So, with the ability to now loadout fighters differently for different roles, I'm trying to come up with a consistant nameing convention to briefly describe a primary role with one word.

Perhaps someone has some insight?

This is what I have so far...

General Classification:
Fighter - Describes all carried ships. If I can find a better suited catch-all word, I could use this term for something else.

Interceptor - Anti-fighter
Bomber - Anti-Ship, primairly missiles
Gunship - Anti-Ship, primairly large cannons
Escort - Point Defence
Multi-role - An even combo of both anti-fighter and anti-ship weapons.
Shuttle - Cargo space with few or no weapons
Drone - Remotely piloted, usually for a kamikaze bomb type of fighter. Maybe even as a decoy if I can make that work.

Perhaps add size adjectives like Heavy or Light to these.

I'm thinking I want to make two anti-fighter classifications. One with light guns, the other with light missiles.

Maybe move Bomber to be anti-stellar.

Maybe work in the following:
Attack
Strike
Patrol
Attack, and Strike could both work as anti-stellar or anti-ship

The idea is to be able to see what something is at a glance, and also in the thick of battle.
First line would be the Make/Model, second line would be the role:
As an example it would look like:

Hercules
(Heavy Gunship)

How would you guys do it?

Ship classifications change depending on the whim of the creator.
Your line up works fine.

I always think of escort as a light-armored craft, with a small combo of light and med weapons. Designed mostly for taking out pirate raiders. But I could understand how PDS would work, may not be to Nova-freindly because ship fleets don't have a intigrated defence network. IE, ship A's PDS turret will only fire on stuff that targets itself, and won't protect ship B from incoming missiles.

Skyfox, on Nov 13 2005, 05:10 PM, said:

But I could understand how PDS would work, may not be to Nova-freindly because ship fleets don't have a intigrated defence network. IE, ship A's PDS turret will only fire on stuff that targets itself, and won't protect ship B from incoming missiles.
View Post

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure I've seen my escorts fire their PDs at missiles coming at me, but that may be a player-escorts feature only, not valid with AI fleets.

I wish I had more time to write up my post, but I'm really busy right now and only have time to copy and paste something I had sitting on my computer.

Basically, after poking around Wikipedia and other sources for a while, I compiled a list of potential ship classes for a game concept idea I had. As a result there are quite a few that don't make sense for EV purposes. I also haven't looked at this for a while, and there are probably more than a few things I'd like to change, not to mention explain further. Hopefully I'll get back to reading this post at some point so I can explain stuff.

For now though, here's my list:

SHIP CLASSES GUIDE

FIGHTERS
-> Interceptor (light, quick-reaction, short-range fighters)
-> Fighter (for attacking other fighters)
-> Heavy Fighter (long-range or heavily-armed)
-> Strike Fighter (for attacking larger or suborbital targets but still quick and maneuverable)
-> Attack Fighter (heavily armored and armed, for large/suborbital targets; limited maneuverability)
-> Fighter-Bomber / Tactical Fighter (see Attack Fighter)
-> Interdictor (long-range Attack Fighter, anti-logistics)
-> Bomber (for attacking capital ships, installations, and suborbital targets)
-> Torpedo Bomber (self-explanatory)

MEDIUM SHIPS
-> Torpedo Boat (small, fast torpedo-launcher; defensive or anti-capital ship, also mine-laying, rescue, and recon)
-> Gunboat (more gun-oriented version of Torpedo Boat)
-> Patrol Gunboat (military police use; orbital defense and often landing capability)
-> Missile Boat (small, very fast missile platform)
-> Gunship (medium craft with large guns and heavier secondary weaponry)
-> Corvette (small, manueverable, lightly-armed frigate; often for system defense)

