GERMAN FLEET ANALYSIS


BAVARIA Class Battleship

Reference: designed by Wade Racine, from a reference in Invasion

Fleets of Service: Germany (formerly Bavaria)

Apparent Naming Convention: Well, when it was named it was after the name of the country that built it: Bavaria.

Known ships of this class: Bavaria

Analysis: Why would the Bavarians build their own battleship? I have no idea. Probably because the French were building one, and they were willing to help fund the Germans. So I built Bavaria like the Germans like them: big, heavy, slow, and with lots and lots of firepower. She used old military tech, being an older ship, of course, and has since been retrofitted by the Germans for things like sensors, etc. Star Cruiser experience showed her able to go toe-to-toe with an Improved Alpha...and it wasn't pretty. For more info, see the 2300 web page, in the Docking Bay.

 

BISMARK Class Battlecruiser

Reference: Ships of the French Arm, page 36; Star Cruiser Rules, page18

Fleets of Service: Germany

Apparent Naming Convention: Famous German historical figures

Known ships of this class: Bismark, Guderian, Freiderich der Grosse (Invasion only lists Bismark and Guderian, and never gives an indication that the Germans have a third ship...but SotFA says Bismark is completed and *two* more are being built, so I made the Freiderich...BTW, if there are any German speakers out there, please feel free to correct the grammar).

Analysis: Just a really solid design. I'd have put more communicators on it, though. She carries some Gustavs, which is really nice, too. Star Cruiser showed us that this ship could be pretty beaten up after a battle, but was always still functional (the armor and screen combo is very good for defense).

 

HAMBURG Class Missile Cruiser

Reference: Star Cruiser rules, page 18

Apparent Naming Convention: Big cities in Germany

Known ships of this class: Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Koln, Munchen

Analysis: Very nice ship. Very slow, though, so it is unlikely to catch anything faster. If it does catch it, though, she can maul it pretty badly with all those particle accelerators. Her real punch, though, is six communicators...very potent when used with the SR-10 missile, devastating if used with the Donnerwetter. Star Cruiser experience showed that her screens and armor helped but didn't do enough when enemy missiles came screaming in. Her big particle accelerators just aren't accurate enough to target the missiles, and the Hamburg's damage control teams spent a lot of time hurrying around putting out fires...literally.

 

KONSTANTINE (B) Class Missile Cruiser

Reference: Star Cruiser Rules, page 18

Fleets of Service: Ukraine, Germany

Apparent Naming Convention: Old German Admirals

Known ships of this class: Admiral Hipper, Admiral Scheer

Analysis: Looks like the Bavarians used a couple of license built Konstantines. These are likely the last two still commissioned, as I imagine the Germans have been taking them out of service to save on the operations budget for the Hamburgs. Or maybe the Bavarians only ever had two, since they relied on the French to back them up a lot elsewhere. It would make sense that these two are stationed at Joi along with all the other old Bavarian ships, as that is where the Bavarians and the Japanese had tensions, and the French are allied to both of them.

 

KIEV (B) Class Destroyer

Reference: Star Cruiser Rules, page 18

Fleets of Service: Ukraine, Germany

Apparent Naming Convention: Famous dead Germans of military background, or so it would seem.

Known ships of this class: Lutzow, Seydlitz

Analysis: Same story as with the German owned Konstantines.

 

ROTTERDAM Class Destroyer

Reference: designed by Wade Racine, from a reference in Operation Overlord

Fleets of Service: Germany

Apparent Naming Convention: Smaller cities of Germany (although some people have expressed the fact that Rotterdam is in the Netherlands...I have no idea why this was named that way, as the Earth/Cybertech sourcebook says that the Netherlands still exist...maybe this was the Germans way of saying that the Netherlands should unify with Germany).

Known ships of this class: Augsburg, Bonn, Fulda, Kiel, Rotterdam

Analysis: When I designed this one, I basically just put it as a midway point between the Hamburgs and Sachsens. These are pretty good ships, and like all the modern German fleet, works best when combined with the Hamburgs, Sachsens, and maybe even a Bismark. See the web page for more details.

 

ACONIT (B) Class Frigate

Reference: Star Cruiser Rules, page 16

Fleets of Service: France, Germany (ex-Bavarian), Japan, Ukraine, Australia

Apparent Naming Convention: The names of towns in Germany

Known ships of this class: Kassel

Analysis: Any country that could build their own battleship can build their own frigates, but they might just be too lazy to design their own. Likely strapped for cash after the expensive Bavaria, they probably had a bunch of these, but have retired them as the Sachsens have been rolling out of the yards. Only one is left, stationed with the other old Bavarian ships at Joi.

 

SACHSEN Class Frigate

Reference: Star Cruiser Rules, page 18

Fleets of Service: Germany

Apparent Naming Convention: The regions and states of Germany

Known ships of this class: Brandenburg, Braunschweig, Gardelegen, Goppingen, Gronau, Hanau, Hannover, Holstein, Kaiserslautern, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Nurnberg, Pottsdam, Sachsen, Schleswig, Stendal, Thuringen

Analysis: A very strong frigate design, and it beats all hell out of the Aconit. Three communicators give her a nice punch, and she has adequate missile defense in the ten laser turrets and her armor (even a bit of screens). Apparently, the Sachsen is cheap and easy to build, since the Germans have so many of them. Yeah, I suppose that the Germans might have more Aconits than just the Kassel banging around, but if they can station them as far up the arm as Hochbaden, they probably have ditched most of the Aconits. This ship always did very well in Star Cruiser, despite her slow speed (she has almost as many hull hits and more power plant hits than a Hamburg).

 

GUSTAV Class Fighter

Reference: Star Cruiser Rules, page 17

Fleets of Service: Germany

Number of ships in service: Unknown...I tag it at 30.

Analysis: A pretty potent little fighter. Extremely fast, a bit of token armor, a good laser combined with a submuni-dispenser. A nice multi-role ship. I suspect that it is space based only, and not streamlined. Probably a very modern design, so I wouldn't guess there are *too* many of them.

 

UDET Class Fighter

Reference: Ships of the French Arm, page 22

Fleets of Service: German

Number of ships in service: Unknown, but at least 20 are at Beta Canum Venaticorum, according to SotFA...so I'll call it 30

Analysis: I suppose she lost some of the punch of the Gustav in making her streamlined. Still, a fairly good design, but underarmored in my opinion.

 

WESPE Class Fighter

Reference: Ships of the French Arm, page 18

Fleets of Service: German

Number of ships in service: About fifty total, according to SotFA

Analysis: A contender for best human fighter. Very fast, moderate armor, good hull and power plant, and a fine x2+1 laser. Works for me. Very expensive, though. I'd still take her in a fight against an Aconit, though. So, I've got to place 50 Wespes:


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