camulus777

Just think of the poor Kerman that you are condemning to death.

lol 2.5 tons is a lot of missile. I guess you are right though, when it comes to kinetic weapons mass and speed are everything.

Gauss H2K your SSTO's are very cool. I love the smaller one its gota F-22 look to it.

A sound tactic. I can see a single carrier group in orbit over Jool or hiding near a moon sending out scout drones and ships finding targets in the Jool system and sending the appropriate force to deal with that target. Smaller carriers should have more armor i would think because they are going to be closer to the fight. Your right about my interceptor the OF-57 Phoenix Mk VI is my newest design and comes with only two missiles but can be outfitted with my standard torpedo and it can reach orbit in like 7 min with fuel to spare. it has 2 larger docking ports for modules and weapons. It replaces my Mk I witch had the same armament on takeoff but cant be rearmed with torpedoes and has no extra docking ports for added modules. It makes a great planetary defense vehicle but would be hard pressed to take out anything with heavy armor. Its cost is low made mostly of wings and smaller inexpensive parts. The new Mk V i am most proud of it is a jet VTOL that can reach orbit, it has 4 smaller docking hardpoints and 2 larger ones with a variety of modules and weapons load-outs. The Mk V only weighs .3 tons more than the Mk IV and Mk VI I got rid of the tail fins that the Mk I's - III's had reducing the part count and wight and not hindering its stability at all. Makes the new fighters look more sleek. I will be putting 2 Mk IV's on my new carriers as attack bombers giving me 2 attack bombers, 8 light fighters, 6 defense drone fighters, 2 maintenance drones and, 4 scout drones. Part count is a bit nuts but that's only because of all the fighter craft. I wish the part count wasn't such a big limitation.

Should we even have carriers? Hmmm, it's tough to see the future of warfare or how Macey will want to deal with scouting and contact and combat range, but for me the carrier is still a must. Just think of it as a mobile resupply base, that's what carriers are. Once you get it out to where you want it you can launch a wave of attacks on a distant target without putting an expensive 100t (or 140t in the case of the Spirit of Kerbin) target in a direct line of fire. Designing a carrier is a daunting task and though the Spirit of Kerbin is cool its only one of the first designs. There may be a way to maximize a carriers potential so that it is more of a carrier. A few more docking ports on the exterior and you can support some larger fighter craft. A few smaller docking ports and you can put defensive drones to protect against attacks on your carrier. Battleships hare heavily armored and armed and should be maneuverable enough to get a good lock on their target. Carriers in theory don't even need RCS and can maneuver with a few advanced SAS and gimble. You don't need to dock them with enough transports and tankers you can use them as the station and just dock things to them. The main reason I separated the carrier sizes is because unlike other ships carriers a tonnage should not include its docked ships. Its got a standard weight that should be observed not including all the fighters and drones and sats attached to it. This should give the carrier an advantage over the larger capitol ships like a real carrier. If you put weapons on the carrier, not including storeable ordnance, those weapons are counted in the base weight.

Put small docking ports on your ssto and make a modular weapons system that can dock with it. Thats how i solved my problem and armed my interceptor is 25t but if i were to put a fully outfitted Mk IV it would be a bomber too. But consider a modern bomber. Its just a fighter with bigger bombs. So when i classify bomber that's what i had in mind. As far as ssto's having a separate category, that might be something to consider.

You have to be careful when you fire at a distance cause the physics can just fart and the projectile goes through the target doing no damage. As far as building large ships its a matter of knowing what they are going to be used for. I may even go as far as to assign tonnage for ship classes and see if Macey likes the idea. That way he can say ok your corp can have this much tonnage worth of ships so this many light fighters, that many corvettes, this many cruisers, etc... because on my save i have 26 capitol ships in orbit with 50 fighter craft and more support craft than i know what to do with. I will not want to deal with much crap and i doubt Macey would too. So I'm gona make a list starting with fighters and bombers. Light fighters < 8.1t Medium fighters 8.1 - 13t Heavy fighters 13.1 - 27t bombers 27.1 - 35t Attacker 35.1 - 40t Corvette 40.1 - 50t Frigate 50.1 - 65t Destroyer 65.1 - 80t Cruiser 80.1 - 100t Battle Cruiser 100.1t - 150t Battleship 150.1 - 200t Dreadnaught 200.1 < Carriers Light < 50.1t Medium 50.1 - 100t Heavy 100.1 - 150t Super Heavy 150.1 < Hows that look. That's just a rough estimation. I revised this approach so that people can classify the ship as whatever they want. Ultra Light= 0-30 Light= 30-75 Medium= 75-150 Capitol Ship= 150-250 Super Heavy Capitol Ship= 250+

