Logistics & Fleets Mod

Logistics and Fleets Mod

The purpose of this modification are to bring a sense of realism to the arena of conducting fleet operations across a large and expanding theatre of operations. No significant changes have been, or will be made to the game operation, or areas such as building, research or others. This mod focuses solely on fleet composition, and supply.
Supply: Ships can obtain supplies from planets with supply depots, space stations, or replenishment ships. A fleet in a friendly system will not be auto-supplied. You will have to either retire your fleet to a suitable planet, or star base.. or run a replenishment fleet up to resupply.

For every soldier, or sailor on the battle line pulling a trigger, there are nine others who keep him fed, clothed, and makes the weapons and ammo he needs to win and survive, this includes the men who get the goods to the front. The major wars of mankind have always been decided by who won the supply war. Allied victory in WWI & WWII were not decided by tanks and planes, but by the unsung heroes in tankers and Victory ships who crossed the Atlantic to bring the food, spare parts and the machines of war itself to the front. The cliché “He who has the most toys wins” is true in warfare.. getting the toys to the players in a consistent and timely fashion is paramount. A Carrier group with the best weapons with backup from a fleet of Battleships is useless without supplies and fuel.. you just wiped out the main body of an enemy fleet.. but now your supplies are low and he is looking for revenge.. better hope that resupply convoy gets there in time!

Ship Changes / Additions: Due to the need to logistics task forces, and few new types of Ship Class are needed.
FFG and FF: The frigate design is fine for this task. It should be built to perform as an escourt to a task force of transports, Oilers, or others. I tend to use the designation of FF for a gun armed ship, and FFG with a missile/torpedo armed vessel to distinguish between them. Frigates are the backbone workhorses of a good logistical train. Cheap and affordable, with just enough teeth (if used properly and en masse) to deter minor attacks.

SC and HK: This class will perform the traditional role of the attack Submarine. The hull will have special features which allow a higher site range than normal to allow it to see a bit farther to simulate a scout. Likewise a likely armored vessel with a built in cloak ability which can unleash a heavy attack and then run.. is useful at times at well. While not survivable, these vessels allow you to keep a recon going of enemy operations away from your current focus, or to scout where to go next. Usually working alone, a lucky hit on a high value target in an enemy fleet can cause that fleet to lose speed, or stop while your main fleet closes. SC for Scout, and HK for Hunter Killer

DD, DDG, and DDPD
The backbone of a good supply fleet is a couple of Destroyer to backup frigate operations. Consider one or two of these to help fill out defense needs if your convoys expect to cross hostile space. The Destroyers also tend to play a good picket ship in a large fleet. Keep them on the outside of your formations and allow them to work independently and pick off wounded ships while your heavies focus on bringing down defenses. Ammunition wasted on a wounded ship is ammo that could be used on a so far undamaged enemy capital ship. Let the destroyers finish them!
DD is my term for a gun destroyer, while a DDG is a missile/torpedo armed vessel. A DDPD is my attempt to simulate an Air Defense system in SEV. Similar in concept to the Aegis system used today by several navies. This is a SAM ship. Intended to eliminate incoming missiles, and fighters as its primary mission. Heavily loaded with PD weapons of all types and with the best sensors you can get onboard. Not heavily armored or armed, making maximum space for PD weaponry. Place a few of these as Escourt with your main line ships and let them do the work, while your heavies concentrate on heavy mounts and max damage.

Cruisers play many roles. They perform well as flagships and centers of Destroyer squadrons, or exploration groups, they also make a great backup to your main battle line. While the heavies slug it out, Cruisers are versatile enough to go after high profile secondary targets like carriers, and smaller vessels. Or, to simply add fire to the battlefleet. I tend to make cruisers a balance of armor, weapons, shields and sensors. Not a real specialized ship, more a jack of all trades. If I am facing a strong missle equipped foe, or a strong fighter threat, I may use the DDPD concept and create a PD only Cruiser class to supplement my fleet defenses.

