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[RAM]

Huh... It can carry 2 fighters and launch 4. Well, it'll still be useful later when we have smaller fighters.

Honestly, feels a bit disappointing, it'll help, no doubt, but lacks any real support facilities and has no amrament of its own. Still a vast improvement over sending our shuttles out in front...

Well, there is only one realy option at this point, much as I hate to suggest it...
"Songbird Banshee" Radar-guided missiles.
Learning from our fighters, we have small wings running the length of their second-stage to support atmospheric flight.
They have an initial stage booster with an inverted tank, with the jets emerging from little wings just in front of the centre-of-mass, to prevent the missiles from tumbling due to the push all coming from the back and thus throwing it off if there is even the slightest hint of an imbalance in the thrust. This massively saves on fuel in non-atmospheric conditions because you don't have to constantly correct for tumbling.
The warhead is advanced sticky thermite based upon our rocket fuel with a small rocket-jet behind it to ignite and spread it around. This will prove especially potent against depressurisation, as large amounts of oxygen are forced through any breaches they will act as an intense, albeit brief, oxygen injection, producing an effect similar to a blast furnace, setting fire to the target's metallic components to rapidly expand any holes and weaken the target's structure by heat-softening it. Of course, with a bit of luck it will splash against a planet's surface and spread around an area when used against ground opposition.
The radar guidance is mounted in the wings to shift the centre-of-mass back and keep the warhead clear.
The second(final) stage has a shared fuel-tank between steering thrusters in front of the wings and propulsion thrusters at the rear.

... Overengineered?

"God with a Machine" manufactured proto-mind twins
By removing the human element we have reduced the need for access spaces, safety-margins, and limitation on field-strength. This allows our fusion generator to operate at a reduced size, with more intense function, and a more reliable cutoff when the energy field becomes problematic. We hopethat the twins will keep an eye upon one another to ensure that they do not suffer from fatigue or isolation, although they have access to communication channels, are are extremely simple, only designed to be capable of monitoring systems and maintaining their operation within acceptable parameters. There is very little cross-referencing or prediction, so their intellectual needs are not expected to be significant, even if the supervising engineers would spend all day chatting to them if they could...

1- Metallic hydrogen Superconductors: helmacon | http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=164126.msg7460576#msg7460576
0- "Songbird Banshee" Radar-guided missiles:  | http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=164126.msg7460601#msg7460601
0- "God with a Machine" manufactured proto-mind twins":  | http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=164126.msg7460601#msg7460601

[helmacon]

Superconductors are super doable in a revision. We already know how to make them (cause we have done it IRL) so all we have to do is scale up the production to usable quantities. Very doable with a revision.

And I'm just gonna have to say this. You can fiddle around with the starting tech all you want, but until you have some groundwork you can't actualy make anything all that useful. So far, all we have managed to do is create a regular old rifle, and a pack of suicide bombers.
Clearly, the enemy has laid some groundwork at some point, because they have fucking Missile rifles. That's something we can't even counter with our current options.

If we get superconductors I already have some design ideas for magnetic reactive armor that would help counter explosives (though less so with regular ammunition) and transitions nicely into power armor. I also have some tentative ideas for High sensitivity energy sensors using superconductors, not to mention it would let us make all our electronic equipment more efficient and smaller because it would be more efficient. But instead we are gonna stick a radar on a missile. After 3 fucking trys.

[chubby2man]

I don't understand how it's so hard for us to get any sensor suites or radar... or anything really. That's kind of disappointing.
+1 superconductors
Actually, lets try to revise the Venture to be more like the original design, specifically adding in 4 missile launchers, and a active sensor suite using radar technology to guide our rockets. The carrying capacity is fine for now, it can transport a unit and weapons.

I like the superconductors, but lets incorporate into a design so its not entirely theoretical like our "fusion engine"

The missile will be my second choice if no one else takes a revised Venture, but I just don't think we have an effective means of delivering it right now. Our fighters are pretty shoddy, and could be torn up easily by their bolters, especially if they were put in a turret on a ship.

[RAM]

We already have some groundwork for the missiles, and they would multiply our space-combat.

[Chiefwaffles]

Radar is possible but it wasn't specified in the design and instead it mentioned intercepting enemy radio signals to locate them. The A-ASF-8 doesn't have a radar primarily because of its rolls. It's just a low priority by default and thus bad rolls tend to affect radar first.
Including radar in a revision would give plenty of bonuses to it, as would radar. By themselves, they're simple.