I've posted a new thread titled KSP Naval Academy for any that are interested. I will be discussing tactics and strategies that may help in an impending engagement. The post is open for debate and critique and we will firstly be discussing the roll of the space carrier, its strengths and weaknesses, and how to equip and support fighters. Im also going to be linking it to a new youtube series I'm gona be running with the same title. The show is just to give a more practical visualization of each scenario described. This will also be a good place to test each of your ship designs and compare them. I've come up with a testing benchmark and will give each ship a rating of 1-10 in its class and an overall rating of 1-10 out of all classes. If you want to help judge I'd love the help because quite frankly there are a lot of ships. lol

The KSP Naval Academy Welcome Cadets I have decided to post a new thread about KSP space tactics related to the Macey Dean youtube series and the rules of engagement he posted during his famed episode The Battle for Laythe. Fleet Engagements: Battles are conducted by exchanging the KSP save files immediately after a player's 'turn' ends allowing his opponent to then retaliate in sequence. 1. Each fleet admiral takes it in turns to move one ship and engage one target, before handing the save file back. All all available ordinance may be fired at a single target, but a second target will have to wait for the next turn. 2. Ships move in order of tonnage (fighters first, destroyers and frigates next, and capitol ships last). Once the three game 'phases' are completed the process is then repeated until all ships are destroyed, or one side withdraws. These rules are based on the exact wording posted in the episode and if you did not see the episode i would recommend watching it. I've watched the video many times studying the tactical advantages of each ship class and type. I've even designed my ships specifically to avoid some of the problems encountered by both sides. One of these problems I've discovered is the reliability of the standard torpedo. They are a hit and miss when it comes to penetration especially when the target is armored. I have found that grouping these torps in sets of at least three makes then far more reliable and close together. They act like a weapon several times more massive. A tactic i would have also taken that may have even prevented the destruction of the Spirit of Kerbin would have been to keep her at a much higher orbit or even near another moon and launch fighters from there. Carriers are not front line fighting platforms they are designed to stay back and support their fighters from a distance. As a rule of thumb if its not armed don't put it in combat. Keep in mind I'm not rebuking Macey by any means. If his opponent was not suicidal he would have been on top the entire time and considering he was seriously out gunned that is very impressive. I will be using actual examples of tactics in naval history listing the uses of these scenarios and how to prevent disaster in your fleet. Also any commentary is welcome even critique and healthy respectful debate. Lastly though I have mentioned Macey's show and his battles I am not directly affiliated with his page, and i do not represent his views or beliefs on any subject. I would however like to discuss some amendments to the combat rules seeing as they will now include the possibility of several different admirals at the same time. I enjoy coming up with gaming mechanics and hold to the standards of the simplest solution tends to be the correct one in most cases. Macey agn this is not an attack on your process but there are a few sections that should be debated a bit including the use of smart missiles, weather initiative should be counted by mass or speed, and should there be special ramming rules to prevent the meaningless loss of Kerbal life? These are just a few of the questions i have encountered in the forums.

I like using the flying fuselage design it looks like a flying pizza slice. You can do a fuel variant or a transport. The transport is kinda cool cause you can put like 20 kerman in it. The fuel can is good because you use a fraction of the fuel to get it into orbit. Rockets are just inefficient as fuel carriers because they use 7/1 fuel to get into orbit. A plane uses 4/1 or even 5/1 if you fly it right. This became a bit more difficult with the latest patch but it is still doable. in fact you can make an entirely rocket free space program if you know what you are doing. Im starting a youtube series dedicated to simplifying SSTOs an space plane based launch platforms. I'll put the link up here when i get my PC fixed in a few days. If it helps let me know, I'll dedicate an early episode to fuelers and transports.

