This is intended to be a quick reference guide showing the progression of a well-balanced, laser-based navy in the early game. There are tons of possibilities, but this is intended to be an easy to follow example (as well as my starting navy):
First ships establish reconnaissance, deterrence, and basic homeland security:
Sensor Ship Mk.1 Cargo Hull
HP: 1 Sensors Mk.1 x5
Speed 3 pc Basic Life Sup. x1
Range 2.2 sct Ion Drive x2
Sensor 8 pc
Beam 0 Cost: 81 bc
Fighter Mk.1 Small Hull
HP: 10 Impulse Drive Mk.1 x1
Speed 3 pc Sensor Mk.1 x1
Range 2.2 sct Basic Life Support x1
Sensor 3 pc Laser Mk.2 x1
Beam 1 Cost: 92 bc
Fighter Mk.2 Small Hull
HP: 10 Impulse Drive Mk.2 x1
Speed 3 pc Sensor Mk.1 x1
Range 2.2 sct Basic Life Support x1
Sensor 3 pc Laser Mk.4 x2
Beam 2 Cost: 118 bc
Researching Laser Mk.5 opens up the second phase of your military allowing the mix of high speed interdiction with heavily armed fighters.
Interceptor Mk.1 Tiny Hull
HP: 6 Impulse Drive Mk.2 x2
Speed 5 pc Laser Mk.5 x1
Range 0.9 sct
Sensor 2 pc
Beam 1 Cost: 78 bc
Fighter Mk.3 Small Hull
HP: 10 Impulse Drive Mk.2 x1
Speed 3 pc Laser Mk.5 x4
Range 0.9 sct
Sensor 2 pc
Beam 4 Cost: 164 bc
Researching Impulse Drive Mk.3 and Sensors Mk.3 brings about the final phase of your military in the early game. This tech allows you to specialize your military into Type A short-range craft, and Type B long-range craft.
Short-range defensive force:
Interceptor Mk.2A Tiny Hull
HP: 6 Impulse Drive Mk.3 x3
Speed 7 pc Laser Mk.5 x1
Range 0.9 sct
Sensor 2 pc
Beam 1 Cost: 96 bc
Fighter Mk.4A Small Hull
HP: 10 Impulse Drive Mk.3 x2
Speed 5 pc Laser Mk.5 x3
Range 0.9 sct
Sensor 2 pc
Beam 3 Cost: 154 bc
Sensor Ship Mk.2A Cargo Hull
HP: 1 Sensors Mk.3 x12
Speed 3 pc Impulse Drive Mk.3 x1
Range 0.9 sct
Sensor 15 pc
Beam 0 Cost: 119 bc
Long-range offensive force:
Interceptor Mk.2B Tiny Hull
HP: 6 Impulse Drive Mk.3 x2
Speed 5 pc Laser Mk.5 x1
Range 3.5 sct Basic Life Support x2
Sensor 2 pc
Beam 1 Cost: 88 bc
Fighter Mk.4B Small Hull
HP: 10 Impulse Drive Mk.3 x1
Speed 3 pc Laser Mk.5 x3
Range 3.5 sct Basic Life Support x2
Sensor 2 pc
Beam 3 Cost: 146 bc
Sensor Ship Mk.2B Cargo Hull
HP: 1 Sensors Mk.3 x10
Speed 3 pc Impulse Drive Mk.3 x1
Range 3.5 sct Basic Life Support x2
Sensor 13 pc
Beam 0 Cost: 111 bc
Researching Medium Hulls gives you access to larger hulls and from here you can figure out the rest on your own. This is just a simple, well-balanced load out:
Corvette Mk.1 Medium Hull
HP: 16 Impulse Drive Mk.3 x2
Speed 5 pc Laser Mk.5 x4
Range 2.2 sct Basic Life Support x1
Sensor 4 pc Sensors Mk.3 x1
Beam 4 Cost: 210 bc
By swapping out the sensor and/or life support you can specialize this basic build into a longer range ship (3.5 sct) or a heavy hitter (beam 5).
So, here you have some quick builds for an early game navy based on laser weapons. I chose lasers because at Mk.5 they are small enough to use in my interceptors compared to mass drivers or missiles. They also work well in the fighters for the early game, though at this point I would start branching out into the other weapon types as well as beginning my research into defenses. The techs here are all pretty quickly researched and there are big jumps in research after the techs that I chose. Also consider that miniaturization and logistics will influence these builds as well as the use of starbases. However, this is just meant to show required techs and simple builds as a basis for your fledgling navy in the beginning of the game. I originally came up with these designs so that I can make my own custom ships and use them from game to game. Hope this is helpful to some of you, it has been fun figuring it out for myself and I encourage you to adapt some of the ideas here for yourself. Good luck.
-HEEGZ
P.S. Here’s a quick summary of military techs to shoot for in early game:
Lasers Mk.5
Impulse Drive Mk.3
Sensors Mk.3
Medium Hulls
Logistics
EDIT: Sorry, the forum removed the spaces and the format is really hard to read now
I suppose you could copy and paste it into Word and put a tab between the fields if you want to return it to the original state... *sigh*
