Space Combat Basics

In the aftermath of the alien intervention, space combat, always the most glamorous type of battle has taken on an even greater significance. Ship to ship combat has evolved into its current form over five years of bloody fighting, and most human navies now follow this model.

Ship Types

In contrast to earlier theories, modern space warfare is conducted by a tool kit of highly specialist vessels, each of which has a specific mission and is strong against a single type of foe. These are called main battle ships.

Beyond the main battle, Peripheral combat ships operate. These ships are not necessarily smaller than main battle ships, but they are either too expensive or too fragile to stand with them in the main line of engagement.

Main Battle Ships

Main Battle Ships are the main striking arm of most navies, and consist of a tool box of specialist designs. Not all Main Battle Ships of the same class are of the same design however, and most are assessed by rating, the largest (first rate) vessels carrying the most additional equipment, while the smallest (forth rate) are the cheapest.

Strikers

Strikers are highly manoeuvrable, stealthy vessels with advanced ECM masking systems, heat sumps and the like which allows them to move relatively freely around the battle. Strikers are armed with heavy missiles descended from the classic 'lance' torpedo created by the outer colonies during the war.

Strikers are excellent at striking at assault ships, and at fixed targets such as stations and ground positions. They are extremely vulnerable to destroyers.

Destroyers

Destroyers are slower than strikers (about as fast as assault ships) but more agile, and with better sensors. They also tend to mount a very large sensor and electronics array, allowing them to quickly localize enemy stealth vessels like strikers, allowing them to be destroyed both by the Destroyers own weapons and by friendly assault ships. These abilities come at a cost however, as destroyers are lightly armoured and shielded, and unstealthy.

Destroyers are excellent at defeating strikers, but will be quickly smashed by enemy assault ships.

Assault Ships

Assault ships are fast, heavily armed and armoured, but relatively unmanoeuvrable vessels. Assault ships job is primarily space control, engaging enemy destroyers, peripheral combat ships, stations and ground positions with equal ease. Modern assault ships tend to be wedge shaped, with the frontal wedge aspect having most of the armour and are armed with an array of computer targeted rail guns and missiles.

Assault ships are excellent for destroying enemy destroyers, but strikers are the bane of assault ships, as their stealth and agility allows them to quickly gain a favourable kill angle and their lances can defeat even the heavy armour of an assault ship.

Peripheral Combat Ships

Carriers

Space is big, and so are skip drives and jump extenders. Main battle ships which had to also be operated for long periods of time are considered too large and expensive for modern navies to sustain, so instead huge mobile bases called carriers provide these smaller vessels with strategic mobility.

Carriers are heavily armoured and protected themselves, and some mount impressive arrays of weapons, but they cannot really stand in a line of battle against swarms of hostile strikers and assault ships. Instead they are best kept away from the engagement, perhaps providing long range fire support, but mostly dealing with their main task of resupply.

Most modern carriers continue to supply fuel and energy to main battle ships in flight through fuel beams.

Frigates

Frigates are long occupation, multirole cruising vessels generally used to defeat pirates, insurgents, rogue terraforming devices and other relatively low level threats. Individual frigates are quite capable of taking on a single, or in some cases even several main battle ships, but they are much larger, and due to extensive occupation systems, fuel tanks, and even jump drives can no way defeat their own cost in main battle ships either.

One role which does tend to bring frigates close to the line of battle is electronic support. It's not particularly uncommon to see a frigate providing jamming support for a fleet.

Corvette

Corvettes are small transatmospheric ships designed to operate in orbit around and in the atmosphere of a planet. They perform customs duties, and in war time launch raids against enemy forces in orbit, often carrying very heavy missiles or guns. While short ranged they are not to be trifled with.

Cruiser

Used almost exclusively by the alien supported Compact, Cruisers are large, multi-role vessels which act as the Compact's main unit, replacing all specialist craft. Cruisers tend to be larger than frigates, and equipped with impressive (no doubt xeno-sourced) technology. They come in two varieties, light and heavy.

Civilian Vessels

There are numerous types of civilian vessels plying the space lanes, from massive super container ships to tiny tramp freighters and asteroid miners. Some even carry small amounts of guns, but few can stand up to a warship.