CAPITAL SHIPS
-> Frigate (for escorting warships, troop/drop ships, supply convoys, and merchant convoys; anti-stealth)
-> Missile Frigate (anti-fighter)
-> Patrol Frigate (military police ship or militia-operated "homeland" security)
-> Destroyer (fast, long-endurance defense or escort ship; anti-stealth, anti-torpedo boat)
-> Missile Destroyer (multi-mission: anti-fighter, anti-warship)
-> Light Cruiser (self-explanatory)
-> Auxilliary Cruiser (armed merchant vessel or liner -- converted)
-> Cruiser (large warship, independent operations capable)
-> Missile Cruiser (multi-mission: anti- fighter/stealth/warship)
-> Heavy Cruiser (self-explanatory)
-> Pocket Battleships (very heavy cruisers -- just larger guns)
-> Battlecruiser (light battleships -- thinner armor)
-> Battleship (heavily armed and armored, for planetary bombardement and heavy offensive)
-> Dreadnought (see Battleship)
-> Carrier (fighter carrier)
-> Escort Carrier (light carrier for anti-stealth, recon, patrol, and fighter transport)
-> Stealth Ship (usually destroyer-classed and equipped with anti-detection mechanisms and devices)

SUPPORT SHIPS
-> Supply/Support Ship (carry ammunition, fuel, and crew supplies)
-> Drop Ship (lands marine/army units; deploys aerial fighters and gunships)
-> Troop/Assault Ship (carry marine/army units and drop ships; often deploy atmospheric-capable interceptors)
-> Minesweeper (self-explanatory)
-> Hospital Ship (usually about corvette-sized, unarmed)

TRANSPORTS
-> Shuttle (usu. transorbital)
-> Yacht
-> Executive Transport
-> Ferry (usu. interplanetary)
-> Liner (usu. interstellar)
-> Luxury Liner

FREIGHTERS
-> Cargo Shuttle
-> Courier
-> Blockade Runner
-> Container Ship
-> Tanker
-> Tug
-> Space Barge
-> Bulk Freighter

----------

SHIP GROUPS
-> Flight (3-4 fighters)
-> Fighter Squadron (3-4 flights)
-> Fighter Wing (3-4 squadrons)
-> Fighter Force (at least 2 wings)
-> Naval Squadron (at least 2 capital ships)
-> Task Force (inter-squadron or inter-division, made of Task Groups made of Task Units...specialized)
-> Joint Task Force (inter-service Task Force)
-> Carrier Battle Group (carrier + escorts and support ships)
often 1 carrier, 2 missile cruisers, 1 missile destroyer, 1 destroyer, 1 frigate, 2 stealth ships, +support
-> Battle Group (non-carrier based; composition varies but more permanent than a task force)
-> Fleet (1 Battle Group + several Task Forces)
-> Armada (combined fleets)
-> Navy

(Edit) Before I go back to doing my homework again, I just realized I could probably explain a couple quick things -- basically, the concept here was that I made Fighters be the equivalent of today's aircraft, while the Medium Ships category was made up of small naval boats. Obviously you could fit most fighters in a carrying ship like a carrier, but some medium ships could work too; for instance, today's helicopters can be considered gunships (like the Cobra...though an AC-130 wouldn't work, so you have to be careful with that particular designation). Anyway, if I had a point here, it's that there's lots of leeway for the developer to work with, but my guide just takes some conventions from today and makes an attempt at restructuring for interstellar military purposes. (/Edit)

This post has been edited by Firebird : 13 November 2005 - 09:58 PM

Skyfox, on Nov 14 2005, 01:10 AM, said:

Ship classifications change depending on the whim of the creator.
Your line up works fine.

I always think of escort as a light-armored craft, with a small combo of light and med weapons. Designed mostly for taking out pirate raiders. But I could understand how PDS would work, may not be to Nova-freindly because ship fleets don't have a intigrated defence network. IE, ship A's PDS turret will only fire on stuff that targets itself, and won't protect ship B from incoming missiles.
View Post

PD Turrets will indeed fire on incoming missiles that target a different ship in the group. I have found that this is true for both the player's fleet and also AI groups. (I have only tested with AI ships that were carried fighters, though)

The exception seems to be that main ship's PD will not protect the escorts, but the escorts will protect the main ship.
However, I have noticed that every once in a while an escort with PD turrets will not fire, but this seems to be rare.

