Idk

[void basalt]

It does things im not really satisfied with it

[void basalt]

Closer to the original versions

[clear plaza]

Not Improved Heavy Gauss?

[void basalt]

It's a style thing

My preference is medium range beyond the initial skirmish at long range so improved heavy gauss is just wasted tonnage

[void basalt]

@white vine thoughts?

The version im going with is the second one

The manta rays are primarily anti-fighter weapons but can critfish bigger craft pretty hard

[void basalt]

The main issue is that i am simultaneously overkill against anything else i might face while still being incapable of going toe to toe with the big guns

But it does have enough armor to survive an entire salvo of 12 heavy fighters and their constituent ASHM

It is completely impotent against nukes but honestly if they use nukes against me it's just an admission that im enough of a threat to go down in history

It does also have enough ams to deal with single cudas

The only real alternative is the ardonight

But uh

No matter what option i choose i am going to get my ass kicked by a proper pocket warship

The tiamat can slap me with 79 capital, the castrum with 76....

Actually

Aside from the two big fish and their children there isn't a whole lot that can do gigantic damage to me

[white vine]

I don't believe in the tiny number of Capital weapons

If you are making a capital weapon boat, do so

If you are making 700 damage standard weapon lances, do so

[void basalt]

There's nothing wrong with 50 damage against asf at 12 hexes

And a free crit on a 10+

I simply can't fit more than 15 capital damage in the tonnage i have

Well

15 at long capital range

I can do up to almost 30 at short

So i might as well diversify and get a better damage spread against more units

[white vine]

Try ERML spam

[void basalt]

Im at exactly the max capacity of weapon slots

Any more and i have to add more crew

The large vsp is a direct upgrade over a single erml when you have the tonnage

[white vine]

At 7/11 9400 tons you do not have the tonnage

[void basalt]

But I do?

I don't have the tonnage for more capital weapons

A single lscc is 200 tons, or 22 large vsp

[void basalt]

I spent 517 tons on mech scale weapons and 54 slots

[void basalt]

Why would i want to train 105 crew members for 700 damage at medium standard scale range?

[white vine]

To cut dropships in half

[void basalt]

My entire dropship squadron is a quarter of that

[white vine]

A quarter of that damage?

[void basalt]

No i have about 25 crew members across 6 dropships

They're all veterans

[white vine]

Simply treat and pay the new crew like garbage

[void basalt]

Good Crew aren't cheap

[white vine]

i didn't say good

[void basalt]

Well i have standards

[white vine]

oh Capacitors don't explode anymore

LPPC spam is viable

[void basalt]

Why is cgl like this

[white vine]

Here

Only 35 gunners

[void basalt]

The dropship i posted can do 519 damage at short range and is significantly more flexible than 700 medium lasers

[white vine]

How so

You have 11 thrust

[void basalt]

Against fighters you want more hits

[white vine]

You can just go up to any dropship and cut them in half

[void basalt]

Against dropships you want range

[white vine]

Okay?
Pretend it's 70 bays per section

MML just bugs out and crashed when the bays get too numerous

[white vine]

why

It has 11 thrust

use it

If it was slow then Subcaps are best

But it's fast

no tonnage for range

[void basalt]

I fully intend to punch up against far deadlier targets

[white vine]

Yes

You can cut warships in half too

[void basalt]

And survive the experience

Wearing down armor with long range skirmishing and fighters before trying to brawl is generally a reliable strategy especially with 11 thrust

[white vine]

You can't out kite Subcapital weapons or larger

So why try

[void basalt]

Tbh i should probably have bearings only missiles and a ton of ammo

Idk

[white vine]

If you do your favorite single/dual capital missiles strategy, they will just get shot down

especially if they're outside normal range

because all guns are free to shoot them

[void basalt]

Can't really afford the conquistador or a tiamat so im settling for an avenger that can do orbitals and praying that 6 eisenstrum, 6 slayers, 2 reiver and 10 gauss rifles is enough to kill a tiamat or a castrum

The slayers also have heavy gauss rifles

Being able to do orbitals will greatly accelerate the rate at which i can do ground strikes and greatly decrease losses

[white vine]

Okay here

18 gunners

[void basalt]

You really should just start with the hull of an interdictor and go from there

I don't really get why your solution to everything is to shove one gun in it

[white vine]

Because one gun is usally the best so you want as many as possible

[void basalt]

Still can't do orbitals

[white vine]

Here, long range

[white vine]

Best orbital bombardment is a Spheroid rear gun

Hover and fire until done

[void basalt]

Is the concept of a dropship that can do multiple rolls a foreign concept to you?

