Dante Class Frigate - Would it have fulfilled its mission Statement?

[Ran Felsner]

I was going through TRO 3067 and re read the entry on the Dante class Frigate.  The entry had me asking "what if?".  What if in 2949, the Primus got his wish and the mothballed SLDF destroyers were slowly phased out in favor of the Dante ?

Looking at Comstar's fleet as of 3057, there are six Essex II class destroyers, six Lola III destroyers,  and three Dante class Frigates.  How would/does the Essex II class destroyer and Lola III class destroyer compare?  I left the three Aegis out of comparison because they seem to be perfectly geared towards dealing with modern (3054+) warship combat as is.  Would the Comstar fleet have been better off if it had fifteen of the same vessels ?

[Dragon Cat]

For smash and grab missions it would have done well and it would have better conventional defence than the older designs.  They certainly wouldn't have hurt ComStar's and later WoB's naval forces just shame there wasn't a threat to convince ComStar's leadership they needed them

[Maelwys]

The Dante seems to do everything better except for a few things. Small Craft and the rear arc seem to be where the Dante falls down compared to the Essex and Lola III. The extreme range as well, but that's pretty limited in effective use since the few weapons that can reach extreme range are either limited in damage or the ability to bracket.

The Lola III does have the advantage of bracketing, but I'm not sure that's really enough to say "Yeah, the Lola is better off than the Dante."

Ironically, the big reason for the Dante, mainly the need to smaller crews seems to have failed miserably, since each ship needs about the same number of crew...

[Intermittent_Coherence]

I guess the developers never really thought how this increased automation and reduced crews should be expressed in game terms. Not even in the transition from primitive ships to modern ships. I mean I can easily accept primitive ships being more crew intensive.

[Dragon Cat]

I think the Dante's armour, AMS, DropShips, superior speed all make up for its lack of cargo

I'd have a dozen Dantes any day of the week especially since ComStar didn't need the huge cargo capacity of the older ships with only Terra to defend.

Even the WoB thought there was something about the Dante since they built two more over ComStar's number

[Maelwys]

I guess the developers never really thought how this increased automation and reduced crews should be expressed in game terms. Not even in the transition from primitive ships to modern ships. I mean I can easily accept primitive ships being more crew intensive.

Well, in some cases, some designs just have extra crew members assigned to them for reasons. I can't really tell if the Dante, Essex and Lola IIIs are such designs, or if they're at the minimum required.

[Intermittent_Coherence]

Well, in some cases, some designs just have extra crew members assigned to them for reasons. I can't really tell if the Dante, Essex and Lola IIIs are such designs, or if they're at the minimum required.

That's the thing. Construction Rules tell us how much the minimum crew is, and designers can go over that if they want. But there's no mechanism for accounting for more primitive systems that require more crew to manage. Or newer systems with greater automation. Unless you go all the way and build a Caspar.

[snewsom2997]

That's the thing. Construction Rules tell us how much the minimum crew is, and designers can go over that if they want. But there's no mechanism for accounting for more primitive systems that require more crew to manage. Or newer systems with greater automation. Unless you go all the way and build a Caspar.

I have made attempts at combining Drone and manned crew for Warship operations.
Basically count officers as people and 4 out of 5 crew as Drones.

That way you get the people on board so you can actually jump the ship when needs be, Drones are just doing grunt work, loading weapons, basic maintenance etc.

[Intermittent_Coherence]

That's more of a homebrew rule.

Myself, I'd get the the usual crew requirement and cut it down to 60% or so, depending on how automated you want things. Then assign 1 in 6 as officers as per the usual rules.

[Wrangler]

There was supposedly a fourth and fifth new built Dante used by the Blakist during the Jihad.  One original three ComStar ships were salvaged after being destroyed and semi-secretly put this survivor into service with Fidelis outside the wall.

[Warship]

Being a fan of Stewart Cowley, I have felt free to add automaton units based upon his mechtechs.

[I am Belch II]

I like the Dante, but needed to be upgraded for a 3067 space battlefield.