Also, I've gotten into the habbit of of putting ships designed as a PD escort into the freighter escort control group (#5). Makes it easier for the player to control his forces.
Also, this makes the AI use them properly. When attacked the AI will launch it's fighters and bombers to come get you, while the PD escorts launch and hang back to guard the capital ships.

I stand corrected then. It just doesn't appear as well in combat, when you are leading the fleet. I will have to test this behavior, it could prove useful.

My control groups are sorted differently than Novas default. Some ships are more adept at taking down armor, some shields, some best versus weak evasive ships, some vs slow strong ships. The menu is split accordingly, each ship categorized according to what it is best at. I would prefer a way to cross reference them (ie also make it so i can select the largest/smallest ship), but this is rarely an issue as, more often than not, all of the player controlled ships are of the same, or nearly the same, size.

As for classes... I am basing it off of a preexisting game (Astronest. May it forever rest in peace) They had 5 classes: Scouter, Cruiser, Destroyer, Battleship, and Mothership. This is a good cannonical set. Fighters are technically weapons mounted upon the above ships. The biggest problem I have is that 'scouters' more often fill the roll of strike bombers, or very heavy fighters. But in the original game, the middle three classes were way underused (either you went evasive scouts or hardened motherships, very few combinations (other than evasive cruisers of the fastest races) worked). So I can leave Scouter class the roll they are named for, and have Cruiser be the standard light ship for any sort of combat.

I've been making my escort control groups as such:
2) Fighters that fulfill an interceptor, fighter, or patrol role.
3) Fighters that fulfill a bomber, strike, or attack role.
4) Larger warship escorts that are not fighter sized ships.
5) Fighters that fulfill an escort role, freighters, or other ships that should remain near the battle group.

Also, I've expanded my role designations.
I still don't have different name for fighters, but it also has its own meaning now in the role classification scheme, so that might cause some confusion.

I suppose I should note that there will be more of a disparity between fighters and large capitol ships. And more specialization in the weapons. The gun that is suited to killing small fighters isn't going to do squat vs. large ships. The large gun that can do significant damage to large ships isn't going to be accurate or fast enough to use effectively against small fighters.

Interceptor - Anti-fighter role. Usually faster, lighter armored, and armed with agile missiles. More suited to shorter duration, longer ranged combat. Get there fast, fire missiles, get out.
Fighter - Anti-fighrter role. Larger, and more heavyly armored, able to survive extended engagements. More emphasis on guns with unlimited ammo.
Strike - Anti-ship role. Armed with heavy missiles to fire from a distance, as they can't withstand fire from the ships guns.
Attack - Anti-ship role. Slower and heavly armored, with less reliance on missiles. Usually mounting some kind of larger cannon that has the capacity to damage capitol ships.
Multi. - Some combination of anti-fighter and anti-ship weaponry.
Escort - Mostly PD weaponry to protect the battle group from fighters and missiles. Though some versions may have a few anti-ship missiles too.
Bomber - Heavy hitting ordinance to damage stellars. Usually short range guided bombs.
Shuttle - Cargo capicity. I don't know if Nova allows you to to fill the cargo capacity of your carried ships, but this is mostly for flavor and completeness.
Drone - Remotely piloted fighter to explode when it gets close to the target. The idea being that the fighter with its armor and shields might survive long enough against PD to get within the blast radius of all the massive explosives loaded onboard.
Patrol - Multi-role craft. A fast scout craft designed with an extended mission duration in mind, but may have some anti-ship missiles. Also probably has some capibility to detect cloaked ships.

is a fighter launched from your bays always category 5, and is this the only way to be category 5?

NebuchadnezzaR, on Nov 18 2005, 02:53 AM, said:

is a fighter launched from your bays always category 5, and is this the only way to be category 5?
View Post

No... Launched fighters would be 2,3, or 5 depending on role.
Also, cargo ships, or other ships that either should stay near the battle group, or perform some sort of batttle group formation defence role would be in #5.

Groups 2, and 3 will be only fighters.
4 is only warships.
5 is either fighters, cargo, or warships that stay near the group.

There is plenty of control to direct fighters, which will be plentifull in this mini-TC.
(a mini-TC that is currently maxing out weaps and outfits...)