Caveat-class Battlecruiser

[Ethereal Entity]

[Historical comments in square brackets]

A harkback to early Terran concepts of the battlecruiser [WW I/II], the streamlined (although no drag to speak of in a vacuum) Caveat-class was designed with battleship-calibre armament but lightly armoured and fast. Meant to "outrun ships it cannot outgun and outgun ships it cannot outrun", it is not made to be part of the battle line due to its light armour and PD protection, but to outrange and destroy ships smaller than itself. Its name was chosen as a foreboding reminder of the consequences of using it as a battleship [British battlecruiser Fleet at the Battle of Jutland, 1916], although it is well-suited to act as a commerce raider, cruiser squadron leader or in support of patrol duties.

The Caveat-class is armed with 4 railguns in twin turrets and a secondary battery of 4 gatling pulse cannons, along with 7 particle guns for point defence. Located behind the bridge is a pad for landing craft.

(Meant to be used against the vanilla ships), it will not survive a tit-for-tat exchange with any battleship (although smart commanders will manoeuvre to constantly outrange a Hecate or Cronus) but can take down destroyers and cruisers with relative ease. Even so, Caveat-class commanders should be wary of smaller ships equipped with deflectors, and note that their ship can easily be picked apart when overwhelmed. Allowing multiple smaller ships to get inside their weapon ranges can be an invitation to suicide. The ship is especially vulnerable once the sections just beside the core/bridge are destroyed. Hit first, hit hard and hit the gas.

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The ship is made with stock-only parts and should work in the vanilla sandbox. A hull-only version is included should you prefer to arm it yourself.
This is one of my first ships and on close inspection you can see numerous little holes in the ship *wonders why the stock sections have holes in them*, and I am reluctant to cover them up with doodad-spam.
Constructive suggestions appreciated.

Edit: Picture replaced with default shipmaker zoom and external host.
Edit 2: I just realised an oversight that the rear guns are larger than the front guns. This has been corrected.

[jwa8402]

I'm liking this. Nothing wrong with starting off with stock ships. You made everything flow together pretty well, made functional details like a landing pad and bases for gun turrets, and you fit it to a decent backstory. I can't tell if a few of the sections are stretched or just rotated funny, and alittle shading would be nice but for playing against stock its fine. I wish there was an applause emote.

Once your comfortable, you might try building turrets using Arcalane's sprites. Looks very battleshipish.

[Ethereal Entity]

Hi jwa, thanks. Yes, some sections are indeed stretched...

[keen320]

I think if you darkened the green a bit, it would look kinda like a well armed Coca-Cola bottle. I'm honestly not sure myself if that's a criticism or a compliment, so you can take it either way.

[Ethereal Entity]

Hahahaha! Maybe that could be the crews' unofficial nickname for the Caveat-class... Coke-class.

[Ethereal Entity]

Designed as a platform for the massive repeating artillery cannon, the Fusilier-class carries two of these long-range weapons in a bombardment role. Meant to pound installations from afar, although carrying no deflectors it is well-protected with PD guns and has more than a few tricks up its sleeve.

Main superstructure built in a stepped fashion, the rear artillery turret is able to traverse through 360 degrees, although the structure restricts the forward turret to 250 degrees. An EMP torpedo unit is nestled in the forward section of the ship, together with two regular torpedo units, firing through ports in the hull - the acquisition mechanism for the weapons can just be seen at starboard. Their fixed configuration enables simpler reloading mechanisms, cutting reloading time by 40% over standard systems.

Four long-range HVR systems (50% greater range than standard, matching the artillery pieces) were ordered into the design specification at the last minute, forcing engineers to come up with a way to mount them somehow, explaining the ship's somewhat unusual "wings".

A landing platform is present forward of the bridge, though the blast from the forward gun makes it a somewhat dangerous proposition for a brave pilot to linger around while firing is in progress.

However hard the ship may be able to rain shells on adversaries, it has its weaknesses. The HVR bays can be destroyed with a few well-placed shots. The systems themselves have trouble acquiring targets up close. The ship's rear - containing its engines - is a weak spot compared to the front and it has no "manoeuvrability" to speak of. The faster-cycling torpedoes sound great, but they can only fire in one direction - if its artillery turrets are destroyed, the Fusilier-class is unable to retaliate.

Its power deceiving, commanders of the Fusilier-class ought to recognise that it is a highly specialised bombardment platform rather than a battleship. Strategic planning always calls for an escort screen - allowing any sort of ship with a commander worth his weight near a Fusilier-class is a recipe for disaster.

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The ship is made with stock-only parts and should work in the vanilla sandbox. A coloured version is included to better differentiate the different deck levels of the ship's construction (but I find it rather meh).



Having finally gotten round to posting this, I didn't quite like this one because it is entirely conceivable that in reality the EMP torpedo would take out and disable the ship's own regular torpedoes when fired together in a battery like the ship does in-game.

[Anna]

Threads merged. You do not need a new thread for each lot of ships you post, particularly when you've only four posts and your other thread is near the top of the first page. Please don't start a new thread for your ships without good reason, like a significant design departure when your former thread is outdated, or something like Serithi's two threads for two diverging fleet designs. Read and follow the rules please. Thank you.

[Ethereal Entity]

The Mara-Class is more than able to chase or harass larger ships, but must rely on speed and constant manoeuvring to make up for its vulnerability.

With a main battery of two Perforater Autocannons on quick-traverse mounts, a pack of frigates can easily overwhelm ships twice in size. Without the main armament, however, the Mara-Class is useless!
Its designers sacrificed weapon count to mount bigger guns, and wise commanders will know to avoid adversaries with railguns.

[Doogie12]

I would very much like it if you would differ from ugly stock green.

[Ethereal Entity]

The ship is re-daubed in Standard Naval "Lo-Vis" Grey.

Field experience with the Mara-Class highlighted the unreliability of the bow Plasma Charge Launchers; already limited by the ability to only fire forward, the plasma charges often detonated prematurely and failed to even reach their target.
Engineers replaced them with High Velocity Rocket Launchers; hull limitations meant few alternative armaments and installing a second, smaller turret for a pulse-type gun meant complete redesign of the forward hull.
While the HVRs give the Mara/A a limited bombardment capability, its niche is still running tight circles around bigger vessels.

Edit: Some custom sprites were modified to solve the "one pixel off" problem. Owners of these sprites are HorseMonster (HM_wepDoubleMediumCannon) and Kae (Kae_msc-sw29). These modified sprites are included in a separate zip below, for the ship to work properly. The ship also uses (unmodified) DST-sw and other HorseMonster sprites.

In other areas, the weaknesses of the Repeating Artillery cannons of the Fusilier-class were also starkly shown in comparison with its torpedo and rocket armament, albeit against targets without point defence.
Engineers improved its damage output with a new shell core, and partly redesigned the weapon to fire clips of 5 shells and improve clip reload time. Fusilier units are expected to be outfitted with the updated cannons by year's end.

Note: The Fusilier Update does not include a ship recolour.