Haven't posted here in a while and thought I'd share some of my new/improved designs.
I'm still working in the same general paradigm as before (which I'm sure isn't going to make me any more friends here), so I thought I'd briefly explain, for the people here who don't know the series I'm basing these ships on, why the ships are designed the way they are.
In the series, ships use focused bands of gravitic energy above and below the ship for propulsion. These bands, together known as the "impeller wedge," are impenetrable to all known weapons. Because of this useful property, ships (particularly military ones) generate somewhat weaker bands of gravitic energy along their port and starboard sides called "sidewalls"* as shields against enemy weapons. Closing off the fore or aft aspect of the wedge with a bow or sternwall kills a ship's ability to accelerate, meaning that until the idea of "buckler" bow- and sternwalls occurred (that is, ones that didn't touch the edges of the impeller wedge), those aspects were more vulnerable to enemy fire.
For various reasons, the technology used to create these focused gravitic fields dictates a spindle-shaped vessel - thicker in the middle and tapering toward the ends. Military vessels, not having an exemption from physics, follow the same overall model, but with the addition of "hammerheads" at the bow and aft to make more room for chase weaponry. Because of the structure their drive technology forces them to adopt, virtually all military vessels fight broadside to broadside, both because it allowed them to benefit from sidewalls, and because the broadside offered more space to mount weaponry.
Invictus II-class Superdreadnought (Podlaying). With only short-ranged energy weapons in its broadside armament, it relies on the missile pods it deploys from its aft launchers to provide long-range combat capability.
Minotaur II-class Carrier (Light Attack Craft). Intended mainly for ferrying LACs to and from battles through hyperspace, a few missile launchers loaded with multidrive missiles allow it to contribute to battles while remaining well back from the main fighting.
Agamemnon-class Battlecruiser. Nearly the size of a battleship, this large battlecruiser's MDM launchers are capable of remarkable off-bore firing, allowing it to unleash a powerful double-broadside missile barrage from very long range.
Nike-class Battlecruiser (Podlaying). Like the
Agamemnon-class design, it is very large for a battlecruiser, nearly battleship-weight. Unlike the
Agamemnon but like the
Invitcus II, it is designed around a hollow core in which missile pods can be stored, allowing it heavy long-range firepower without sacrificing its impressive energy broadside.
(A moment before I continue - I expect somebody is going to yell at me for the aegis-spam around the cores of the battlecruisers. However, there is a reason for it. I was introduced to this game by a friend, and we have been trading and comparing our respective designs via combat. Initially, my battlecruisers fared extremely poorly in energy range against his vessels, often exploding within seconds of starting to take enemy beam fire. With the sections surrounding the core fully aegised, their survivability has increased without resulting in an undefeatable design, due to the ability of beam weapons to penetrate/bypass aegis shields under some circumstances.)
Fearless-class Cruiser (Armored). Ships smaller than large battlecruisers lack the internal volume to carry missile pods inside a hollow core, so as with the
Agamemnon, the
Fearless design attempts to strike a balance in its broadside between MDM launchers for long-range combat and energy mounts for close-range fighting. It carries a capital-class, spinally mounted energy weapon as its forward chase armament.
Valiant-class Cruiser (Light). Carrying four tightly clustered MDM launchers per broadside, this vessel is the equal of the
Fearless design in long-range combat, but at the price of its energy armament - it mounts only three-fourths as many broadside energy weapons as the
Fearless.
Javelin-class Destroyer. A significant downgrade in combat power from the
Valiant, the
Javelin mounts only 2 MDM launchers per broadside and only 4 energy weapons.
Osprey-class Frigate. Considered an obsolete ship type by most established naval powers in the explored galaxy, the RMN has recently begun experimenting with frigates again after a few were commissioned by their new allies, the Kingdom of Torch.
Ferret-,
Katana-, and
Shrike-class Light Attack Craft. Though extremely fragile and once considered obsolete, LACs are making a comeback thanks to low manning requirements and new technological advances. The
Ferret class carries single-drive missiles for light anti-ship missions; the
Katana class is armed with the modified Viper countermissile for space superiority and anti-missile defense roles; and the
Shrike class is built around a capital-class energy weapon for heavy anti-ship attacks.
The Apollo Missile Pod comes in two varieties: the virtually immobile system defense variant, and the standard design, which incorporates limited mobility so as to accompany its parent ship and its consorts. These advanced missiles have an FTL control loop made possible by the interaction of gravitic waves with the interface between normal space and the alpha band of hyperspace, which greatly extends their effective range.