Medium Hulls useless??

from GalCiv2 Forums
In my current game I have built 2 offensive ships, one small and one medium size. By comparing these 2 ships I started to doubt if there is any justification for building medium ships.
These are the ships I've built:
Medium Ship has 41 space:
I equipped it with with 1 Impuls drive(6 Space) + 5 Lasers V (6 Space and 1dmg), alltogether 36 space used and 5 free
Small Ship has 28 space:
I equipped it with 1Impuls drive(5 Space) + 4 Lasers V (5 Space and 1 dmg), alltogether 25 space used and 3 free

Ok, without Bonuses the small hull has 10hp while medium has 16hp. Small ships require 3 logistic points and medium ships 4 points.
Now assume we have a total of 24 logistic points available. That means we can create a fleet with small ships containing 8 members OR we can create a fleet with medium ships containing 6 Members.
The accumulated stats of both fleets would look like this:
Fleet with small ships: Total Dammage: 32, total hitpoints 80
Fleet with medium ships: Total Dammage :30,total hitpoints 96

As we see both look nearly the same as powerfull.Note that the costs for both fleets are nearly the same.
I fiiddled around a bit with Kryos fleet simulator and it showed averagely a very slight advantage for the medium hull fleet. By equipping all ships with weapons that cause 2 dmg both fleets were equally powerful. So that leads me to the question, what on earth are medium hulls good for???
7,002 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The disadvantage of small hulls is the lack of hitpoints. Ships will go down faster and when they do they'll no longer be adding firepower. After just a few turns those small ships will be doing 28 rather than 32 damage.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah, if you don't invest in defences, hitpoints are the key to fleet battles unless you have a very large attack and always attack first.
Curtains - Customize Windows with additional styles
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Plus, you didn't add any sensors or life support. Sensors are important for tottally offensive ships like yours. (allow you to attack first more often) another, smaller benefit is that planets without orbital fleet managers will be better protected with frigates than with fighters.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Medium Ships tend to survive more than small ships due to their hitpoints. They just soak up more damage. And they look much cooler than small hulls
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I only build small hulls for port defense initially in the game.
Medium and up for combat.
Get the eye of the universe - very important! so no need for any sensors.

Initlally - depending on enemy weapon - armor/shield/point with specialized weapon.
Later - all 3 armor/shield/point at 20/18/20 with spec weapon or multi weapon.
Takes down all enemy ships with little to no loses...
Well, after initial ramp up of ships, no loses on my side.

A medium ship has the best cost/space/survivability/dmg start of mid game.
You can build some medium hulls initially and upgrade them to the best.

I tend to stay with a fully armored/shielded/point ship with - depending on the enemy ship setup - specialized or dual to multi weapon platform.
Beat all comers.

Medium is the best hull even compared to small strike ships.
I can setup a 25 speed ship with specialized armor and weapon that can take a strike by small ships and dish it out.
Control the distance to the enemy ships and they can never get a first strike.
Really cant do this without sacrificing something on a small hull.
Add some large to huge hulls for added impact....

Of course, this means you have to control the game near the end of first quarter of the game ... around 2 years to start of the middle of game ... around 4 years.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You need to consider the effects of extra HP. There is more to ship combat then total offense and defence ratings. Also, the larger hulls benefit more from miniturization.

Another thing worth considering is the effect of defences. I am not sure if defenses scale better with hull size then weapons, but if they do, then its worth noting.

END COMMUNICATION
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I tend to predominantly use tiny and med, and later on, large hulls... i.e. i skip over the small hull, simply for the reason that i was looking to crank out as many ships as i can, as i use those tiny ships for orbital defense, so i can forgo engines, sensors and life support and go straight for weaps & defs. med & large i use for offensive attacks, as they can fit in lots of engines and can still pack a powerful punch & good defense to boot.

so far this play style works well for me. anybody can see any potential weakness in this strategy?
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Nah, don't waste weapon/defence space on a ship by adding sensors. Build a dedicated sensor vessel and have it fly close by to your fleet. It's more efficient that way. Think Raptors and Vipers from BSG.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Damn double posts...
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
yup sensor ship in the same square will do nicely. no need to ever waste space on a combat ship.

You can fit tons of sensors on a cargo hull that will never fight