Hi guys. I'm new to Fleet Ops, I've played Armada II for a while and love the ST Universe. I'm also an engineering student, so some thoughts came to mind when I analyzed the cost/performance of the Fleet Ops Beta 2 ships, tell me what you think:

The two resource system, dilithium and tritanium, seems to be supported by the canon, but in reverse. What I mean is Tritanium is needed for bigger ships, and Dilithium is needed for bigger engineering plants and weapon structures. For the purpose of this thread I'll leave them the way they are in FleetOps, tritanium for weapons and dilithium for bigger ships (generally).

Which brings us to the question of weapon power versus ship size (and therefore dilithium cost). I've noticed that the build time for ships is often neglected in the discussions of balance in the forums here, but long build times for cheap, powerful ships is not only realistic but could add a new dimension to the balance equation. Basically, remove the infrastructure requirements for the Defiant but make the build time 2 minutes for example. The high tritanium cost accounts for the massive weaponry.

To summarize bigger ships cost more dilithium but mount superior shields, while small ships may have massive weaponry if the tritanium costs are high. If build time is linked to tritanium cost, it would be acceptable to build "realistic fleets" which in the canon in my opinion were mostly cruiser (Akira or Griffen or Vorcha) and battlecruiser (Defiant, something like a Norexan with half the sheilds and hull) with very few capital ships which according to one source could cost as much as 10 times an Akira in "dilithium."

Thoughts?

Yeah I realize it would be a major modification, but I'm trying to figure out a way to make the fleets look a little more realistic ... it seems like most fleets are all battleship with support fleets of destroyers, and nothing in the middle. Seems kind of goofy. I really like the rationale behind the defiant: very expensive in dilithium (in canon) but low crew, very powerful, and although long to build many can build simultaneously in war production yards. No one would waste the resources in peace when they could build 3 or 4 cruisers with science staffs and exploration teams and whatnot, but at war cheap, fairly expendable and very powerful ships would be extremely important, along with fleet flagships like Galaxys or Sovereigns. It seems like this would be extensible to other races too, especially Roms with their limited crew pool in wartime and massive resource bases.

Yeah I like the idea too  

Sound like a fundimental bases for an overhaul on how resources are managed. Kool!