A Note about dreadnoughts. A pet peave of mine is the term dreadnought. And SEV falls into the same annoyance for me as some other games, or even books on the matter. A Dreadnought is not a supership. In naval history ironclad warships carriedmany types of weapons, of all types, and mounted wherever a mount could be placed. A times some many different weapons were in use, gunnery officers had a difficult time even spotting shot for a particular weapon. An Italian ships designer Cuniberti (sp?) wrought an article for Janes Fighting Ships around the turn of the 20th century explaining the merits of a single caliber main armament, all situated on the centerline of the vessel. The first ship to try the concept was a Jackie Fisher design for the British Navy. He named it Dreadnought. The style and design was copied all around the world in the early 1900’s and it became known as a type of warship.. and all heavy warships before it became known as “Pre-Dreadnoughts”, and it’s contemporaries known as “Dreadnoughts”. Most older ships which took part in WWI were considered Dreadnoughts. With the advent of super firing turrets, better speed, and armor, ships made in the 1920’s and 1930’s were considered battleships , and not dreadnoughts. Therefore, I have reversed the names on the two classes in this game. A Dreadnought comes after a cruiser, and a Battleship after a Dreadnought. Am I being anal? Yup.. but it’s my mod .. lol.

Battleships and Super Battleships.
These ships are the main ships in the battleline. They must give and take serious abuse. Equip them with the largest mounts you can get, with the longest range, hardest hitting weapons you have. And armor them, and shield them. Enough supplies and Ord for a fight, you can resupply later, no need to waste space for more than one fight. If you can afford battleships, you can afford to keep a supply ship close by. A Super battleship is essentially the same as a battleship, but with larger tonnage and capacity. No loss of speed, but a slight bit easier to hit. Think Yamato, Bismark and Iowa class ships here. The pinnacle of design for their time.

Carriers and Fighters:
Consider making fighter craft into different types. If you make some slower than others, the computer tends to group them by like type. So your small, nimble fighters go in slightly faster and as a separate group to tangle with other fighters, or engage an enemy ship, while your slightly slower attack craft close unhampered (You hope) to deliver a crushing blow with heavy weapons. I design fighters with moderate armor, max speed, and a slew of small, fast slugthrowers , and my strike craft with little armor, but massive punch with rockets and the like. I don’t expect my strike craft to fight fighters.

CVE,CVL,CV and CVX
The CVE is an escout carrier. Based on the Light Carrier Hull, it is really a transport ship, and requires a significant portion of hull space to be filled with Cargo containers, and then fighter bays. The intent is to use these ships to transport fighters from one location to another, or from a producing planet to a fleet to resupply fighter losses. It retains a few launch bays for defense. No armor, no shields, this is a transport ship. Think Jeep Carrier.. or Sangamon Bay class.

The CVL is a real carrier and focuses on it’s fighters for it’s offense AND it’s defense. Early on these are very capable on their own in a small fleet, but it’s always good to pair these together. Two CVL’s, with a complement of DD’s and a couple FF’s can make for a serious early game headache. As you get larger carriers and need the CVL less, consider using it as a centerpiece to Amphib or replenishment task forces.

The CV is the main Fleet Carrier, It should be at the center of your squadrons. Moderate Armor to help it survive, but no real need for weapons. It unleashes it’s power in it’s airwing. It supports the battle line by allowing it’s fighters to intercept enemy fighters, and it’s strike craft can either cherry pick wounded ships, or provide serious punch on the line of battle. I like to use strike fighters to eliminate the other guys carriers after his have launched and gone into battle. Don’t sweat armor and shields.. if you have to worry about your CV standing up to an attack by an enemy Capital Ship.. you have already lost the battle.

The CVX is the heavy carrier. It is essentially the same as the CV, but functions as a baseship. Essentially the same airwing size, but with all the sensors, and bells and wisthles. Basically the central command of the fleet. These ships have all the scanners and sensors you can fit, as well as upgraded defenses. Consider it a flagship or sorts.
Misc Ships.

AO: Fleet Oiler , a freighter carrying supplies
RS: Repair Ship. A ship with a repair bay and usually supplies. Ability to repair ships in space or in a fleet.
APD: Space yard Dock: Ability to build ships and space stations.

That’s the concept, and most of the ship classes have been designed and are in testing. I will be happy to share the modified info when I can test more thoroughly, since currently the game locks up too much for me. But after the patch I hope to be able to do some serious testing and development. Hope there is some interest in these ideas, but if there isn’t, I am happy to do it for myself