I love the train, I used something similar to build my stations around Duna. Helped me keep the part count to a minimum and use less fuel to get the parts out of atmo. The cool part about this design is that you can have a droid car with droids for loading and unloading modules. Or like on my Mk III tug small manned tug pods with the new tiny engine that came out or lots of RCS. The biggest problem I had was balancing out my RCS for maneuvering but now i just use multiple advances SAS bits and keep the RCS off unless docking. Good design. a 8.7 out of 10 for utility, productivity, endurance, and symmetry. I would just design an other pusher car as well with less parts than the engine but the same amount of thrust.

i would tend to agree with your tactical assessment on larger ships. They are risky to fly however that is why they should be held back. Carrier fleets are where it is at, and if you can deliver 12 fighter craft and 6 bombers to a battle with the same fuel as 2 battleships and deliver more firepower thats the way to go. That said there is something to be said for a massive ship throwing 16T torpedos at your carrier and no matter what you throw at it it will not die. Bigger ships also carry more fuel weapons troops etc...

modular or are you going to get the entire thing into orbit in one laggy shot. lol

Go big or go home right.

i will be putting the drop pod system i designed in my next submission vid as well as an upgraded Phoenix Mk V with VTOL for landing on airless moons and such. Though the current Mk II and III can already do this on the smaller moons via RCS. The Mk V looks cooler. I got rid of the tail fins to make it look totally flat. This also give the added bonus of having no obstructions at all on the top and bottom docking hardpoints. Id like to think that the Mk V is the final adaptation of my Phoenix class of orbital fighter but one can always improve. So far it fulfills all my mission parameters perfectly so im happy with it. Its cheap enough on fuel and needs no RCS at all unless its docking, a concept I've tried to adopt even in my capitol ships. So far only the largest ships would need RCS for maneuvering and only in combat for quick reaction time or for docking. Cuts weight down a bit because RCS fuel is so heavy lol. Your destroyer may be a bit more practical too lol.

ya but i wanted to stay away from putting smart missiles on everything because Macey did mention he did not want to just ram everything lol. I don't blame him either. Its hard to miss with a smart missile and it takes the fun out of it. I have considered suggesting that smart missiles deploy in the fire round but that they are controlled in the following turn. Allowing the possibility of anti missile missile systems witch react faster to target them and shoot them down. Like a point defense system. I Also came up with a chaff deployment system that covers a wide area in debris that can hinder a missiles chance of hitting, however this has the problem of increasing the part count considerably.

if you plan your launch right you can get 400t into orbit the part count is just ridiculous lol. I have a 375t battleship/ 400t dreadnaught designed to fly to and from Jool and back to Jool with no refuel. Its heavy as hell and the part count is rather high but as far as an assault ship goes its amazing. It can carry 160 Kerman marines in drop pods. If this thing wanted a colony it could take it. duno if i want to give it to Hanland or allied with Spirit Wolf. I want to make Handlan a bit more capable because it seams that most of us are making ships for Spirit Wolf but that is a lot of power to give the antagonist. Would make for an awesome story though. ne suggestions?

i have been getting the impression that KSP does not want weapons in their game even made of stalk parts. Lol most of the updates i have seen have "fixed the physics" and ruined the staging and firing of weapons. There is no reason that when you set a liquid engine and a decupeler that the engine should not fire off first or at least at the same time. Like the rockets. Or if you use a docking port to attach it. lol Oh well I've fixed the problem in a very round about way. I have come to the same conclusion that my logistics ships will probably be more useful as well, not because my fleet of capitol ships or the fighter escorts are weak or anything but because fuel and rearmament are going to be an interracial part of any mission. This is true in real military life. 75% or more of the military is logistics and if you can never have to much. A constant flow of fuel will be crucial for missions to the outer rim and that can be problematic if your supply lines are ever intercepted. The best way to prevent a convoy's destruction will to equip them with light escort fighters. Cheap expendable craft that have a high delta V for intercepting incoming targets but enough firepower to take out a light capitol ship with medium armor. Normally id say an Isprit like fighter will do the trick but VTOL in this case is moot so you can save weight an fuel and exchange the standard thruster for the spike or a fission rocket. I've also toyed with the concept of a drone fighter for this task but they are to small to pack any real punch for the part count and far to slow. Smart missiles are also a good concept but then you have the issue of how many do i put on and how will all that fuel and mass affect the DV. Escorting with a capitol ship can be tricky seeing as you can only use one ship t a time and one will have to waist fuel in an attempt to catch up to the other unless you time their departure well enough. I've done this maneuver a few times and sent out two craft at almost the same time from orbit within 20km of each other then realized that i had to switch between them constantly while trying to make orbit round the target planet. I'm sure fuel raiders will be a big problem in the daunting task of keeping our fleets fed. I have even designed a boarding pod that docks with a ship to take control, 5 Kerman marines and 3 support pilots that can also be armed for boarding. Probably not a practical way to take out an armed capitol ship but unarmed tankers and transports are fair game. I have a model for a Hanland boarding pod as well and a special drop pod that will be in my next video once my PC is fixed. (power supply died out after 5 years of constant use . i will be having a memorial service for it.) Good news is I'm upgrading to an 800w from a 600w. with SLI capability so i can actually use the two graphics cards I have now. Yay.

