium and large weapons but lack small pd weapons. - battleships usually appear escorted by cruisers and are able to commit orbital bombardements against a planet.

size of battleships is four times larger than cruisers ( like 2000 meters in length )

dreadnoughts: are larger battleships. they have more large weapons than medium weapons but their purpose is similar. dreadnoughts are flying cities that act as headquarters and are mainly used defensivly or to break up stalemate battlelines.

dreadnoughts are twice the size of battleships ( like 4000 meters in length )

behemoth: these are rare flagships that mostly pack large weapons and maybe 1 or 2 very large weapons like beams that can destroy an entire planet. behemoth are meant to be jacks of all traits - acting like dreadnoughts and their escorts included. they fulfil the role well - or even better, but are more than ten times more expensive to build and so are usually not deployed in any larger number than absolutely necessary as their maintenance cost is also astronomical.

behemoths are usually four times the size of dreadnoughts ( like 16 km in length )

leviathan: the largest shiphulls are presitigous ships, flagships so expensive that only large empires can afford them. they are larger brothers of behemoths even - but so expensive that one can hardly afford to actually put them into a real combat. their main purpose is to scare the enemy into not even attempting to attack the places the leviathans are deployed. - they pack enough firepower to eradicate several fleets on their own - but sadly they also cost that much.

leviathans are four times the size of behemoths. ( around 54 km in length )



thats the MoO III ( slightly modded ) balance - which is pretty good. - but then, you get fleet battles of several hundred ships there - so its not hard to make such a balance.

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Shipdesigns made for DiscoveryGC

[Sprolf]

That is a good classification for space ships, you're right.

My only thoughts are that the Cruisers are off.
Cruisers should be like very small behemoths - they can act alone and can fight any type of enemy that's reasonably sized in comparison. That's their traditional role, any way.


But, other than that, that's a great system.
Thanks.

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[Varyag]

I disagree with the battle cruiser & dread descriptions.

They had bs guns with cruiser armor. the reason they died to bs because they would more likely to break in half on the first salvo then fight back.

Later Dreads were fast as hell. The Iowa class can do over 40mph.

Rest was good.

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"I looked up and all I saw was green death"

[Sprolf]

I disagree with the battle cruiser & dread descriptions.

They had bs guns with cruiser armor. the reason they died to bs because they would more likely to break in half on the first salvo then fight back.

Later Dreads were fast as hell. The Iowa class can do over 40mph.

Rest was good.

I noted that Dreadnoughts fixed the speed problem.


I'll edit the battlecruiser part to make the meaning less opaque.

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