Editing C-Basic Beam Warship Tutorial (section)

===Fire Control Systems===
Next, we will create some beam fire control systems. Once again we need to Instant some technology before we begin the design process. Go to the Research tab and give yourself Beam Fire Control Range 32,000 km, Beam Fire Control Range 48,000 km, Fire Control Speed Rating 2000 km/s and Fire Control Speed Rating 3000 km/s. Now open the Create Research Project window and select Beam Fire Control. There are seven different parameters, although we don't need to bother with the last three for now. The first two will show the best available technology for beam fire control range and tracking speed and there is no need to change these. Most of the decision making for standard ship-based fire control systems is in the third and fourth dropdowns. At the moment the beam fire control should appear as below.

 Beam Fire Control R48-TS3000
 Max Range 48,000 km     Tracking Speed 3000 km/s
 Size 0.5 HS (25 tons)   HTK 0    
 Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 100%
 Cost 7.2   Crew 2
 Development Cost 189 RP
 Materials Required: Uridium 7.2

The Max Range at 48,000 km simply means that any beam weapon linked to this fire control will not be able to hit any target more than 48,000 km away. Base chance to hit always starts at 100% if the range is 0 km, and decreases linearly to 0% at the max range. (So, for example, 24,000 km is 50% of the max range, so your base chance to hit will be 50% at 24,000 km.) In effect, every beam fire control you design will have its own to hit chart which is shown when you add the fire control to a class design. Our 15cm Laser has a max range of 180,000 km but linked to this fire control as it currently stands, it would be ineffective beyond 48,000 km because it wouldn’t be able to hit anything. The Tracking Speed of 3000 km/s means that the fire control will be able to track any target moving at 3000 km/s or less without any penalty to the base to hit chance. Against targets moving faster than 3000 km/s, the base chance to hit is modified by (Tracking Speed / Target Speed). For example, against a target moving at 4000 km/s, the base chance to hit would be modified by 3000/4000 or 0.75.

At the moment the fire control is only 25 tons. By using the third dropdown, Fire Control Size vs Range, we can increase the range of the fire control by increasing its size. Change this dropdown to read "Fire Control 2x Size 2x Range". The fire control is now 50 tons and the max range has doubled to 96,000 km. Change it to "Fire Control 4x Size 4x Range", so it appears as below. With a max range of 192,000 km, it will match up well with our 15cm Laser. Change the name if you like and press Instant to create this fire control system.

 Beam Fire Control R192-TS3000
 Max Range 192,000 km     Tracking Speed 3000 km/s
 Size 2 HS (100 tons)   HTK 1    
 Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 100%
 Cost 28.8   Crew 8
 Development Cost 379 RP
 Materials Required Uridium 28.8

The 10cm laser is intended for use against missiles, so the 3000 km/s tracking speed of the above fire control will be of no use to us. Even against a missile travelling at just 15,000 km/s, the base chance to hit will be divided by 5 (3000/15000 = 0.2). Therefore we need to increase the tracking speed considerably. You can do this in the similar way to increasing the range. Change the Fire Control Size vs Tracking Speed to "Fire Control 4x Size 4x Tracking Speed". Now we have a problem. Although the tracking speed is 12,000 km/s, which is much better, the fire control is now 400 tons, which is huge. This is because the multipliers for size and range are cumulative. However, as this fire control is intended to engage missiles at very close range, we no longer need the range multiplier so reduce that to the original "Normal Size Normal Range" setting. Our beam fire control should now look like this:

 Beam Fire Control R48-TS12000
 Max Range 48,000 km     Tracking Speed 12,000 km/s   ECCM-0
 Size 2 HS  (100 tons)    HTK 1
 Chance of destruction by electronic damage 100%
 Cost 28.8    Crew 8
 Development Cost 379 RP
 Materials Required Uridium  28.8

The tracking speed of 12,000 km still isn't enough to avoid any penalty to the base to hit chance if you are shooting at a 15,000 km missile, but as you will likely engage missiles at a range of 10,000 km, just before they strike the ship, the base chance to hit will be fairly high anyway. To build a faster tracking fire control, you would need to research the next level of fire control tracking technology. Go to the Research tab of the Economics window and Instant our new fire control systems.