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[Culise]

If you don't keep your starmap neatly ordered the Communists win. Especially if you're one of those traitors who just drops systems everywhere instead of snapping them to a grid.

Bah, we SPEHSE COMMUNISTS believe in the value of a highly ordered society to go with regimented economy.  We are perfectly willing to completely reorganize the entire star map with every cross-jump loop that's closed, even if it requires some careful finagling.  It's those darned reactionaries that believe disorder is somehow worthwhile.

Any rate, since I said I would do so earlier, here are my survey ships.  I mentioned these are a bit higher-tech than my usual first designs; that's usually because I start expanding in the Nuclear Pulse era rather than the Ion era of this game.  They should be a fair match for most players' early games, though, especially if you start as a TN power instead of conventional. 

Spoiler: Survey Corps, Lerosian Union (click to show/hide)

Both the Astéri and Planítis variants of the Antikytheria class are designed for long-term deployments of 5 years.  Both ships utilize IDC-300A engines, denoting Ion Drive Commercial engines outputting 300 power (50 HS/2500 tons), A-variant (in this case, specialized for 35% of the thermal footprint of the base design).  The ships are military designs due to the grav sensors on the A-variant, the 250-ton active sensors (TMS A105-R150), and the military jump drives, however.  While the two are not directly compatible, the "baseline" Antikytheria class below is utilized at the shipyards as it is cross-compatible with both.  That is, the refit costs to create an A or a P from the Antikytheria is 116.25, less than 10% the total build cost of 1401.85 BP for the Antikytheria; this contrasts favorably with the 500 BP needed to go directly from A to P or vice versa, which is over half the cost of either of those variants.  In other words, a shipyard tooled for Antikytheria can build both the Antikytheria-A and Antikytheria-P, while a shipyard tooled for either an A or a P would be stuck with only that one design.

Antikythera-P class Survey Ship    6,300 tons     146 Crew     967.65 BP      TCS 126  TH 105  EM 0
2380 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1-30     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/11/0/4     Damage Control Rating 6     PPV 0
Maint Life 4.7 Years     MSP 576    AFR 52%    IFR 0.7%    1YR 43    5YR 639    Max Repair 131.25 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months    Spare Berths 0   

Markezinis Heavy Industries JDM-6400EX     Max Ship Size 6400 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Markezinis Heavy Industries IDC-300A (1)    Power 300    Fuel Use 4.42%    Signature 105    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 323.1 billion km   (1571 days at full power)

Melas Orbital Systems TMS A105-R150 (1)     GPS 15750     Range 141.5m km    Resolution 150
Melas Orbital Systems RCT-A8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km
Melas Orbital Systems RCE-A11 (1)     Sensitivity 11     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  11m km
Geological Survey Sensors (4)   4 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Antikythera-A class Survey Ship    6,300 tons     146 Crew     967.65 BP      TCS 126  TH 105  EM 0
2380 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1-30     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/11/4/0     Damage Control Rating 6     PPV 0
Maint Life 4.7 Years     MSP 576    AFR 52%    IFR 0.7%    1YR 43    5YR 639    Max Repair 131.25 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months    Spare Berths 0   

Markezinis Heavy Industries JDM-6400EX     Max Ship Size 6400 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Markezinis Heavy Industries IDC-300A (1)    Power 300    Fuel Use 4.42%    Signature 105    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 323.1 billion km   (1571 days at full power)

Melas Orbital Systems TMS A105-R150 (1)     GPS 15750     Range 141.5m km    Resolution 150
Melas Orbital Systems RCT-A8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km
Melas Orbital Systems RCE-A11 (1)     Sensitivity 11     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  11m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (4)   4 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Antikythera class Survey Ship    7,450 tons     186 Crew     1401.85 BP      TCS 149  TH 105  EM 0
2013 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1-33     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/11/4/4     Damage Control Rating 6     PPV 0
Maint Life 4.33 Years     MSP 706    AFR 74%    IFR 1%    1YR 61    5YR 908    Max Repair 131.25 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months    Spare Berths 0   

Markezinis Heavy Industries JDM-6400EX     Max Ship Size 6400 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Markezinis Heavy Industries IDC-300A (1)    Power 300    Fuel Use 4.42%    Signature 105    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 273.3 billion km   (1571 days at full power)

