Thanks for the input, all of you.
And now, here's a rundown on what's actually there, and how I've tried to balance them.
(Note: All deflectors have been modified to give a slightly less ugly effect. It looks whitish, or rose colored, but it's not an Aegis. In fact, there are no Aegis on this fleet Just in case the screenshots lead to any confusion.)
The Lancer:
The Lancers are the first ship I made, and the least original; they're inspired (read: copied from) the Vaygr Lance Fighters from Homeworld 2. They're small, light and fast, and tend to serve the same function as the Zelus. The only real difference is that instead of the Zelus's habit of brutally chewing through ship sections like a meat grinder, the Lancers railgun is more optimized for penetration. So ships under attack from a couple of them tend to get their cores popped or their weapons declawed instead of being torn apart limb from limb.
I originally had a deflector on it instead of a flak gun, but it seemed a little vicious to me.
Loadout:
Railgun (Modded for less damage, faster firing rate, red beam)
Gatling Pulse (Modded for accuracy, slightly less damage)
Flak Gun (Unmodified)
HP: 220
The Kukri:
I wanted the Kukri to be a standard "workhorse" sort of cruiser, sturdy and packing a modicum of firepower. Vaguely analogous to the Hestia in function. It's a bit tougher, incorporating some ablative bits (generally, any round sections on my ships are armor, and any modules will be parented to a flatter, structural section) and some very decent point defenses. When left to it's own devices, it's very good at kiting single ships along, chewing into them with the railgun until they eventually pop, but tends to fare less well against groups that can flank it effectively. The main con is that it doesn't pack very much firepower, but there are other ships for that.
Loadout:
Railgun (Unmodified)
Gatling Blaster (Unmodified)
Blaster (Unmodified)
Flak Gun 3x (Unmodified)
Deflector
HP 300
The Arbalest:
Speaking of firepower, I realized after a bit that my fleet had a very defensive cast. So I built something with guns. I built a basic chassis, stuck on one of the Mega Beam turrets from the Moros (see below), then fiddled about with lasers until I got something that could pack a punch without being absurd. It's got no deflectors and only a token point defense, but I couldn't bring myself to build a truly fragile ship. Instead, it's got proper armor sections protecting the weapons and core, even if they fall apart rather quickly without being bolstered by deflectors.
Loadout:
Mega Beam (Modified for accuracy, color)
Mining Beam (Modified for multiple burst, slightly less power, color)
Beamer x2 (Modified for color)
Particle Gun x2(Unmodified)
HP: 280
The Hatchet:
This support cruiser's purpose is a bit obscure. It's got some point defenses to add to the general mass of flak fire that this fleet puts out, and an impeder to help make that fire more effective. But it's primary purpose is in the gun. It's a modified Gatling Pulse, with some variations: It fires three times as many projectiles, has a much larger clip, and does barely any damage. The intent is to overload point defense and impeder systems by giving them too many targets to deal with, letting properly damaging salvoes from other ships get through.
The Particle Guns on the prow were originally flak cannons, but I changed them to offer the ship some little firepower if they were turned to offensive mode. But since the AI isn't bright enough to do that, I may just put Flaks back on and make the scattergun more powerful.
And this ship doesn't have the signature curved armor plates of this fleet on the prow, but it's got enough deflectors to give it some staying power.
Loadout:
Gatling Pulse (Modified for low damage, large clip, x3 burst, color)
Particle Gun x4 (Umodified)
Deflector x2
The Diades:
This is the second ship I made, once I got the relatively simple Lancer out of the way. What you see here is, I think, either it's third or fourth incarnation . . . the original was a sort of "Supercruiser," and I scaled it back significantly after it out-dueled a Flagship formation.
As it is, it's a hard-shelled, defensive ship. Not a lot of firepower (anymore), but some decent armor and enough deflectors to cover most of it. I'm considering putting a third deflector back on, to make it suit it's intended purpose better . . . this ship and the Sih (below) are going to get another overhaul before I'm happy with them. I think I'll make it bigger, too . . . it's supposed to be a heavy cruiser, but the Arbalest almost looks larger.
Loadout:
Gatling Blaster 2x (Unmodified)
Mining Beam 3x (Modified for less damage, burst, some deviation)
Flak Gun x4
Deflector x2
HP: 320
The Sih:
The Sih is mostly a rather standard support cruiser. Or support Heavy Cruiser, once I added the Kukri, Arbalest, and Hatchet in. It's got impeders, some longer-ranged point defense, and a nano matrix . . . nothing too revolutionary.
After spending some time balancing the Lancer, though, and using the Zelus as reference, I realized that handfuls of them are brutally effective against larger ships. So the Sih's got an array of accurate, overcharged mining lasers for protecting the fleet's back and flanks from the nasty little Patrol Craft. They're decently powerful, but only the fore two have fire arcs covering the front of the ship, so they're balanced for defense.
I'm planning on overhauling this as well, along with the Diades . . . it looks very Star Trek-y, which isn't necessarily something I want. Also, it feels a bit underpowered for a "Heavy" cruiser . . . I might add another nano, and maybe some more point defense.
Speaking of which, is there any way to make custom formations? Or to tell the AI to stick with other ships, instead of floating off by itself and trying to flank, and leaving it's charges drifting about unsupported?
Loadout:
Mining Beam 4x (Modified for burst, slightly less damage, range)
Particle Gun 4x (Unmodified)
Nano Matrix
Impeder 2x
Deflector 3x
HP: 260
The Moros:
Aand, the big one. Named for a rather famous Titan on Eve, which is in turn named for something I can't recall, this heavy battleship doesn't quite live up to it's name. It's got more guns than I usually put on ships, but since it's meant to broadside, and because the AI likes to pick a random side to do it on, I needed to cover all of my bases. Or sides.
It's main weapon is a Mega Beam battery, tweaked so it an actually hit things, and has a decent range, and looks prettier. It's got a few railguns as broadside damage dealers . . . and a large handful of pulse turrets. Why? Because the AI tends to like to drift around, flanking ships, and I really like the look of streams of tracers filling the space on all sides, in the grand tradition of naval ships with anti-aircraft guns.
Balance wise, it's pretty sturdy, with point defenses that might be a little overboard, and impeders, and enough deflectors to cover one of it's flanks entirely. However, if it's attacked from all sides it's deflectors can't cover all of it's surface, and it goes down. It still dishes out a beating, and is probably more powerful than several of the stock battleships . . . but not ludicrously so, and the increase in sturdiness is pretty in-line with the increase in size. At least, I think so.
Loadout:
Mega Beam x2 (Modified for range, accuracy, turning, and color)
Weasel x2 (Unmodified)
Gatling Pulse x4 (Modified for range, accuracy, slightly less power)
Pulse x6 (Modified for range, accuracy, less power)
Railgun x4 (Unmodifed)
Flak Gun x4
Particle Gun x5
Impeder x2
Deflector x5
Frosh Gun
HP: 550
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