This might be seen as an extension of the topic "large ships in small fleets" but for me its primarily a verisimilitude issue. Though it would generally solve that "problem" as well.
As the game has progressed the otherwise coherent ship design ideology has faltered as ships have been changed. As a result a number of ships and ship types have lost their identity and fleet and fleet composition has as well.
And the reason for this is primarily fuel. Well, not fuel exactly (though it does make for a great title) but the fact that combat ships have very little variation in fuel and cargo space despite in game design goals which produce fleets that are always very similar and with little variation. This hampers play styles which would exploit opportunities which might exist in
In general there are roughly four purposes for designing ships in starsector
1) Exploration/Pirating: Go far, be safe out there, bring back stuff
2) Raiding: Go a medium distance, kill things, leave debris fields
3) Sector Defense; Go nowhere, prevent raiding
3a) Assault Support: Take sector defense fleet and put it in your opponents sector
4) Pure Hauling: have loads of stuff. Move it places
Ships in starsector are only really designed around point the third. You're expected to bring support ships with extra fuel and cargo space if you want to go far and/or bring back stuff. This is OK, but primarily it does two things.
1) It limits the player use of the non-optimal ships because there is little strategic value in choosing the non-optimal ship
2) It puts all fleets on a knife edge with regards to disengage ability because even if they can run they still have to protect their fuel and supplies, without which they're basically done.
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The Solution is to increase the variation in ships by giving them a more defined strategic purpose. This should limit the use of pure cargo and fuel ships and relegate them to more specific purposes. Pure cargo ships would primarily be involved in shipping. Fuel ships would largely be involved in refueling operations and assault support. The three primary assault types
Changes Based on Ship Type
- Pure Cargo Ship: Fuel capacity up.
- Pure Fuel Ship: No changes
- Exploration/Pirate Ship: Increased Cargo, Fuel, fuel efficiency.
- Raiding: Decreased Cargo, Increased Fuel/Fuel Efficiency, Increased Supply Efficiency. Small decrease in Strategic Speed
- Sector Defense: Large Decrease in strategic speed for large ships, Small increase in strategic speed for small ships.
With the advent of "sustained burn" we can now modify the base speed of ships even further, whereas the difference between 6 and 8 used to be a 33% increase in speed now its a 12.5% increase in speed without considering the skill that caps every fleet at 20. Ships can have burn speeds as low as 3 or 4 because planets cannot avoid assault fleets and because multiple fleets can be expected to work in tandem for sector defense (some with capitals burning to catch up, some with frigates for catching fleets until the capitals can catch up). The difference between a 4 burn ship and an 8 burn ship is only at 28% increase at sustained burn speed and 5.2% with the +5 max burn skill. Changing the max burn of various ships radically doesn't alter the ability of players to take those ships places they might not be suited, but does make it a little bit harder than it is currently.
The question of course is then "how much of a change are we talking about" , "which ships go where and why". Cargo and Fuel Ships are pretty much unchanged
Exploration Ships: Need fuel for about three times as much maximum range as current(100-150 LY). This is about similar as what they currently run when escorting a single fuel ship of one size lower than themselves. Needs cargo for about 4 months of deployment plus full cargo compliment of ship one size smaller. An exploration/pirate focused capital at 10 fuel/LY, 40 DP should have about 1500 fuel and 1060 cargo capacity. This is not enough fuel or cargo for its maintenance to justify bringing it if it is not intended to fight. But enough that you don't have to also bring a fuel/hauling source for it if its intending to. An exploration focused Cruiser at 20 DP should have around 380 Cargo Capacity and 450 fuel. A destroyer at 10 DP about 140 cargo capacity and 150 fuel. They need to be slow enough to be caught by fast sector defense fleets but fast enough to outrun sector defense capital fleets.
Raiding Ships: Need fuel for about 50 LY of travel (enough to get to a close-ish sector and back) and supplies for 1 month-ish of deployment. Needs speed to outrun sector defense capital fleets but not sector defense frigate fleets.
Sector Defense Ships: Needs fuel for about 5-10 LY of travel (enough to jump out of the sector and maybe fly to another sector... but not back and/or burn at things) and cargo for 1 month-ish of deployment. Capitals should be quite slow and frigates the fastest in the game.
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What ships go where and what changes are made to them?