Melas Orbital Systems TMS A105-R150 (1)     GPS 15750     Range 141.5m km    Resolution 150
Melas Orbital Systems RCT-A8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km
Melas Orbital Systems RCE-A11 (1)     Sensitivity 11     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  11m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (4)   4 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (4)   4 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

And since we're talking missiles, here's the main missile class for the Lerosian Union.  It has yet to be fired at any targets in anger (in part because there are no military ships that are capable of firing it in active commission at the moment), and its range is a bit low for my tastes, but it's decent for Ion-level tech.  If my chances to hit seem to have been forced a little high, it's likely because I designed this ship after encountering my first hostile enemies, who are using ships capable of over 7000 km/s.  The highest speeds I've encountered from any NPR peers has been less than 2000 km/s, which makes these a bit over-engineered for any fights against equals. 

Spoiler: ASR-1 Scutari (click to show/hide)

Missile Size: 6 MSP  (0.3 HS)     Warhead: 9    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 17
Speed: 28000 km/s    Engine Endurance: 43 minutes   Range: 72.2m km
Cost Per Missile: 5.214
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 476%   3k km/s 153%   5k km/s 95.2%   10k km/s 47.6%
Materials Required:    2.25x Tritanium   1.074x Gallicite   Fuel x1250

One thing I will note for missiles is that optimization typically calls for your warhead being an even square of your desired penetration.  Due to the penetration profile of missile impacts being an even pyramid, penetrating one armor level requires a warhead power of 1; penetrating 2 armor levels requires warhead power 4; penetrating 3 requires 9; and penetrating 4 requires 16.  A warhead of 18 won't penetrate any further than a warhead of 16 even though it destroys two more armor cells, and a warhead of 80 will rip through eight levels of armor, but it could penetrate a ninth if only it were increased by 1 to 81. 

EDIT:

Spoiler: If it helps to visualize this, here's how missiles penetrate (click to show/hide)

Power 1 warhead (1)

X

Power 4 warhead (3+1)

X	X	X
	X

Power 9 warhead (5+3+1)

X	X	X	X	X
	X	X	X
		X

Power 16 warhead (7+5+3+1)

X	X	X	X	X	X	X
	X	X	X	X	X
		X	X	X
			X

[Kanil]

If you don't keep your starmap neatly ordered the Communists win. Especially if you're one of those traitors who just drops systems everywhere instead of snapping them to a grid.

Uuuuh... 

Spoiler: I'm no commie! (click to show/hide)

A tastefully arranged starmap, if there ever was one. Large grids are so boring and lifeless...

[forsaken1111]

You guys arrange your systems? Mine are all piled on top of Sol

[Dorsidwarf]

I can't see how to arrange mine.

[coleslaw35]

I can't see how to arrange mine.

Click and drag while shift-clicking. Make sure to save the positions (Under the Sys Pos tab on the system map screen) once you've got them where you like them or else the system map will erase their locations when you close it and you'll be left with the system pile again.

[Raddish]

Staaaarmap

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I am currently in two wars with alien civilisations. 

Generally they have not been a threat to my fleet as of yet but they did a number on a frontier colony before my fleet could get there.  The battle of Giclas 99-49 lost me a few terraformers and a couple of survey vessels.

[iceball3]

How many turrets/CIWS would you recommend per ship? Or for one ship? Relative to missiles/enemy ships of course.

Situationally dependent. To elaborate, a single ship with (non CIWS) turrets can protect all ships in it's task group (even location? I need to check this) using the Final Fire PD mode. So you could get a ship with 20 dual gauss turrets and set it to final fire point defense, and it should provide a significant bulwark against any missiles that aren't  bomb-boosted x-rays.

[Dorsidwarf]

Staaaarmap

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I am currently in two wars with alien civilisations. 

Generally they have not been a threat to my fleet as of yet but they did a number on a frontier colony before my fleet could get there.  The battle of Giclas 99-49 lost me a few terraformers and a couple of survey vessels.

I think you have some ayy on your sol system there.

[iceball3]

Staaaarmap

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I am currently in two wars with alien civilisations. 

Generally they have not been a threat to my fleet as of yet but they did a number on a frontier colony before my fleet could get there.  The battle of Giclas 99-49 lost me a few terraformers and a couple of survey vessels.

