Frigate vs. Battle Cruiser

Yup, I changed them around in my last game, as well as adding a destroyer somewhere in between. You need to look for any files ending in ".SHIP" in the X:\Galciv\Data directory.

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~SDC~

Cool, thanks Cap'n. Does the A.I recognize and use your new Destroyer class ships in a reasonable manner?

~SDC~

Yes. This is what I changed:

Destroyer (Att:5, Def:3, Spd:3, Rng:1, HP:12, Cost:150)
Cruiser (Att:5, Def:4, Spd:2, Rng:3, HP:16, Cost:180)

I left the Sensor Range at 3 and had them both use the same ship model (because I didn't know any better). The AIs, particularly the Drengin, were building Cruisers like crazy.

I made the change because I wanted a military ship with a cost between 150 and 200. I picked Destroyer and Cruiser for class descriptors following your line of reasoning about traditional ship sizes (the "Frigate" discrepancy never occurred to me.

I don't know if the AIs chose Cruisers instead of Destroyers because they hadn't researched the necessary tech (I had the game set to stupid, since I was just testing modifications and ended up giving a lot of tech to my allies), or because they did a cost-benefit analysis and decided that they'd sell the Destroyers to Canada and keep the Cruisers as the better ship. At any rate, the AIs will usually pump out the the same ungodly number of Battle Cruisers, so maybe the modification was just fine. HTH

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~SDC~

Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but does the Metaverse care if you mod the game to add a destroyer?

- Matt Lepinski :->

~SDC~

I think it does... but don't know exactly how...

~SDC~

Geezer historian comment warning!

Well, back in the Age of Sail, Frigates were the biggest warships short of Ships of the Line. Cruisers were used by poor countries and pirates who couldn't afford frigates. Destroyers, as far as I can find out, were an escort ship invented between the World Wars.

Destroyers were specifically created to attack submarines.

~SDC~

IIRC, Destroyers started out as "Torpedo Boat Destryers" in the early part of the 20th
century. Fast enough to intercept the torpedo boats that were being introduced then


~SDC~

BUT in star wars, destroyes are the biggest...

jlrogers,
Yeah, I thought about the historical angle too, and if the other ships had names like Ship-of-the-Line and Galleon a very powerful Frigate class would make more sense. But they're clearly using a more modern nomenclature with Battle Cruiser, Battleship and Dreadnaught as examples. A Frigate in that context is a less capable ship then a Light Cruiser, let alone something tagged a Battle Cruiser. But again it's kind of a nitpick really, this isn't a hardcore wargame, and it's easily modified too, you could change all the ships to be Foo Fighters if you wanted.

Really can I? Kick ASS!!!!! FOO Fighters to the rescue!!!

Don More is correct about the origins of Destroyers, however they have evolved since then. Destroyer class ships now, though still specializing in Anti-Submarine Warfare, they are now more of a jack of all trades in terms of their role. The latest ships of the Destroyer class are almost cruiser sized, and perform shore bombardment and land strike missions in addition to their original role as anti-submarine vessels. Though they will escort larger capital ships they are most effective as a forward ranging picket vessel that serves as the eyes and ears of the fleet.

I myself served on board the Spruance class Destroyer USS Hewitt for three years.