Goal here is to have a decent amount of variety for what tech types(high, low, pirate) have what types of ships. There will be bias for exploration ships for pirate vessels (non -D mod) as well as anything that we might consider traditionally undergunned. There will be no suggested changes for fuel and cargo ships except that cargo ships all get enough fuel capacity go go about 50-60 LY.
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Exploration Ships: These ships can generally operate on their own. They're good solo candidates as well as prime candidates for efficiency in flying to the outer reaches because you do not need to add dedicated cargo and fuel ships in order to make the journey and come back with a reasonable amount equipment. Adding one of these to a non-exploration fleet will add minimal value with the exception of the Paragon simply because you're unlikely to choose one of them for their DP over a more dedicated ship.
Spoiler
Capital:- Paragon: Burn 7, Fuel 1500, Cargo 1100. This is a special case. Normally capital ships don't fall into this category but the Paragon is a big vanity project and big vanity projects don't conform to the same constraints as everything else. That is, while everyone else has to make tradeoffs on the Fast/Cheap/Good spectrum the Paragon's designers just kept throwing money at it until they didn't have to make any tradeoffs. It still keeps its supply and burn inefficiency though, because who cares about efficiency when you have money. Paragon purchase price should be upped to at least 1M credits
Cruiser:- Apogee: Burn 9, F/LY 2, Fuel 340, Cargo 400. Top of the line baby. This is the Starship enterprise. Still Supply inefficient but damn if it doesn't go fast and long. Still better in a fight than the rest of the non-paragon explorer options for the DP though.
- Venture: Burn 8, F/LY 3, Fuel 450, Cargo 500. The Baseline pirate/exploration ship. Its kinda ***? But at least its cheap and you can haul *** back with it.
- Gryphon: Burn 8 F/LY 2, Fuel 300, Cargo 380. The Hegemony's answer to the Apogee, not quite as fast but the missile autoforge makes for easy resupply out in the vast.
- Colossus Mk 2/3 Burn 8, F/LY 3, Fuel 450, Cargo 350. Slightly better better cargo efficiency due to much lower supply costs. Its big and slow and you might rather fight a destroyer. But if you need 600 armor and 12 guns to toss into a fight its not actually that useless at 9 DP.
Destroyer:- Gemini: Burn 9, F/LY 1, Fuel 150, Cargo 150: Its a combat freighter of course it goes here
- Mule: Burn 9, F/LY 1, Fuel 150, Cargo 150: Its a combat freighter of course it goes here
- Condor: Burn 9, F/LY 1, Fuel 150, Cargo 150: Its a converted freighter of course it goes here
- Medusa: Burn 10, F/LY 1, Fuel 150, Cargo 150: The phase frigates seem more like raiding or defense ships and so did the Sunder. So the Medusa gets an exploration role
- Buffalo Mk II Burn 9, F/LY 1, Fuel 150, Cargo 150 Its a converted freighter of course it goes here
Frigate: - Hound Burn 10, F/LY .5 Fuel 75, Cargo 75: Its a combat freighter of course it goes here
- Mudskiper MK II Burn 10, F/LY .5 Fuel 75, Cargo 75: Its a combat freighter of course it goes here
- Shepherd Burn 10, F/LY .5 Fuel 75, Cargo 75: Its a combat freighter of course it goes here
- Tempest Burn 11, F/LY .5 Fuel 75, Cargo 75: Again the other high tech options seemed more appropriate in other roles. The Tempest definitely fits though
Raiding Ships: Adding a raiding ship to an exploration fleet won't reduce its range too much. But it will significantly impact the relative amount of supplies that can be brought back. Adding a raiding ship to a defense fleet will barely extend its range. Only worth it if you need a specific aspect of the ship. The Heron and Odyssey will be the most common raiding ships seen in traditional defense/strike fleets.
Spoiler
Capital:- Odyssey: Burn 7, F/LY 6, Cargo 180, Fuel 300: Good at killing things and then getting away. Fast, expensive, but cheap to run for a capital. Might also get a free OP center or Insulated Engine Assembly in order to make it even more unique
- Conquest: Burn 6, F/LY 8, Cargo 160, Fuel 400: Good at killing things and then getting away. Its not quite as strategically advantageous as the Odyssey but its got a bit more oomph.
