I'm trying to decipher the article's weaponry. I feel the table and language used isn't doing it any favors - but that's just a pet peeve of mine.
From what I gathered, this thing has:
- 4 torpedo launchers that seem to fire heavy anti-starship torpedoes. Each tube is supplies with 10 torpedoes, 40 total. Not too shabby. I feel those four launchers from the getgo already greatly favor it in terms of potency; I know
Miharu had 2 launchers with half that amount of torpedoes and multiple victories hinged on those torpedoes.
- A positron railgun. About half of what the Plumeria has for ship-to-ship.
- Turreted guns? Seem like at least half of what the Plumeria has. I get a sense that the ship might be more vulnerable close-up... would it not be of its missiles, which are probably handy at point defense.
- Yeah, the missiles. Packing a total of 4000 of those, which is just... wow. You've got one pile of ammo meant for... I don't know. They seem pretty close, one stack tier 11, the other tier 12. The Tier 12 is much bigger (2.5m versus 4m) and makes a bigger explosion? The potency seems equal with the torpedoes, which makes me wonder why they bother - they're all pretty long range so far as I can see. So, the missile array can fire up to 6x Tier 12 missiles per two seconds.
By the way: damage values in the missile article don't match the values on the ship article. I base myself on the missile article which I assume are approved, and therefore correct.
I don't see how this outguns the Plumeria. Sure, missiles have delay-to-impact and could get shot down, but 6 per two seconds, plus the four torpedoes and the positron cannon look quite capable of dishing out an impressive spike. That's eleven sources of Tier 12 damage, which is one step up from the frigate's own tier 11.
Firing the most powerful ammo possible, it's take 400 seconds of constant fire to deplete the torpedo launchers; by that 400 seconds, 2400 missiles will have been fired - emptying the Tier 12 and shooting out 800ish Tier 11. 284 seconds later, the entire missile stores will be depleted.
So, for six minutes and forty-ish second, this thing is spewing all hell. And it's a frigate.
There's also the matter of the number of missiles involved her. Counting just the missiles, 4000 sounds like a
lot of volume taken up on a frigate. Not to mention it afterwards has enough room to have a cavernuous cargo space area. I don't read anything that hints that there's somesort of consequence to carrying so much payload.
1500 x 4m x 0.3m x 0.3m = 540 cubic meters.
2500 x 2.5m x 0.3m x 0.3m = 562.5 cubic meters.
So, roughly 1100 cubic meters of internal space taken up.
A T7 Raccoon shuttle takes about 175 cubic meters. So, carrying 1100 worth of missiles is like carrying about 6 Raccoon Shuttles. If the Plumeria didn't have its main gun, I could probably sandwich those inbetween the two dagger blades.
And suddenly, 4000 missiles actually seems feasible for a warship titled as "Guided Missile Frigate" with rather puny primary armament without those torpedoes and missiles.
I still consider it pretty scary on full load, I don't think those missiles are that easily shot down when there's simply this relentless torrent of them coming in. Were it not of its aether shock array, the Plumeria would be at a heavy disadvantage if it meant to engage at a range where its weapon would be at their optimal accuracy. Farther than that, and it's not impossible for the Indigo to dodge the Aether Shock Array. The Indigo seems better suited at prolongued brawls whereas the Plumeria shines more as a hit-and-run warship. The Indigo also feels like it would perform much better in a target-rich environment.
I still feel this is more dangerous than a Plumeria, but I'll admit it's a kind of a apples and oranges deal. Syaoran and Cadetnewb have tried to downplay the actual potency of the missiles themselves, but I'm not biting to that. Aside from numerous number inconsistencies in SARP between sensor ranges, ship speed, missile speeds and how they end up portrayed ICly... this thing sounds like it'd be pretty effective. What's more, I think Arieg has enough self-respect to spend so much time detailing this and not desiring, once used, to see it downplayed. He hasn't created something that was an ineffective weapon.
@FrostJaeger I believe our previous stance is debunked. The missiles seem to fit inside, I'm fuzzy on the launcher/loading description, but the end result is firing 6 at once, not hundreds (though hundreds may end up in transit before the minute is over). Thus, it's not grossly overpowered like it previously was, but rather only slightly so. The slightly being a matter of perspective, I'm willing to drop my objection. I won't say I want to approve this, but if another NTSE mod wants to approve it (
@CadetNewb seems to), I won't get in the way anymore.
@Syaoran thanks for calling me out on that.
If I have one bit of critique to offer, it's that I think this should be a
Destroyer, not a
Frigate. I see it as too big to be a spacy frigate.
