Ringer ships

[Aury]

If we had ships for the ringers:
What types of ships would they need for the following categories?

Military (ie, capships)
Combat (ie, gunships)
Non-Combat (ie, yachts, freighters, superfreighters)

And what sorts of weapons would they use?

[Betelgeuse]

Research ships that orbit planets gathering samples.

I would say the cap ship would double as a power generation and storage. A large ship that stays near energy sources using its large size as a safety measure.

Modular ships, ie ships that combine. Might work better for a different sovereign.

[Song]

Well, we know the following from backstory:

1. Ferians are devolved humans used as miners by the ringers. The original Ranx regarded this as slave labour.

2. Teratons were the most radical ringers, and gave themselves so many "improvements" they split off.

3. Unlike Teratons, Ringers will work with humans if the need arises (EG. heretic)

So...Ringers are sort of between Teratons and Ferians.

They probably designed some or all of the ferian stuff as well.

[LordSutekh]

Thank you! I've always thought the Ringers needed a little bit more love. I've had a couple of ideas for Ringer ships, but it's pretty low on my list o' stuff to do.

[Aury]

There will need to be at the very least combat ships; I'm not sure if its in the ringer's flavor to have massive capships & super-capships (like battleships/dreadnoughts/carries/monitors): light capships(frigates/corvettes/cruisers) & gunships would fit nicely I would think.

They could do with freighters, because late-game has very little trade going on; most current heavy freighters (ie, scarabs, EI7k's, Anatares VIII's) would still be splatted by the Ares, and the only freighters that you see otherwise are the Ares freighters, which not only are not doing trade (really just re-supplying Ares stations), but they are also easily splatted by the player.

[Song]

Antares 8s?

(Had a mental image of two Antares Vs bolted end-to-end. )

Well, there'd be some human ships around (because ringers and terrans DO trade fairly well, unlike the teratons, who have a rather different approach), but some kind of freighter around the size of the EI7000 would be useful. As it's high-value cargo, it needs adequate protection and speed. Since the ringers have the huge production machine of the Ferians, they can afford to put really nice stuff on their ships (maybe even some form of orthosteel or ithalium armor?). And smaller ships can be made better than a larger one, and you can build more well defended small freighters than large ones....given the ringers have such a great thing going (and one of the best guns in the game), I doubt that they'd go down the Antares Heavy line of things, which leaves you open to losing a huge amount of valuable goods very quickly. It's also easier to lose said goods in a large freighter.

The big problem the ares freighters have is that they're big. They're larger than an Antares in terms of bits you can shoot, and there are a condsiderable number of weapons that can hit reliably at long range AND do good damage to such a big, slow target.

Human freighters are just woefully under-armored. They're designed for well cleared sectors, and even in those, they often require escorts...which are obsolete well before you get to ringer and ares space...as by the time they can knock out a few enemy gunships (to say nothing of an encounter with something like a chasm or Defender), there is already major, if not fatal, damage to the freighter.

(Personally, if I was a freighter pilot in that area, I'd use an EI7000, slap a makayev on a turret instead of a piddling little laser, and run with either orthosteel, or stealth plate)

[Aury]

I meant Antares V's

[Song]

I meant Antares V's

Awwww....but I made a (slightly bent) Antares VIII just for you!*




*in MS Paint.


Because the Antares V just isn't quite big enough some times....


EDIT: As Atarlost rightly pointed out to me, it's actually an Antares XIV. Buy 8, get 6 free.

[LordSutekh]

They NEED a freighter, but it doesn't necessarily need to be just a freighter. I was thinking more along the lines of a Tripoli or some other destroyer-type ship (but with Ringer armor and weapons) that would kind of do double duty as a freighter and military ship.

[Aury]

Unlikely; ships such as those tend to be designed for raiding, and then subsequently looting the cargo; fitting for pirates, but not for the ringers. It would be ratehr uneconomical.

[LordSutekh]

Ok, not THAT much like a Tripoli. More in terms of size and armament. Although I see your point about looting. Hadn't thought of that. But still, a destroyer/freighter with a few ion weapons would be much more fitting with how dangerous transporting freight is in that area.

[Aury]

Well, it could easily have a (turreted) positron lancer (likely at lower firerateadj) and be an economically viable freighter still, though it might also be a chance to introduce a small spectrum of ringer positron weapons.

However just because it would be a heavy & durable freighter doesn't mean it'd still be able to pass off as a capital ship.

[Song]

I'm personally a fan with how the EI7000 does it: medium arms and armor, medium speed, and medium size (for a freighter). That makes more sense than "Looks like a capship, armed like a capship, armored like a capship, behaves like a frieghter and flies like a brick." to me.

[Prophet]

How about some defensive weaponry?
A nice anti-missile system, a primary weapon with EMP, and a damage control system? Some decent armor and maybe a basic shield should ensure it makes all its deliveries.
Give it some decent speed (20-22) but low thrust-mass ratio.

[Ttech]

Ringers would likely have ships unique I imagien a floating bugbble.