Smivs wrote:The Boa Class Cruiser is to my mind mis-named. It is a civilian transport/freighter and the name 'cruiser' implies a military role. I therefore normally refer to it as the Boa 2.
...
bearing in mind that the stock Boa 2 is fairly quick and manoevreable I think this vessel fits more into a Destroyer role. A heavily modified Anaconda might make a better cruiser.
Fair enough. The Boa 2 and especially the Boa 2 Clipper are as fast as almost any fighter in the game, so despite the silly naming conventions calling them "Destroyers" isn't too far-fetched.
Modifying Anacondas into a fast and heavier "Cruiser" type should/would reduce its cargo bay considerably...and still might not justify giving them >0.3 LM speeds. The Galactic Navy Anaconda Transport could could even be renamed "Flak Cruiser" due to its turrets...then its military-quality power plant can run the engines and the turrets, something a smaller ship should couldn't feasibly do.
Gimi wrote:HIMSN Light cruiser with small docking bay allowing docking of Sidewinders.
HIMSN Assault Ship. Bulky Logistics ship with docking bay up to Asp size ships.
HIMSN Behemoth. Large battle ship with docking bay.
Your Light Cruiser and Assault Ship are more like escort and light carriers, but just to make them big enough to suit their role will make them a lot bigger than an Anaconda. Either the Sidewinders or Asps have to be turned around inside these mini-carriers or they have to either dock or launch in reverse. Carrying capacity really needs to be greater than 4 "fighters" carried internally just to justify their existence. On top of that, the overspecialized docking bays would pretty much doom the design to obscurity. But I think the whole idea of multiple "carrier" types gets away from the idea of a small overall navy.
Behemoths can exist simply because they're limited to 16 total and considered budget-breakers. As big as they are, even they probably can't hold more than 20 Sidewinders or fewer larger ship-types. You should never see one patrolling a system. It would either be coming back for repairs/replenishment or fighting the bugs in distant interstellar space .
To keep the Navy different than GalCop, Vipers probably should be excluded as possible navy fighter types. They are explicitly police ships. Instead it make more sense for the Behemoth to carry upgraded military-quality Sidewinders and Asps. Regular Sidewinders are so heavily mass-produced that trader freighters can be escorted by 2 or more of them. Asps should be fewer in number at least in proximity to Behemoths, due to their higher cost than the Sidewinders. They don't need a carrier to hyperspace jump, so the Behemoth only acts as a rest stop for their pilots. Asps are desperately needed in solo/paired armed recon missions where anything slower and weaker would die.
Cobra 3's might be used as a small missile bomber, used as an interim ship at least out of urgent desperation until replaced by a specialized navy ship...which will never be seen due to the navy being overstretched and underfunded.
Multiple Constrictors, if they ever get produced, would be too expensive and too few to replace Asps, Cobra 3's, and Sidewinders. At best, I'd believe they could barely exceed Behemoths in number. But they would fit too many roles (fighter, bomber, scout) and would not be consistently available for any of them. Any Navy Admiral requesting them for missions would likely be "outbid" by other higher-ranking Admirals demanding their use elsewhere. Even spreading a "massive" 40 Constrictors between all the different navy commands means each navy command might get 5, if each navy command roughly included a Galaxy Chart in their sphere of influence. Were they stationed as part of the fighter compliment of the 16 Behemoths, there'd only be 2-3 with each Behemoth. They should be latecomers to the fight, by which time there likely isn't 16 Behemoths left in service.
So, for the total navy:
16 Behemoths (8 older types, 8 newer types)
Anaconda Transport "Flak Cruisers"
standard Anaconda "Supply Ships"
Boa 2 and/or Boa 2 Clipper "Destroyers"
Navy Asps "figher/recon/solo craft"
Navy Cobra 3's "light bombers"
Navy Sidewinders "close support fighters"
Navy Morays "Search-and-Rescue" ships
Navy Constrictors "Special OPs" ships (but very few in number)
numerous Worms, Shuttles, and Transporters
Even assuming there's 4-10 "Flak Cruisers" or "Destroyers" per Behemoth, there's no reason to have more than 1-3 big bases spread between all 8 galaxy charts for major support and 1-3 small bases per galaxy chart so supplies can reach them in less than 1 month.