Destroyers and Cruisers, what size do you like them?

[Larsenex]

For me I like my Destroyers at size 400 and cap them at 500.

Cruisers at 650. Sometimes my Frigates will creep up to 350 but I try to keep them simple.

I will upgrade the ships when I get 3 or more components to add and always do so with new Jumpdrives.

[Retreat1970]

I love how DW is popular again! Well, until DW2 of course.

I don't specialize by class but by weapon. Max size range, max size power, max size range/bomber, but I'll keep escorts smaller and on auto. This is of course sometimes. I like playing on auto ship design too. Games are faster without designing and the AI does alright.

[razaron]

I like going by hab/life tech. For Ackdarians that would be 4/6/8/10/12 and 18 for carriers. This way by the time I research max ship size and max hab/life, I should have carriers maxed out at size 3600 with 200 per hab/life.

[Whiskiz]

The different hull types are mostly cosmetic due to being able to have any hull at any size, so i mostly just go by the biggest size i have unlocked - not to mention saving more money in more base ship components as well as bigger ships of course having better survivability through both tankiness and better ability to escape.

Which is pretty cool when you hear that sizes and such will be hull specific in the second game, with even the option of variations of the same hull with different component slots, sizes, speeds etc for different more specialized roles.

It's almost like these peeps know what they're doing [:'(]

[RemoteLeg]

That's what I love about this game - sop many different ways to do things.
I specialize my ships & combine fleets of each type to compliment each other.

My destroyers & cruisers are always maximum size.
The destroyers get maximum speed at the cost of fewer weapons, shields, & armour. Fleets of ten race around the galaxy policing skirmishes.
The cruisers get more beam weapons, armour, & shields. They're slower than destroyers, but they hit hard and try to fire at point blank range.

[LordMM]

Depends on their role really. I have a wing destroyers which are usually meant to be a Quick response force for Anti Pirate activities. Destroyers usually have faster hyperdrives, more sublight engines with some gravitic weapons. Usually to fly in quick, hit the pirates and force them to retreat or hold on long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Cruisers - are basically tanks, lots of shields and armor, usually having a lot of projectile weapons. Front line warships of around 600 size. Recently I have been trying to mix them with Support of Missile frigates set in stand off mode.

[LordMM]

ORIGINAL: RemoteLeg
That's what I love about this game - sop many different ways to do things.
I specialize my ships & combine fleets of each type to compliment each other.

Yeah, takes time. But a lot of things you can do in the game once you learn the mechanics. Bacon mod adds nice set of mechanics with gravity wells and extra fighter/bomber range.

Have been experimenting with a fighter base setup on strategic points in the system. So that the fighter/bombers can engage targets and defence multiple points planets/mining stations etc...

[SirHoraceHarkness]

To me what the real difference in ship size boils down to is build time. You can churn out a massive amount of frigates and destroyers in the time it takes to build just a single cap ship and sometimes a quickly built zerg swarm is just what you need to stave off an attack till you can get some heavier ships in from another system. A favorite tactic is when I go to war with an established and spread out empire I keep my cap ships in the home systems ready to deploy defensively and send in clouds of frigate swarms into their controlled areas to wipe out all the infrastructure. Sure they die in a fire when a real fleet warps in but in the time it took the ai to track them down and destroy them I've already parallel built another two swarms which are already on their way to other targets with even more swarms to come afterwards. When their infrastructure is toast then I start sending in the cap fleets to mop up their own fleets and then either bombard or take over their worlds. As a petty move I always leave the homeworld alive and park a small fleet over it to smash anything they try to build.

[sneo24]

Hi, i a came to share my bit.
I, like many here, have read the Honor Harrington book series. That series marked me deeply. I love it! That's why i wrote my guide for construct ships.
First, i changed de basic data and renamed the type of ships to

Type 3: Destroyers (DD) - Missile Cruisers (MC)

The Type 3 ships are the long hand of the Battlefleet. This missile centered ships are based on the pod heavy ships of the Honorverse books series. Starts from Lvl 5 Size like all other units of Battlefleet. This ship is a large size unit that have to travel long distances, with minimum speed and heavy firepower. There are only 5 Missile Cruisers per Battlefleet. They should use solely Type II Missile (small but powerful enough missiles). With a 8-10 missile launchers a Battlefleet will have a 40 missile volley per every 4 seconds. Needs to travel at least 6 sectors at the best available hyperspeed, cruisespeed of +20. The only other elements of defense should be 2PD, 2 ion defenses.

T3 MC size: 650-1500. Firepower Heavy.


Type 4: Cruisers (C) - Battlecruisers (BC)

The Type 4 ships are the strong core of the Battlefleet. This ships are the raiders of the Battlefleet. Starts from Lvl 5 Size like all other units of Battlefleet. This ships is a large size unit that have to travel long distances, with fast cruisespeed and heavy firepower. They are powerful in the offensive but not so strong in the defense. There are 10 Battlecruisers per Battlefleet. Needs to travel at least 6 sectors, the best available hyperspeed, cruisespeed of +30.

They should have 6-8blasters, 4 torp, 5-14Lrail, 2-8Hrail, 2PD, 2idf. The Type 4 ship model is the Battlecruiser (BC), Fast and Strong Raiders.

T4 BC size: 650-1100. Firepower Heavy.


I have done this to all desings, clearly stating the tactical role and the strategic use. Type 3, 4, 5 & CVN form the battlefleet. Type 1 are system defense squadron units (up to 10 per SDS) and the Type 2 are Rapid Response Fleet units (up to 15 per RRF)