Editing VB-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 16,000 km, Beam Fire Control Range 24,000 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.

 Fire Control S01 24-3000
 50% Accuracy at Range: 24,000 km     Tracking Speed: 3000 km/s
 Size: 1 HS    HTK: 1    Cost: 11    Crew: 5
 Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 100%
 Materials Required: 2.75x Duranium  8.25x Uridium
 Development Cost for Project: 110RP

The 50% Accuracy at Range at 24,000 km simply means that any beam weapon linked to this fire control will have a base chance to hit of 50% at 24,000 km. At shorter ranges the base chance to hit will increase at a linear rate, reaching 100% at 0 km. At longer ranges the chance to hit will decrease at a linear rate, reaching zero at twice the 50% range, in this case 48,000 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 1 hull space. 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 two hull spaces and the 50% accuracy at range has doubled to 48,000 km. Change it to "Fire Control 4x Size 4x Range", so it appears as below. With a 50% range of 96,000 km, the max range is 192,000 km so it will match up with our 15cm Laser. Change the name if you like and Create this fire control system.

 Fire Control S04 96-3000 
 50% Accuracy at Range: 96,000 km     Tracking Speed: 3000 km/s
 Size: 4 HS    HTK: 1    Cost: 43    Crew: 20
 Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 100%
 Materials Required: 10.75x Duranium  32.25x Uridium
 Development Cost for Project: 430RP

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 16 HS, 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:

 Fire Control S04 24-12000
 50% Accuracy at Range: 24,000 km     Tracking Speed: 12000 km/s
 Size: 4 HS    HTK: 1    Cost: 43    Crew: 20
 Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 100%
 Materials Required: 10.75x Duranium  32.25x Uridium
 Development Cost for Project: 430RP

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.

Time to get started on our warship design. Open the F5 Class Design window and press New. Add one each of the two lasers and two fire control systems. Your design should appear as below. 

 Ark Royal class Cruiser    1050 tons     133 Crew     177 BP      TCS 21  TH 0  EM 0
 1 km/s     Armour 1-9     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 7
 Annual Failure Rate: 8%    IFR: 0.1%    Maintenance Capacity 105 MSP    Max Repair 43 MSP
 
 Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range N/A
 
 15cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 180,000km     TS: 3000 km/s     Power 6-3     RM 3    ROF 10        6 6 6 4 3 3 2 2 2 1
 10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 90,000km     TS: 3000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 3    ROF 5        3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
 Fire Control S04 96-3000 (1)    Max Range: 192,000 km   TS: 3000 km/s     95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
 Fire Control S04 24-12000 (1)    Max Range: 48,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
 
 This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes

Before I go into detail on the information, change to the Full Summary tab. For the lasers the information presented includes the name, how many of that system are in the design, the range, the tracking speed, the power requirements in terms of power to fire and power required per 5 sec, the range modifier, the rate of fire and the damage output in 10,000 km steps. We'll get back to why weapons (as well as fire controls) have a tracking speed in a moment. The fire control information includes the name, how many of the system are in the design, the maximum range, the tracking speed and the chance to hit in 10,000 km steps. On the right hand side of the Full Summary tab there is a section called Range Bands. If you change the Range Band to 20,000 km then the ten damage steps following each of the lasers and the ten to-hit chances following the fire controls will change from 10,000 km steps to 20,000 km steps. Compare the following to the original above.

 15cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 180,000km     TS: 3000 km/s     Power 6-3     RM 3    ROF 10        6 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
 10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 90,000km     TS: 3000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 3    ROF 5        3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Fire Control S04 96-3000 (1)    Max Range: 192,000 km   TS: 3000 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
 Fire Control S04 24-12000 (1)    Max Range: 48,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     58 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

If you choose other range bands, the damage and to-hit chances will change accordingly. Underneath Range Bands is Target Speed. If you change Target Speed it will affect the to-hit chances of the fire control systems. For 1000 km/s, 2000 km/s and 3000 km/s there should be no change as the both fire controls can handle those target speeds. the 5000 and 10,000 km/s steps should change the to-hit chances for the S04 96-3000 fire control as that is only designed to handle targets up to 3000 km/s but the faster tracking fire control will be unaffected. At 20,000 km/s the other fire control is affected too because its max tracking speed is only 12,000 km/s. The Range Bands and Target Speed settings allow you to check how your weapon and fire control designs would perform against targets at different ranges and different speeds.

Earlier I mentioned that weapons have a tracking speed as well. While the fire control tracking speed is mainly concerned with tracking the target and calculating where to fire the weapons, the weapon tracking speed is the capability of the weapon to fire instantly in that direction when ordered to do so by the fire control. The base weapon tracking speed is equal to either the speed of the ship or your Empire's best Fire Control Speed Rating tech, whichever is greater. Your best Fire Control Speed Rating is 3000 km/s at the moment and as that is higher than the current ship speed of 1 km/s (it has no engines), then 3000 km/s is the weapon tracking speed. Try adding eight of our nuclear thermal engines to the class (remember to use the military version). It should appear as below. Note that because the ship speed is now 3174 km/s, that is higher than the Empire's Fire Control Speed Rating of 3000 km/s so the weapon tracking speed is now 3174 km/s. In essence, a faster ship has a better chance of quickly pointing its weapons in the right direction.

 Ark Royal class Cruiser    3150 tons     333 Crew     283 BP      TCS 63  TH 200  EM 0
 3174 km/s     Armour 1-19     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 7
 Annual Failure Rate: 79%    IFR: 1.1%    Maintenance Capacity 56 MSP    Max Repair 43 MSP
 
 Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (8)    Power 25    Fuel Use 100%    Signature 25    Armour 0    Exp 5%
 Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 28.6 billion km   (104 days at full power)
 
 15cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 180,000km     TS: 3174 km/s     Power 6-3     RM 3    ROF 10        6 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
 10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 90,000km     TS: 3174 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 3    ROF 5        3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Fire Control S04 96-3000 (1)    Max Range: 192,000 km   TS: 3000 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
 Fire Control S04 24-12000 (1)    Max Range: 48,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     58 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 
 This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes

When a fire control tries to direct a weapon, the lowest tracking speed of the fire control or the weapon is used to calculate the chance to hit the target. In other words, it is no use having a fast fire control tracking speed if the weapon can't point in the right direction quickly enough and it is no use having a fast weapon tracking speed if the fire control can't make use of it. You need to match weapons with appropriate fire control systems as part of your class design process.