And retrying radar missiles (that was the last one you tried, right?) would definitely be much easier this time, because of experience from your last attempt(s).

TL;DR: Radar (and to a lesser degree, radio) are automatically low priority in designs unless otherwise stated.

[Doubloon-Seven]

Man, we really are having no luck here.

[Chiefwaffles]

To be clear:
The number one innovation of the Venture-Class is the launch bays, which you can now put onto any future vessel or other non-vessel. I felt this was worth a 3 in effectiveness, because it should massively improve combat performance.

I must have understated this, but the ITC's slow deployment of A-ASF-8's was a huge crutch. Last combat phase, the primary reason for ITC #2's destruction was its slow deployment of fighters. By the time it started deploying fighters, crew from the surviving A-ASF-8s report that Moerth's warship was already making adjustments to face the ITC. The Venture-Class's ability to deploy fighters quickly is a huge improvement on the ITC.

[chubby2man]

To be clear:
The number one innovation of the Venture-Class is the launch bays, which you can now put onto any future vessel or other non-vessel. I felt this was worth a 3 in effectiveness, because it should massively improve combat performance.

I must have understated this, but the ITC's slow deployment of A-ASF-8's was a huge crutch. Last combat phase, the primary reason for ITC #2's destruction was its slow deployment of fighters. By the time it started deploying fighters, crew from the surviving A-ASF-8s report that Moerth's warship was already making adjustments to face the ITC. The Venture-Class's ability to deploy fighters quickly is a huge improvement on the ITC.

Okay, that makes sense. I feel the best choice would be either to revise the Venture to either add in missile launchers and the sensor suite to locate and target weapons, or to revise the A-ASF-8 to the A-ASF-9 and make it less shoddy in some way, probably by adding sensors so we can aim our weapons.

[helmacon]

I would like to add that having access to solid hydrogen at room temp is a huge boost to working with fusion, and even a good step towards cold fusion.

Just another reason to vote superconductors.

[RAM]

I would like to remind everyone that our only primary means of space combat is unguided missiles. We need to get closeand hope that they don't invent the ability to dodge. If we want to gain anything from this turn at all, then we need to either have opposition that cannot defend themselves, or upgrade our weapons to be able to fight something that can defend themselves. I am optimistic that they will not have a combat vessel next turn, but I would not want to rely upon that.

[Happerry]

Honestly the Songbird looks over-engineered to me, but I really think the most effective thing we can do right now is make it so that our missiles can actually be guided instead of being dumbfire. So i'm going to make a separate vote on just upgrading with radar guidance without all the other stuff.

1- Metallic hydrogen Superconductors: helmacon | http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=164126.msg7460576#msg7460576
0- "Songbird Banshee" Radar-guided missiles: | http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=164126.msg7460601#msg7460601
0- "God with a Machine" manufactured proto-mind twins":  | http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=164126.msg7460601#msg7460601
1- Upgrade our Missiles with Radar Guidance Already: Happerry

[Chiefwaffles]

Going to need some more consensus; Moerth's already decided and it's just Amaok that I'm waiting for to do the revision update now.

[VoidSlayer]

Radar guided missiles.

1- Metallic hydrogen Superconductors: helmacon | http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=164126.msg7460576#msg7460576
0- "Songbird Banshee" Radar-guided missiles: | http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=164126.msg7460601#msg7460601
0- "God with a Machine" manufactured proto-mind twins":  | http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=164126.msg7460601#msg7460601
2- Upgrade our Missiles with Radar Guidance Already: Happerry, voidslayer

[helmacon]

Guys... We only have 3 tiny strike craft that can even use the missiles. If they didn't build a new war ship this turn, then we don't need smart middles to kill their stuff. If they did build a new warship, I doubt 3 tiny strike craft could kill it. Even with guided missiles. They already have the experience of building one war ship, (that killed half our fighters) so a new one would demolish us.

We can revise missiles next turn. I'll even vote for it once we have superconductors. But we need to do superconductors thus turn. Please.

[RAM]

Their warship only killed one fighter, or maybe two? I think ti was one, and checking is something that someone who wasn't crippling lazy would do. We lost the rest when they blew up our transport. Also, we want to blow up their transports, and our transports can carry fighters, and we have enough for all of our transports, so... It would see use this turn?