1 vs 2 reactors on ships

[Gray Death]

Here is a look of the proud of my fleet, the Agamemnon class

[balto]

Gray, your Silvermist Destroyer needs another reactor. Your weapons plus Sprint is 534, you only have Excess of 450. If you factor in the Energy you need for Shields you really are unpowered. As you know, this causes your weapons to not only firing at way less that their optimum, you also only have a little fuel (420). You will burn out real quick while shooting very ineffectively. Take some of the engines off, tack on more fuel (at least 1000) and a reactor and you will be good to go.



G Cube, I am thinking you are design level 300, always go to the max design size. You also have 8 Ion which is 640 Energy (8 x 80 each), you only have Excess Energy of 134. So to say you are unpowered is a massive underestimate. If you are staying at size 300 and you want a ship with an Ion Weapon (for th Silvermist), just put on one Ion

Fuel of 400 is not enough. Get your fuel up to at least a 1000 so they can stay on station longer. You also should always have at least one shield (pirates), ten fuel tanks, and ditch the other 7 Ion Cannons. With the extra space you will now have from removing the Ions, you will now have about 80 more space, less the 30 for the extra fuel, and you have now have about 50 extra space. That 50 space you can fill up with one more Reactor (size 22) which now gets your extra energy up to about 206 (134+72). So you now have 28 space with 206 extra energy.., that sounds like two more Ion Cannons!!

Therefore you end up with 3 Ions and 3 reactors, I shield, and 10 fuel tanks. Now you have a max size of 300 and your total space right now is about 295. So you have 5 size to spare. Remove a Vector (29% is too good) which now gives you space for another engine. HOW IS THAT!!!!

3 Ions, 3 Reactors, 1 Shield, 10 fuel tanks, and one more engine. BTW, this will be crushed by a Silvermist. You need about 6 of these to take a small Silvermist down. About 12 for a bigger one.

[Gelatinous Cube]

I always thought excess energy (the green number?) was showing you how much you had AFTER everything else was accounted for? If not, yeah.. I'm way underpowered!

[balto]

Gray, I also see on your Agamemnon that you have multiple Repair Bots and Ion Defenses. I was under the impression that more than one of these is a waste.

I also was curious why you have all those Point Defense Cannons and such little Armor.

I am not saying you are wrong, I just want to know.

[balto]

Hi G Cube. No, the Green number is simply the Reactor Energy minus the Static Energy.

[balto]

The Green Number is what you have to cover either your Hyperdrive OR when not in Hyperdrive, your Sprint plus Weapons, plus shields.

Please ask away if you have any questions you have on this. I am a chronic and obsessive designer and you have helped me in many many many areas. Maybe this is pay back time for me.

[Gelatinous Cube]

Oh, wow. Thank you, I would never have figured that out on my own. That one little fact changes my whole approach!

[balto]

Yeah, as you can see, you really need to research the Construction Size. And you if you are going to start designing your own ships, trust me, just have only one or two designs. Anymore and you will go insane. I have two types that I keep at the max size. I could really have just one. Clearly, this one (or two) military designs are updated frequently and thus are the bad asses of the universe.

Also, once you do one manual design .., EVERYTHING is now on manual design. So that means time to design your own Spaceports (you only 1 or 2 designs of these), your own Constructors, and Mining Stations, and Explorers.., yeah, it can be a mucho pain in the butt.., that is why you need the number of designs very limited.., like I said, I go with two military designs.

Once you go down this road of manual, you can NEVER go back. You are now entering the SUPER COOL zone of Legends.., you also will not get a lot of sleep.

[Gelatinous Cube]

ORIGINAL: balto

Yeah, as you can see, you really need to research the Construction Size. And you if you are going to start designing your own ships, trust me, just have only one or two designs. Anymore and you will go insane. I have two types that I keep at the max size. I could really have just one. Clearly, this one (or two) military designs are updated frequently and thus are the bad asses of the universe.

Also, once you do one manual design .., EVERYTHING is now on manual design. So that means time to design your own Spaceports (you only 1 or 2 designs of these), your own Constructors, and Mining Stations, and Explorers.., yeah, it can be a mucho pain in the butt.., that is why you need the number of designs very limited.., like I said, I go with two military designs.

Once you go down this road of manual, you can NEVER go back. You are now entering the SUPER COOL zone of Legends.., you also will not get a lot of sleep.

Indeed! Unfortunately, I really like having a very, very diverse variety of ships and bases. I am excited for the next official patch, however, since apparently we'll now be able to pick and choose which designs are manual or automated. That is more than enough incentive for me to start poking my nose in new places.

[balto]

My tip #1 was to research the Construction Size. Tip #2 is to add on Fuel tanks to EVERYTHING. They all need more Fuel and it does not take much space. That is all I got.., please play around with Design, I can tell you are super smart so it would be interesting to see what you come up with.