I think you have some ayy on your sol system there.

Bottom left icon? I'm 99% sure that's a shipyard.

[coleslaw35]

What exactly influences the modification/build rate of shipyards? It seems like the shipyards on Luna are much slower at building, refitting, etc. than the shipyards at Earth. Is there a way to improve modification rate outside the thing you can research?

[Rince Wind]

Build rate is influenced by the gouveneur if he has the shipbuilding bonus. Other than that it depends on the size of the shipyard, with diminishing returns, iirc (a large shipyard can build a ship faster than one where it barely fits in a slipway). The more slipways you have on a yard the longer it takes to enlarge them.

There is probably something else I forgot.

[coleslaw35]

Build rate is influenced by the gouveneur if he has the shipbuilding bonus. Other than that it depends on the size of the shipyard, with diminishing returns, iirc (a large shipyard can build a ship faster than one where it barely fits in a slipway). The more slipways you have on a yard the longer it takes to enlarge them.

There is probably something else I forgot.

Is there a downside to increasing the capacity of a shipyard? For example, does it cost more to retool a shipyard with a capacity of 100,000 than it does to retool one with a capacity of 10,000?

[Flying Dice]

Your Shipbuilding Rate tech influences how quickly ships are produced. Shipyard Operations techs reduce the cost and time of all expansions/alterations to the shipyards themselves. I'd assume that if you've stuck a bunch of shipyards in orbit of Luna, you probably don't have sufficient population to fully staff them and are incurring a penalty to your manufacturing efficiency.

Larger slipways = more time and cost to add additional slipways; more slipways = more time and cost to expand their size.

Staaaarmap

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I am currently in two wars with alien civilisations. 

Generally they have not been a threat to my fleet as of yet but they did a number on a frontier colony before my fleet could get there.  The battle of Giclas 99-49 lost me a few terraformers and a couple of survey vessels.

I think you have some ayy on your sol system there.

Bottom left icon? I'm 99% sure that's a shipyard.

Yep, that's the shipyard icon.

Spoiler: Still sorta bottlenecked (click to show/hide)

[Chiefwaffles]

How do I encourage a Shipping Line to build more freighters? I only have one (which makes a small enough profit so if I want it to make anything more, I usually have to subsidize it) and they keep on investing their money on colony ships. Considering the low amount of infrastructure being brought to Venus, the colony ships are mostly useless. And they're also just starting to scrap their freighters due to old age and aren't replacing them.
If I subsidize the Line enough so they can buy new ships, they just buy more colony ships.

[coleslaw35]

How do I encourage a Shipping Line to build more freighters? I only have one (which makes a small enough profit so if I want it to make anything more, I usually have to subsidize it) and they keep on investing their money on colony ships. Considering the low amount of infrastructure being brought to Venus, the colony ships are mostly useless. And they're also just starting to scrap their freighters due to old age and aren't replacing them.
If I subsidize the Line enough so they can buy new ships, they just buy more colony ships.

First off, it isn't possible to have shipping lines build particular kinds of ships, unfortunately. You can only get them to possibly build more by, as you already know, subsidizing them, and even then they may not build freighters.

Second of all, a colony on Venus? Pardon me for asking, but why? You're not going to be able to have anyone work any terraformers because the colony cost is so high that pretty much 100% of the population will be in the Agricultural and Environmental sector, leaving you little to no manpower in the Manufacturing sector (which is where terraformers get their workers, I believe). Besides, it'd take many, many decades to terraform Venus due to the high pressure and heat.

I'd assume that if you've stuck a bunch of shipyards in orbit of Luna, you probably don't have sufficient population to fully staff them and are incurring a penalty to your manufacturing efficiency.

Nope. Got plenty of people on the moon. In fact, they built their own shipyards. I'm spamming all kinds of installations just to try and exploit the massive manpower pool in the manufacturing sector.

Spoiler: See for yourself (click to show/hide)

Now, I DO have a debuff to my political stability modifier, which I'm not really sure why. I have troops there, so they SHOULD be countering any unrest increases despite my lack of protection. (I was planning on building a fleet once I got the next laser tech, which was a few years off at the time, but now only a few months away.)