ya its a matter of the physics catching up with the event. I have a missile that has 8 pairs of sepratrons on a single beam and its fast as fast as fas in space. It was going through the targets so i had to slow it down. If you increase the mass that will both add damage potential and slow its acceleration. even better if you slow it down with a can it adds a lot more damage and fixes the problem. Now its not just a kinetic round now its an explosive fragmentation round.

i have two mine designs that merely ram a ship in range of it. One is for large capitol ships and the other is smaller. Im sure both will do. and launching them or deploying them is quite simple. I've thought of a hacking drone that docked with a ship and took over but in a real time situation the ship attempting to dock would just become a missile any way if either craft decided to change course.

Enter AlTi AD inc. AlTi AD Incorporated is a pioneering aerospace engineering company that has for years directed its considerable resources to the profitable development of the local solar system achieving great success in extra planetary mining operations and scientific discovery. AlTi AD came from humble beginnings nearly forty years ago as a small aluminum cellphone case manufacturing company founded by Bradno Michael Kerman. The company slowly grew from simple cellphone cases to computer manufacturing, spots gear, and even a stylish clothing line, but remained a light weight metals fabricator despite the success of these other ventures. After twenty years AlTi Fabrication and Engineering Group, as it was called then, expanded to manufacture aerospace components for some of the top companies in the industry. Relationships with some of there entities grew and thirty years after its birth the company merged with Dina Aerospace Connections and a small defense contractor called Bitter Defense and Logistics, Becoming AlTi Dina & Bitter International Solutions. The name would change two years later when AlTi bought controlling interest in the company finely becoming AlTi Aerospace & Defense Solutions Incorporated or AlTi AD inc. Today under the direction of its third CEO Reannah Lee Michael Kerman daughter of its founder the company has made leaps and bounds in practical and even profitable space exploration. The corporation's most recent accomplishments include a permanent scientific research outpost on the planet Duna, as well as two high capacity fuel depots in orbit and a resource extraction rig near the rim of the northern icecap. AlTi AD inc. also boasts an effective logistics train capable of reaching the outer planets and resupplying missions on the outer rim. Comprised of several modular tug craft and even the Mammoth class super tanker this resupply and refueling system has proven to be invaluable in aiding the Corporation and her allies in pushing the boundaries of exploration. Lastly in light of the incidents between the Spirit Wolf corporation and Hanland the AlTi AD defense department has seen fit to engineer a new line of SSTO multi-role attack fighter and a series of light and heavy capitol ships to protect its investments in orbit and beyond. The latest prototype to come out of the hanger is the OF-57 multi-role heavy attack stealth fighter. Named the Phoenix class the Mk I is designed as a low orbital intercepter armed with two linked missile hard-points that can be outfitted with a verity of light to medium yield ordinance for rapid ground to orbit response. The Mk I can also rondveu with a refueling module for long ranged strike missions or escort. The Mk II and Mk III are long ranged attack fighters designed to reach orbit without any modules or weapons dock with a station for fuel and armament and strike at a target from long range. These models are far more flexible than the Mk I with several hard-points capable of being outfitted with practically any sized weapon, but lack the response time for emergency interception. Rumors of a more efficient Mk IV to replace the Mks II and III have been confirmed but an even stranger rumor of a VTOL Mk V has yet to be validated. The current liaison of international relations for AlTi AD inc. has been meeting with representatives form Spirit wolf to discuss the possibility of a mutual information and defense exchange possibly even joint expeditionary missions but nothing final has been agreed upon. For now we will just have to wait and see what happens. AlTi AD inc. Your Future Is Bright. That's the address to a corporate video of the fighter. I cant put a screen shot up yet. I hope you guys like it there will be more to come after i get my computer fixed. I have 5 capitol ship designs i have to make videos for all can get into orbit all are 100% stock parts and only the carrier is over 250 parts. I also have all the aid craft to make proof and videos of as well as all the bases and stations I've put up I've got to now replace them lol. Ill also get the craft file as soon as i get an account up with a file sharing web-sight. Keep it up Kerbanaughts.

that is a beautiful ship how many tons?

i love the ssto design its very menacing.