Certain commonalities run throughout the capital vessels of the titanium cluster.  All are Hull 20 (though I also address a 'light capital' class at hull 16).  All have Engines 2 and Shields 5.  All are Armor Plated.  Almost all have Fire Control and Countermeasures.  None mount Hyperdrives, and almost all have 8-12 Marines and half that number of transporters to deliver them.

As a result, these ships are obviously designed, and intended, to play together as parts of a single setting, rather than 'at large' in the SM:AE universe.  Interestingly, the capital vessels are more similar, at least in terms of speed, size, and defenses than has classically been the real world scenario.  The primary differences appear in their armament, as if all the races were building from the same 'blueprint', but applying different daughter technologies.  One wonders if we are looking at a semi-dark-ages 'after collapse of empire' style setting.

In any event, on to the ships!

Okhani Northern Union Ooshookhan Dreadnought:
The Heavy Particle Lances are potentially horrifying.  With 2 Impact Rolls for 2 damage each, each one double damage extra hull damage, a single weapon can expect to generate 12 Hull damage, if it hits and both impact rolls penetrate.  However, the anticipated damage, especially at long range, is about the same in Pulse mode, given the greater accuracy (and discounting the impact of AOE against multiple targets).  The Rail Cannon will actually serve the big beast better against its cousins, and the Okhani Northern Union will probably want to close to Range 12 with other capital vessels, while using the Heavy Particle Arrays in either lance mode, to remove medium-sized vessels in one or two shots, or in Pulse mode to wipe out the swarms of fighters and torpedos that are endemic to the setting.  The Rail Cannons will open up their cousins sheilds.
The Sentinel Defense Turrets will serve in the anti-fighter role, but the Ooshookhan really relies on escorting vessels, or in judicious use of pulse mode at long ranges (before fighters can escape the ponderous vessels limited arc) to cut down the number of incoming fighters/seekers/etc.

Khirokh Central Empire Peirimal Class Dreadnought:
The Grav Lance Replaces the Heavy Particle Arrays 'Lance' Mode as a long range ship killer.  The three Grav Lances, especially with the 'piercing' mod, will allow the Perimal to out-shoot the Ooshookhan in the longer range bands.  The anti-fighter role of 'pulse mode' is taken over by the Heavy-Mass Fusion Cannons.  Though they lack the massive ROF of the Pulse Mode Arrays above, their much greater numbers (7 v. 2) and wider coverage offsets this.  The double-damage 'Mass' Mode makes a decent secondary armament.  Close in defense, with the Grav mines, should be hiedously effective.. the vessel can cover alot of close-in space with ROF 5 AOE.  Coupled with the AOE Fusions and the slow, shielded, accurate, ROF3 Chalrus SuperInterceptors, the Khirokh DN is self-escorting (and the Chalrus will be relatively mean, due to piercing, in an anti-ship role).  Its weakness, inasmuch as it has one, seems to be in dealing with multiple middle-weight opponents.  The limited arc of hte Grav Lance, coupled with the short range of the Grav Mines, means that the Perimal really depends on its 2 fighter groups and Fusion Cannons against agile, well armed light cruisers, and could get in trouble alone against them.  Still, on the whole, superior to the first DN discussed, though the lack of countermeasures means that it will suffer some accuracy disadvantage at longer ranges against its more-common Fire Control+Countermeasures opponents.

Multi-State Alliance Shokhalath System Control Ship
Something of the bastard child of a DN and a CV (still over 1200 points without its fighters), the Shokalath is elegant.  Its Gatling Cannons, with their limited cross-bore coverage (6 guns, 1 arc each) provide little effective point defense.  However, a total of 40 ROF 3 Fighters -do- provide effective point defense.  The Heavy Ion/Mass Driver is interesting.  Piercing in both modes, a definite plus in this universe of max-shielded ships, it seems to rely on the Ion Mode to produce buckets O damage to cripple enemy capships, and Mass Mode either to finish the target off or to shoot lighter vessels.  On the whole, the two modes seem a bit too similar to really get the juice out of dual mode weapons.
Self-Escorting, due to its fighters, and with at least some response against any likely opponent, the Shokhalath is really only let down by its 2000 point price tag.  Also, 640 of its BV is tied up in highly powerful, but relatively fragile, fighters that will, if care is not used, quickly fall prey to the plethora of AOE anti-fighter options found in the cluster.