[white vine]

Multiple rolls well is extremely rare

[void basalt]

There's no hovering

[white vine]

Certainly not worth crippling a design for

[white vine]

1g gravity -> 1g thrust

[void basalt]

It's in orbit

You sit in the interface and pelt targets

[white vine]

Yeah, cancel orbit and just hover over target

Don't fly past them

[void basalt]

Maybe i should swap for pirhanas instead of manta rays

They weigh about the same but can actually do orbital barrages

[white vine]

You said you wanted to save money

Why are you trying to use capital missiles

instead of SCL1

[void basalt]

By save money i mean not trying to save up an additional 600 million

[void basalt]

They get a free half scatter, and a -2 to hit bringing the roll to gunnery +4 if you tag the hex

And basically guaranteeing a hit in the target location

Almost as good as direct fire artillery but way more efficient and less risky

I would use cuda missiles if i could fit them they get a -3 instead of a -2

H.... I should absolutely cut the subcapital cannons

Except lscc cost 220 tons

And pirhanas cost 300 for the same amount of shots...

Ugh

Scl is technically infinite but it's also 300 tons for the same damage

[white vine]

SCL1 is 150 tons

Damage doesn't matter because you can just keep firing

[void basalt]

It very much does

Orbital barrages are resolved once every 6 ground turns

Or is it 10?

Either way you don't get more than one or two shots in any reasonable battle so it pays not to miss and to kill the target in one shot

For most intended ground targets 20-30 damage is a good start

[white vine]

what happens after the battle

the units dont disappear

[void basalt]

I leave

[white vine]

so how many hours does that take

[void basalt]

Or the targets are dead and i salvage the remains

[white vine]

Salvaging doesn't like AE damage

[void basalt]

I intend to mostly vaporize buildings

maybe a strike or two in close ground support

H.... I should definitely swap to pirhanas

The mantas are cool and all but 40 + 20 + 20 + 30 + 30 + 30 is a much better orbital strike than
40 + 20 + 20 + 30

[void basalt]

Also it takes 10 seconds

I have yet to deploy a single ground unit to do anything other than salvage

It's 60 seconds per space turn

So six ground turns happen every space turn

The sane solution is to just buy artillery

So you can dump a long tom every turn

[white vine]

Artillery costs money

SCL1 doesn't

[void basalt]

Artillery is basically free at my scale

But you know what yes i should probably throw in a quartet of scl1

Instead of the mantas

It should fit

[white vine]

in one bay?

max bracketing

[void basalt]

Oh

Im running into crew issues

@white vine do capital weapons have different crew requirements?

[void basalt]

Might be worth slapping some capital missiles into an okinawa or something idk

[white vine]

1 per gun

1 per 6 for standard scale weapons

[void basalt]

Huh

So i don't think i can cram in scl

I guess the scc is fine

But i will swap to pirhanas

[white vine]

???

SCL is lighter than SCC

[void basalt]

Yes but adding gunnery crew implies redesigning the entire cic

[white vine]

???

No it implies a chair

The gunners don't even need to be in the CIC

[void basalt]

Oh... I just salvaged another dropship

Apparently the vengeance is on the pirate rat?

[void basalt]

Oh god it doesn't even compare to the blockade runner

60 + 40 + 40 + 30 + 30 + 30

And it carries fighters

2120 tons on capital weapons vs 1950 yeah that checks out

And the secondary armament slaps so much harder

All for the low low price of 1.6 billion

The stock version does 80 + 60 + 60

But i really like capital missiles for orbital strikes

[void basalt]

You know what scl/1 are just too tonnage inefficient

[void basalt]

Only problem is it's not 7/11 and thus isn't funny

[void basalt]

Huh

So you can use missiles for artillery when airborne

So manta rays aren't bad at all

Subcapital cannons can too

[floral lantern]

This is the pony insanity that I know and love. But you do not pay new crew like garbage. The last person to do that had his dropship stolen by the Free State Militia.

Do Arrow IV work in space?

[white vine]

They do not