• Registered: 2018-07-09
  • Posts: 136

Topic: My Shipbuilder

While working on another setting (to burn off excess creative energy from TNBL) I discovered an error in my Shipbuilder. With that in mind, I'm hoping that someone will enter the following ship into the Drydock and see if there are any other obvious errors:

Example Empire LIGHT CRUISER (204)
-Tech: Engine +1, Shield +1

-Fwd: 2-1
-Port: 2-1
-Stbd: 2-1
-Aft: 2-1

Hull: *-6-5-4-3-2-1
Engines: 6-4-2
Weapons: 11-8-4
Shields: 7-5-3
-Fwd: 2-1
-Port: 2-1
-Stbd: 2-1
-Aft: 1

Heavy Beam (Pr1)
(10) 1x2+/3/1
(G) (1)

Medium Beam (-)
(8) 1x2+/2/1
(ABCD) (ABCD) (1)

Missile Rack (Skr)
(MA 6) 3x3+/1/1
(ABCD) (1)

Light Beam (-)
(6) 1x2+/1/1
(AC) (BD) (CE) (DF) (2)

PD Beam (Dfn)
(3) 1x2+/1/1
(ABCD) (ABCD) (1)

Equipment: Countermeasures (1) (O) (1)
Traits:
Munitions:

ORat: 845
DRat:  49
CRat: 204

Start SUs: 1080
Remaining: 6

The asterisk is a Bulkhead.

  • From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2005-03-27
  • Posts: 3,578

Re: My Shipbuilder

This is what I come up with:

Example Empire Light Cruiser (204)
---
ID:    NAME:
---
Screens: 
-Fwd:  2-1
-Port: 2-1
-Stbd: 2-1
-Aft:  2-1
---
Hull: B-6-5-4-3-2-1
Engines: 6-5-3-2
Weapons: 11-9-6-3
Shields: 7-6-4-2
-Fwd:  2-1
-Port: 2-1
-Stbd: 2-1
-Aft:  1
---
Heavy Beam | G [] // (1)
   1-10 | 1x2+/3/1 (Pr1)
Medium Beam | ABCD [][] // (1)
    1-8 | 1x2+/2/1 
Missile Rack | ABCD [] // (1)
   MA 6 | 3x3+/1/1 
Light Beam | AB []| BD []| CE []| DF [] // (2)
    1-6 | 1x2+/1/1 
PD Beam | ABCD [][] // (1)
    1-3 | 1x2+/1/1 (Dfn)
---
Equipment: Countermeasures [] // (1)
Traits: Bulkheads (1)

Point-wise, everthing checks out. However, there is a 27 SU overage. Also, note that bulkheads increase the hull size, which means the engine/weapon/shield tracks are increased as well.

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

mj12games's Website

  • Registered: 2018-07-09
  • Posts: 136

Re: My Shipbuilder

My version only had one aft screen. I'll try it out with a second screen. However, I didn't realise bulkheads increased the tracks, so that's both good (in that I know that my shipbuilder is wrong) and bad (in that I have a lot of redesigning to do)

Edit: I also designed the vessel with a +1 TL in Engines and Shields, so that may also be a factor in the overage.

Edit 2: okay, I can't bloomin' well read. Sorry, I forgot what I posted up...

Right, so my Shipbuilder is 33SUs less than yours. With that in mind, I decided to copy down the individual SU costs of all the various items.

Engine Factor: 46, total SUs 276
Shield Factor: 63, EqSR 1.9, total SUs 120
1 Bulkhead @ 28SUs
8 Directional Screens @ 11SUs each
Countermeasures @ 126SUs

Heavy Beam @ 39SUs, battery cost of 78 SUs, ORat 125
Medium Beam @ 14.4SUs, battery cost of 144SUs, ORat 252
Missile Rack @ 20.4SUs, battery cost of 102SUs, ORat 204
Light Beam @ 6SUs, bank cost of 18SUs, battery cost of 72SUs, ORat 144
PD Beam @ 4SUs, battery cost of 40SUs, ORat 120

  • Registered: 2018-07-09
  • Posts: 136

Re: My Shipbuilder

BTW, thank-you for helping me out, even though it means going through my settings to alter the E/S/W tracks

  • From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2005-03-27
  • Posts: 3,578

Re: My Shipbuilder

Ahh... figured it out. The Drydock is not applying the TL modifier to directional screens. When I fix that, the design has 9 SUs remaining.

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

mj12games's Website

  • Registered: 2018-07-09
  • Posts: 136

Re: My Shipbuilder

Soo...my Shipbuilder is only 3SUs out from the Drydock. Thanks, I think that's probably down to rounding errors on my part :-)

  • From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2005-03-27
  • Posts: 3,578

Re: My Shipbuilder

FYI, the Drydock doesn't apply a TL mod to each item. Instead, it totals the amount of SUs in each category and either "refunds" or "debits" the appropriate SUs. That could easily account for the difference.

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

mj12games's Website

  • Registered: 2018-07-09
  • Posts: 136

Re: My Shipbuilder

Yeah, I think that's what's happening. Even more annoying is that over the last few weeks I've been working on altering the formulae to apply the TL for each item individually. Is it that much of an issue, or is it okay to leave as-is?

  • From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2005-03-27
  • Posts: 3,578

Re: My Shipbuilder

I've never been all that concerned with the SUs. If you're off by a few points one way or the other, it's not that big of a deal. The more important thing is that the combat rating works out for game balance.

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

mj12games's Website

  • Registered: 2018-07-09
  • Posts: 136

Re: My Shipbuilder

It's not a problem. Done it already, and got my version to match the SU value you stated by changing the ROUNDUP function I was using for the ROUND function. I might design a more complex vessel to make sure my Shipbuilder is completely accurate :-)

  • Registered: 2018-07-09
  • Posts: 136

Re: My Shipbuilder

And here is that more complex vessel.

Hypotherial Empire KOHR-POREAL-class battleship (907)
-Tech: Engines +1, Shields +1

Hull: [*]-[*]-[*]-[*]-20-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Engines: 3-3-3-3-2-2-2-2-1-1-1-1
Weapons: 24-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2
Shields: 4-4-4-3-3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1

Anti-Ship Beam Cannon (Mdl/Lnc)
(18) 1x2+/1/1
[G3] [AB3] (1)

Fusion Torpedo (Mdl/Knt)
(6) 1x3+/1/1
[CD] [CD] (1)

Heavy Cannon (Pr2/SLn)
(12) 1x2/1/1
[AC3] [BD3] [CE3] [DF3] (2)

Light Cannon (Pr1/SLn)
(8) 1x2+/1/1
[ACE3] [ACE3] [BDF3] [BDF3] (2)

AEGIS Array (Dfn)
(2) 4x2+/1/1
[Fwd] [Fwd] [Fwd] [Fwd] [Port] [Port] [Stbd] [Stbd] [Aft] [Aft] (5)

Equipment: AEGIS Fire Control (O), Anti-Fighter Batteries (O) (1)
Munitions:
Marines: 12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

ORAT 4438
DRAT 185

Starting SUs:  5000
Remaining: 5

BSUR of batteries:
Anti-Ship Beam Cannon: 90
Fusion Torpedo: 36
Heavy Cannon: 36
Light Cannon: 18
AEGIS Array: 12 (16 with AEGIS Fire Control)