[Gelatinous Cube]

ORIGINAL: balto

My tip #1 was to research the Construction Size. Tip #2 is to add on Fuel tanks to EVERYTHING. They all need more Fuel and it does not take much space. That is all I got.., please play around with Design, I can tell you are super smart so it would be interesting to see what you come up with.

lol, not that smart. Just too much free time! Is there any reason at all to create different classes of ships, then? Or are the Frigate/Destroyer/Cruiser/Capital Ship classes all kind of silly once you start designing your own ships?

Fuel tank tip is a good one. I build a lot of spread out fleets and bases, and with AI-Design fuel is always a problem in the beginning.

Also, I tend to play on Very Expensive research. It could be well into the 2800s before I get capital ships. Any good tips for some mainstay early-game (but not too early-game) designs?

[balto]

Great questions for the early game, and very easy to answer.

As you state, the different classes means NOTHING when you design your own.

When you design your own, the key is to have your military ships at the MAX size. Step #1, FUEL UP to 1000 right away. Step #2, as stated, no matter what you tack on or remove, ALWAYS have excess energy. Step #3, write down the stock Cruise and Sprint speeds and your Turning ratios for your Explorer and your Frigate. Tell yourself that you will NEVER go beneath that speed or turning for all of your military and Explorers. So as you tack on weapons and shields, etc.., your Cruise and Sprint will drop as will your turning speed.., you need to tack on some engines and vectors to make sure they do not become slow pokes. So at first, this will be a click and unclick balance situation.

This leaves you with what you want to do with weapons, shields, and armor. You do not have big ships yet, so this mix is up to you. I suggest you not sacrifice SHIELDS/ARMOR for more weapons. Weapons will come with research and increased size later on, in the early game, protect what you have.

I too play with VERY EXPENSIVE RESEARCH. I can see by your shields that you like the XENOX that are good researchers. Try Quememo if you like research.

[Gelatinous Cube]

Good tips! I agree on defense over offense for the early game. It is much easier to repair a slightly damaged ship frequently than to repair a seriously messed up ship, or have to rebuild all the time.

Might have to add some custom designs to the Polish Empire's arsenal!

[jpwrunyan]

To follow up on what you said, in the early game would it be better to have 1 reactor on your ships and use the space for def/off or have two reactors for speed? Particularly thinking about escorts and frigates here where 1 reactor can easily power my weapons. And shields/armor wont need more than 1 reactor either at starting level amirite?
So again, to two reactor or to one reactor, that is the question.

[Keston]

Decide what the ship needs to do and how hard it needs to shoot and how fast it has to go and put in the necessary reactors so that it has energy to either both move and shoot fully or achieve some compromise between those. Mixing long range missiles for reach and short-range weapons for firepower is one way to deal with an energy shortage since the ship will swtich from one to the other depending on range, but it may also be slowed down by drawing energy from movement. Of course if the orders dont' require keeping distance, just closing and shooting, there may be a lot less need for maneuver.

For example, well into the game, I do escorts with one fission reactor and 4 thrusters, with a Firestorm for short and medium-range hitting power and a missile to reach out and prod pirates and the like. Firepower-Size-Speed is 62-123-21/39 but armor and shields are minimal and cruise range is not long. I sometimes assign one to patrol a mining base or escort a ship, but generally these are automated. The point is the escort can get there with significant hitting power, and if it is beaten up then the civilian target may get away.

Frigates cost twice as much, with FSS of 98-231-23/41 and 2 missiles plus a firestorm and ion cannon at short range. They have one engine, with 62 excess energy that is not enough to operate the maximum weapons energy of 69 and sprint speed at 48 energy at the same time. However, a third of that energy usage is the specialized ion cannon, so they can cruise and shoot either the missiles or the firestorm at the same time. Forthcoming Fission mprovements will generate more power. Giving them two reactors would let them move fast and shoot freely but for normally undemanding duty would make them Caslon gas guzzlers, and currently but they have the speed to catch or escape from most anything, so are suitable for independent operations. Defense is much better than the escorts - 5 armor and 540 shields, and they have added fuel cells for range.

Neither escorts nor frigates have enough power to go to full hyper speed right now, but neither do the civilian ships they may escort.

Destroyers naturally go up to 2 reactors at FSS of 213-309-19/35 with enough energy to cruise and use weapons fully and enough energy to maximize their hyper speed. Tactically they forego missiles for Firestorms and some extras and have better defenses as well as repair bots. Troop compartments? No - I like specialized assault transports with enough divisions to matter.

Cruiser FSS is 259-400-16/30 with 2 reactors allowing full speed hyper. Their on-board weapons are intended to slug it out, not shoot and sprint, so the 2 reactors are enough. The firepower is as much as the reactors can manage, so I use the remaining space to include a size 50 4-fighter bay to give them some reach (fighters drain only a little static energy). The Cruisers also have targeting and countermeasures as well as 900 shields and the spare space stuffed with around 10 armor and redundant repair bots in case one goes down.

The Cruiser's 16/30 is faster than most capital ships (such as recovered derelicts) will be, but since the ships can all keep pace in hyper it is OK in the battle for the caps to engage the main targets and the cruisers maneuver more. Some of the ancient heavy warships can't sustain fire of all their weapons even without any energy for maneuver.