Cruiser:- Heron Burn 7 F/LY 3, Cargo 80, Fuel 150: The only carrier on the raider list and the only proper carrier which doesn't need a support fleet. The Heron is a mean machine
- Falcon Burn 7 F/LY 3, Cargo 80, Fuel 150: The smaller Eagle designed for killing ships and then getting out rather than as a pure power option
- Aurora Burn 8 F/LY 3, Cargo 90, Fuel 150: The Doom was going to go here but now that it going to have mines instead of interdiction the Aurora makes more sense. The Aurora is the quintessential overpowering high tech ship... but all it can do is fly there and blow something up because its going to need all its cargo for supplies
Destroyer:- Harbinger Burn 8 F/LY 2, Cargo 60, Fuel 100: Not much to say about this. It kills things dead. But again with the supply issue.
- Hammerhead Burn 8, F/LY 2, Cargo 32, Fuel 100: A straightforward design for a straightforward task. The distinctive hammerhead is a result of stripping out the places which would have been used for cargo
Frigate: - Lasher Burn 9 F/LY 1, Cargo 16, Fuel 50: Most of the hegemony uses larger ships in raids or eschews raids all together. But the Lasher is an effective ship
- Shade Burn 9 F/LY 1, Cargo 32, Fuel 50: Now that the afflictor is getting interdiction the shade is the clear option. It can use its EW to disable enemy defensive ships while the rest of the fleet kills the valuable cargo
- Scarab Burn 9 F/LY 1, Cargo 32, Fuel 50 When the shade is disabling dangerous things the Scarab is cutting through anything it can find
- Hyperion Burn 10, F/LY 1, Cargo 60, Fuel 50 Another high tech raider. Even worse for supplies than the other ships the Hyperion is in danger of running out unless its constantly farming a good amount of supplies
Defense Ships: Adding any of these to a raiding or exploration party will impart a significant penalty to effective range and potentially maneuverability speed. The frigates are much easier to accommodate because of their much lower total supply usage and their much higher burn rates
Spoiler
Capital:- Legion Burn 4, Fuel 100, Cargo 160 What can we say its a straightforward murder machine
- Astral Burn 4, Fuel 100, Cargo 200 What can we say its a straightforward murder machine
- Onslaught Burn 3, Fuel 100, Cargo 160 What can we say its a straightforward murder machine
Cruiser:- Eagle Burn 6, Fuel 30, Cargo 90 What can we say its a straightforward murder machine
- Mora Burn 6, Fuel 30, Cargo 90 What can we say its a straightforward murder machine
- Dominator Burn 6, Fuel 30, Cargo 90: What can we say its a straightforward murder machine
- Doom Burn 6, Fuel 30, Cargo 90. Now that it has mines tri-tach is going to park it at home and make it a silent killer of raiding fleets.
Destroyer:- Sunder Burn 8, Fuel 20, Cargo 40: This went here because the others seemed better. Plus i believe that the Sunder is the generally superior fleet ship due to its potentially excessive range
- Drover Burn 8, Fuel 20, Cargo 40 Similar to the Sunder this ship fits better in this place than the other options
- Enforcer Burn 8, Fuel 20, Cargo 40 This is a quintessential defensive ship
Frigate: - Centurian Burn 7, Fuel 10, Cargo 20: Intended to primarily fly with larger ships as mobile point defense the Centurian does not need a strong burn drive
- Afflictor Burn 12, Fuel 10, Cargo 30: The afflictor is the high tech defensive frigate that can run down and out maneuver raiding parties.
- Kite Burn 12, Fuel 10, Cargo 20 The Kite is the low tech defensive frigate which can run down and out maneuver raiding parties
- Monitor Burn 7, Fuel 10, Cargo 20 Intended to primarily fly with larger ships as mobile point defense the Monitor does not need a strong burn drive
- Wolf Burn 12, Fuel 10, Cargo 20 The Wolf is the mid-tech defensive frigate which can run down and out maneuver raiding parties.
- Omen Burn 9, Fuel 10, Cargo 20: General point defense its intended to fly with the faster high tech fleets. Expensive but availiable to explore or raid if necesary
- Vigilance Burn 10, Fuel 10, Cargo 20: Dangerous in a group its all purpose fast defense
- Brawler Burn 10, Fuel 10, Cargo 20: Dangerous in a group its all purpose fast defense