This is just an idea of how space combat would work using my weapons ideas from my last forum post.
In SR2, combat would be very fast and brief but with a massive lead up. Fleets would have to burn for days and maybe even months to reach other planets and then orbits around those planets, all for a battle to end in under 5 minutes. Ranges would be anywhere from 2 km (absolute point-blank) to 1,000 km (beyond mass driver effective range) but generally it can be broken up into a few different parts:
Initial barrage.
At this range, fleets have just finished burning to intercept each other and are now firing off spreads of mass drivers and torpedoes. Energy weapons might be used depending on range/damage but primarily this range is just throwing rocks at each other in hopes of a kill. This happens at the 1,000 km mark and is of minimal danger to both sides.
Gunnery supreme
At this range, ships are now inside of gun effective range, but missiles would use too much fuel to be practical weapons, whoever has the fastest firing/highest velocity gun wins here.
Guidance systems lock
Torpedoes are now in range and the battle becomes chaotic as ships dump massive numbers of torpedoes at the enemy before beginning hard maneuvering to avoid incoming fire as well as using any anti missile countermeasures they have.
Revenge of the beam
Energy weapons now start melting through armor as mass drivers become unavoidable and missiles continue to wreck both sides, we are now under 50 km in range
CQB
Ships are now at ranges under 10 km. Any weapon fired is almost guaranteed to hit. Most casualties are suffered here, after ship hulls have been weakened by lasers.
Parthian Shots
As ships now move away from each other at orbital velocities, most ships are now destroyed or cannot move under their own power. In a few hours, the cycle may repeat but for now ships will fire off final spreads, unable to hit targets due to the velocities involved.
Weapon Usage
Ok, now that we’ve seen what a battle would look like, how do we use our weapons to the best of our abilities?
Rocket cannons: due to their intermediate range, rocket cannons would be fired en masse, using calculated spreads, at Gunnery Supreme range, of an 8xshot revolver, you’d use approximately 5 shots, depending on the ship and number of guns. Final salvoes would be interchanged using all but one shot in the Revenge of the Beam range to cause maximum damage
Booster cannons: mostly used in the initial salvoes, these would be used to just create an effective minefield moving at the enemy, calculated spreads using 60+% of the ammo, the rest would be saved til CQB where the immediate launch to max speed is vital
Piston Pusher: the only mass driver not used in CQB, this weapon would be used at all ranges except point blank, due to the massive size requiring the turning of the ship to aim.
Kinetic Kills: the most common, and generally the most lethal weapon by far, fired at all ranges but CQB to absolutely wreck targets with high-Velocity guided munitions capable of ending a ship
Explosive missiles: Guidance systems lock and closer only. These are short range weapons but are capable of killing enemy ships at enemy range with the same effect. Generally used as a final resort
Thruster torchs: Short range, intermediate damage. Thruster torches are generally used to burn through exposed supports or weaken said supports so that other weapons that may not be lethal by themselves can kill a ship. Damage output is low w enough that the only major damage caused would be splitting a ship in 2, a not necessarily lethal attack given that other weapons effectively disintegrate the entirety of a ship.
Tactics:
Alright, so what do commanders do in battles? Their job is to figure out maneuver/spreads. They authorize how many weapons in a spread and how spread should be fired. Space combat is herding cats at long range, you fire a barrage of Mass drivers to herd targets into your kinetic kills. Maneuvering only plays a major factor at long range, where rounds can be avoided.
Designing Your Ship
Alright, so taking these factors into consideration, how do you build your ship? Ships need to simultaneously have enough weapons to fire large spreads repeatedly, be fast enough to get out of the way of enemy fire at long range, and then finally must have enough range for interplanetary travel. As such, most ships will be large, carry many, many missiles, mass drivers, and even a few energy weapons, while being maneuverable enough to get out of the path of enemy fire and having the range to transit from planet to planet.
This post is a work in progress, check back frequently to see what’s going on with it.