I also have an EW cruiser FFS 0-400-16/30 and 3 reactors feeding a giant long-range scanner and fleet countermeasures as well as extra thrust vectors for maneuver to keep it out of close combat. This provides helpful reconnaissance more than worth the loss of combat power. It is also a suitable command cruiser, keeping the commander out of the close fight (the biggest ships tend to be ready targets).

Hope this is of interest.

[jpwrunyan]

Yes, that was by far the most interesting post in the thread. Wish I could bump it up. Lots to think about. Currently I have been double reactoring everything and putting on extra fuel cells. Even my civillian freighters. I keep thinking I will just build more gas stations. I put two extractors on them instead of one. For escorts and frigates I have done the same. I have preferred missiles for harrassing pirates. But these designs waste a lot of power just for the sake of max hyperspace speed.

[feelotraveller]

I generally use two reactors on everything at the start. I'll use one only if I can get max hyperspeed + other requirements. I don't get the comments about increased fuel usage. If it is for weapons I want them firing. For travel you use the same amount of fuel to travel the same distance - you just do it faster. I want my ships traveling (hyperspace) fast - military to engage targets, civilians to deliver their payloads. Greater per time fuel usage but greater amount of resources delivered. The only ships I ever think about using a single reactor for are escorts assigned to single system duty, but even here in most systems they will hyperspace to different locations. I've yet to encounter a situation with early tech reactors where I have actually designed a ship with only one. [8|]

[Webbco]

ORIGINAL: balto
And if you are going to start designing your own ships, trust me, just have only one or two designs. Anymore and you will go insane. I have two types that I keep at the max size. I could really have just one. Clearly, this one (or two) military designs are updated frequently and thus are the bad asses of the universe.

This I totally understand. From the beginning I've tried my hand at manually designing my military ships, explorers and spaceports and usually leave the rest on automated design.

For Destroyers and Cruisers, I tend to have 3 variations:
A = Assault
B = Long range/Bombarder
C = Command

Assault designs are standard warships that's primary weapons are blasters with a few phasers/rail guns on the Cruisers.

Bombarders, as the name suggests, have heavy railguns and torpedoes and maybe bombardment weapons (depending on how sinister I feel [:D]). They may also have a HyperDeny device.

Command vessels have a long range scanner, fleet countermeasures and targetting + fleet shield recharge later in the game. Primary weapons tend to be phasers and railguns.

This all sounds lovely...but when the time comes to retrofit......[X(]

The 2 major frustrations are that:
1) I have to click "Copy as New" on a previous design in the design screen and NOT "Upgrade" in order that the rough template of my designs are kept (e.g. If I clicked Upgrade on a ship with phasers and railguns and no blasters, the AI would change them to the more powerful blasters - not necessarily what I want).

2) I have to individually right click on each ship in each fleet to order them to retrofit to their specific new design

E.g. Go to 1st Fleet -> click on first ship in the selection panel -> right click on (for example) "Apulon A Mk2" in the main screen -> select "retrofit to Apulon A Mk3" -> repeat for every ship in 1st fleet -> move on to 2nd fleet [:(]

[Webbco]

ORIGINAL: Webbco

ORIGINAL: balto
And if you are going to start designing your own ships, trust me, just have only one or two designs. Anymore and you will go insane. I have two types that I keep at the max size. I could really have just one. Clearly, this one (or two) military designs are updated frequently and thus are the bad asses of the universe.

This I totally understand. From the beginning I've tried my hand at manually designing my military ships, explorers and spaceports and usually leave the rest on automated design.

For Destroyers and Cruisers, I tend to have 3 variations:
A = Assault
B = Long range/Bombarder
C = Command

Assault designs are standard warships that's primary weapons are blasters with a few phasers/rail guns on the Cruisers.

Bombarders, as the name suggests, have heavy railguns and torpedoes and maybe bombardment weapons (depending on how sinister I feel [:D]). They may also have a HyperDeny device.

Command vessels have a long range scanner, fleet countermeasures and targetting + fleet shield recharge later in the game. Primary weapons tend to be phasers and railguns.

This all sounds lovely...but when the time comes to retrofit......[X(]

The 2 major frustrations are that:
1) I have to click "Copy as New" on a previous design in the design screen and NOT "Upgrade" in order that the rough template of my designs are kept (e.g. If I clicked Upgrade on a ship with phasers and railguns and no blasters, the AI would change them to the more powerful blasters - not necessarily what I want).

2) I have to individually right click on each ship in each fleet to order them to retrofit to their specific new design

E.g. Go to 1st Fleet -> click on first ship in the selection panel -> right click on (for example) "Apulon A Mk2" in the main screen -> select "retrofit to Apulon A Mk3" -> repeat for every ship in 1st fleet -> move on to 2nd fleet [:(]

Edit: would that be Bombarders, or Bombardeers??

[Gelatinous Cube]

Bombardier, actually. [8D]