Nexus Allied Powers Mahkhogran Class Dreadnought
Stock systems, size, and speed, here.  Point Defense attempts to make up for the lack of on-board fighters or anti-fighter weapons.  Although the Bolt Mode of the Nexus Beams suggests additional anti-fighter use, the very ppor arcs, coupled with the 3 IMP, 2 DMG, and Double-Damage make it clear that Bolt Mode is meant to break up concentrations of mid-to-large ships (anything smaller will stay out of arc).
The lack of range modifiers, coupled with the good accuracy of the Pulse Mode, suggests another vessel best suited to long range combat... a suggestion that the lack of any close-in weapons or real anti-fighter defenses supports.  Excellent at its role, but very, very vulnerable, the Mahkhogran should never be allowed out on its own, the Nexus Player will have to make very sure he keeps the support ships for the Mahkhorgran alive long enough to capitalize on its 16 to-hit, 48 Impact, 96 Damage dice of range 15 no-range-modifiers misery, and thus ensure that the Mahkhogran does not end up unsupported.  The lack of piercing on its primary guns may be problematic against other capital vessels, however...

Khonilka-Yan Imperium Khalakhor Heavy Battleship
Winning the award for 'Best Designed Dual Purpose Weapon in the Cluster', the Heavy Laser/Pulse Cannon has a highly effective anti-fighter flavor (though the 2 impact is a bit wasted, everythign shouldnt have to be perfect, and will make it a fairly decent weapon against strikeboats), and a Piercing, Double Damage, No-Range-Modifiers anti-ship mode that is a well balanced capship killer.   The three Nexus Cannons cover short and mid-range dual-purpose duties, being decent in the anti-fighter and anti-strikeboat role.
Better alone than some ships, the Khalakhor will still suffer from a serious vuneraiblity to fighter swarms, as fighters should have little trouble evading the A-B arcs, and the Nexus Cannons just cannot swat down enough.

I'Ter'Kor Alliance No-Khantai Dreadnought
Take a Khalakhor.  Rip off the Nexus Cannon, and downgrade the Lasers.  Add some mines and 200 points worth of very strange, highly innacurate, piercing, AOE??? fighters.   Likely to perform reasonably well, and flies better solo than the Khalakhor due to the wider coverage on its primary weapons, but will have trouble focusing firepower on point-targets at range, and (like many capships in the cluster) will be very vulnerable to firepower destruction due to the very small number of weapons... especially with the 'double' damage' weapons prevalent, one die roll could easily strip half of a capships firepower.
On the whole, feels like a variant of hte Khalakhor hull.. how closely are those two empires related?

Conclusion:
Interesting.  Id like to put them on a table to see how differently they play from one another... whether the subtle enginnering differences create interesting, subtle but meaningful tactical differenecs (I give you the Kzin, Klingon, and Black Shark Tourney Cruisers of SFB.  Phasers, Disruptors, Drones... and yet, they play differently in very important ways, especially against each other).  My expectation is those subtle differences could make for good play against each other, but from the standpoint of an 'outsider' race, they will all seem like clones.

Enjoyable, and I pity that I lack the time and energy to write up the rest of the navy!</t>

Just wanted to ask about some stuff that was discussed back during SMX, and whether or not we could look for it at some point in AE:

1.)  Area of Effect other than 1 hex Radius:
While I love the current AOE, I'm curious as to the possibility of other forms of AOE, including AOE Line (all hexes along a path between firing ship and target hex), AOE 1 Hex (like the current AOE, but only a single hex), and the like.

2.)  Slow(er) Firing Weapons:
While I love the 2-turn weapon 'slow firing', Id like to see 3 turn weapons as well, both for duplicating SFB portability, and to further increase options.  I agree that 3 turns is probably a limit.

3.)  Ablative Armor:
You remember.  I loved the idea, but it was my idea, so of course -I- loved it.

4.)  More specific anti-fighter options:
While the 'Anti-Fighter' weapon that avoids the fighter to-hit penalty is a nice start, it would also be nice to have weapons that suffer a penalty against ships, in exchange for loosing the penalty against fighters (Ideally at no CR mod or even a negative CR mod, as fighters are less common than ships).  Beyond that, something that could ONLY hurt fighters (at a major CR break) would also be lovely.

5.)  Firing Time Options:
We can sort-of do this with dual mode weapons (depending on interpretation, see next post).  However, a specific modifier could also work, espc. if the dual mode interpretation doesnt work.

6.)  Extra Other Damage Weapons
Extra Hull damage is neat.  Might we at some point expect to see extra sheild, weapon, or engine damage?  How would they be costed, inasmuch as the x3 of 'Extra Hull Damage' seems high for systems that are non-essential (though I note that shield/engine/system damage occurs 1 time in 3, suggesting the appropriate value thereof would be x4.  This seems very high, except (perhaps) for 'Extra Weapon Damage' weapons)