Kepler, to me, is our general purpose Garrison ship. It can't fight, but it can handle the vast majority of our events. In the event of war, we can hold down minimized defense requirements with Keplers and Blooded Consties while the rest of our ships go off to war.

I'm down with a C1 or L3 design. P4, though, is just cutting into the Kepler's multipurpose capability for no good reason. If we need a specialist combatant scout frigate, then we can build one. No reason to compromise the Kepler's peacetime duties (what it will do the majority of the time) to make it slightly better for combat.
 
Basicaly the Kepler should do the job currently done by the best garrison frigate ( probably the Centaur-A ) and the Oberth better than each can do currently. The baseline Kepler design is -1C on the Centaur but has +4S +2P +1D +1L so in prety much every respect except combat it wins out over the Centaur-A and given the 1L rating probably almost a match in 1 v 1 with a Centaur-A.

The Oberth is completly overshadowed by the Kepler in every respect.
 
To me, the Kepler is our specialist scout frigate.

What would be the difference between a C2 S7 L4 P5 D4 vs P4 D5 design, in terms of rec space, build time, sr, and crew?

Very little. Keeping the science to 7 avoids use of the science module and keeps the build time down. So you have:

C2 S7 L4 P5 D4: 95br 75sr, 2.25y, rec, 2/3/4
C2 S7 L4 P4 D5: 95br 75sr, 2.25y, rec, 2/3/4
C2 S7 L4 P5 D5: 100br 85sr, 2.25y, no rec, 2/3/4

e: just developed:
C2 S7 L4 P5 D5: 100br 90sr, 2.25y, rec, 2/3/4
C2 S7 L4 P4 D6: 100br 85sr, 2.25y, rec, 2/3/4
 
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If it doesn't actually do anything but take up space/weight, then I'd rather put something useful in its place.

Rec Space is a Presence part. It's heavy and eats power like crazy. But it's not super SR expensive and uses absolutely no crew. They're decent for larger vessels, but for a frigate where weight and power are at a premium, not so much.
 
The problem with completely dumping rec space is that the current system is always subject to revision. We should probably avoid any minmaxing that could potentially cause issues on a system change.
 
Goat, you're very much wrong here. Rec space does give us Presence. It just does so in ways that make it a bad fit for space limited ships. And it does so in ways that don't give us much P, pound for pound.

I was basing my opinion off the stacking hospital bays that appear on all the designs - with at most one rec space squeezed in somewhere.
 
Basicaly the Kepler should do the job currently done by the best garrison frigate ( probably the Centaur-A ) and the Oberth better than each can do currently. The baseline Kepler design is -1C on the Centaur but has +4S +2P +1D +1L so in prety much every respect except combat it wins out over the Centaur-A and given the 1L rating probably almost a match in 1 v 1 with a Centaur-A.

The Oberth is completly overshadowed by the Kepler in every respect.
Combined there are 12 Oberth's and Centaur-A. Assuming the Kepler design for garrison frigate is picked, are we gonna build 12 Kepler's to replace them or more?
 
Combined there are 12 Oberth's and Centaur-A. Assuming the Kepler design for garrison frigate is picked, are we gonna build 12 Kepler's to replace them or more?
From what I've heard said, possibly quite a bit more.

At least one or two in every Sector and Border Zone for a start.

Also, I'm can forgive the Kepler not having a Rec Room if that means we can churn out more or make them better.
 
Combined there are 12 Oberth's and Centaur-A. Assuming the Kepler design for garrison frigate is picked, are we gonna build 12 Kepler's to replace them or more?

The first build count target will probably be one per sector. By then we will have a feel for how good they are, and will probably build more, unless we have something else that gives good results in a better format, or the political situation has changed sufficiently that we need war builds.

EDIT to avoid double post.

For those wondering what the Kepler sort of looks like. My speculation based off the design specs SWB is putting out.

The Saucer component dominates the hull (probably following the more angled look of the Renaissance than the circular of the our older designs), with the engineering section present, but shallow and wide. The nacelles look oversize compared to the engineering hull they are attached to, but balances out when compared with the main hull. The front of the saucer is dimpled by the main deflector array being placed there. A single phaser bank appears on the upper forward main hull, just in from the naming/registration area. The sides of the saucer are dominated by sensor pits and covers.

[900kt hull, small tactical, large operations, small hull, medium engineering with cruiser sized nacelles and saucer deflector]
 
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So, comparing these, it's +5br/+10sr for either 1 pt of P or D. And +5sr for rec with 5P/D. I think both are worth it for that last build.

The way I personally see it, P5 is a bit of a luxury, but D5 pays for itself over multiple ships the moment it outperforms D4 enough in battle to save a repair bill. Whether that situation comes up with any frequency though is a bit of an open question.

The P4/D6 one seems too lopsided.
It actually has the most modern rec space!
 
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