Introducing a light Cruiser/ heavy frigate

well. we will be getting corvettes, but they kinda sound smaller than frigs, not between frigs and corvettes...

but we dont really know.

To be honest the long range frigates fill in this intermediate role quite well.

The Problem with LR Frigs is that they can't take a lot of punishment. That's why they're LR after all, avoiding confrontation with the enemy while your light frigs and heavy cruisers take the beating

Yeah--light frigates also die so incredibly easy that having light cruisers in with them would make sense.

Light cruisers pretty much vanished from the real life military scene with the introduction of modern frigates but for a long while they were a staple of navies. 

Basically, frigates are specialized/optimized today for particular types of combat and thus have less reliance on armor.  What made a light cruiser a "cruiser" was that it carried more armor than a frigate and heavier guns than a destroyer.  As it stands right now, light frigates are really light destroyers (unarmored, non-specialized frigates).

There is room for a light cruiser.

You could merge the light and flak frigates into a single ship (making them more like a destroyer) and then replace one of the merges with a light cruiser--which could be effectively an even larger destroyer.

Light cruisers were built for speed and as destroyer killers and often carried torpedoes just as destroyers do.

Actually, most of the veterans do not use light frigates to clear planets.  We use scouts, among other reasons because their low supply cost allows us to remain at 0% upkeep for longer and to build up cash with which to spam higher-tech unit-types when the time comes.  Combined with good "fast expand" tactics, we can get very large empires (which in turn can support very large fleets) operational very quickly.  Direct jumps to heavy cruisers are not uncommon at all.

I'm going to be blunt here: I think this is a horrible idea (no offense).  Using highly limited developer resources to produce variants of units that we already have is a waste of time.  If you want these units in a mod, power to you, but for the official game I'd like the devs to focus on completely new units rather than creating alternate versions of stuff we already have.

It's already really easy to jump straight into the 3-lab level.  If you put a better version of the light frigate there, then people will ignore the light frigate altogether.  If you want a stronger light frigate, then petition the devs to buff the one we already have.

Secondly, I find it disingenious to complain that LF can't take down an upgraded starbase.  Starbases are fleet-torching weapons that will devastate anything except for a large bomber or Ogrov force. If you want a unit that's powerful enough to go toe to toe with LRF, heavies, and starbases, while having the speed and anti-support powers of a light frigate... well, you're pretty much asking for an "I win" button in unit form.

That's not right; HC's are actually a relatively fast unit, outrunning LRF, carriers, support cruisers, and capital ships (pretty much everything that matters).  Secondly, they are one of the game's most cost-effective units, and once you've managed to put down the 5-lab prerequisite they're actually one of the best unit selections you can be making on a limited income.

This works in reverse, as well.  Most units can't take a lot of punishment from the wickedly high damage of the LRF.  So long as you don't throw piddly forces of 10-12 of them around that get whittle away by fighters, you're fine.  A good early-game rush force of 30 LRM's with a few gardas in support will roll pretty much anything else. 

So anyways, no offense or anything, but I don't want the developers wasting time creating alternate versions of units that already exist.  If a unit isn't fulfilling its role effectively, then buff it.  Don't create a replacement that renders the old unit obsolete.  If there is a role you'd like filled that no existing unit fulfills, then create an entirely new unit (like the upcoming Corvette) rather than cloning an existing one.

It would be nice to know what ship slots will be consumed in the upcoming Rebellion.  No telling what will be left for mod-added ships.

That's a good question for the devs, and one that is beyond the fan-base to speculate or answer.

Another idea which has not largely been expanding upon by the development team is the 'rebellion' etc ship varients that will be coming. Perhaps instead of just another Light Frigate it's variant perhaps is classified as a HF or LC because of heavier armor, more health, etc ...

Just some thoughts as we do not know exactly for sure yet. It might already be something that is being worked into the game, albeit under a different guise.

Unfortunately, that idea has been shot down by a developer comment:

So you don't select whether you're loyalist or rebel at the start of the game.  The decision is made part-way through when you decide which tech path to follow.  This means that conventional units such as the light frigate will remain the same for all factions.

None taken! But the thing is, that just because you add a light cruiser, doesn't mean it should in any way replace the heavy cruiser. Or the light Frig. Or the LRF. Or anything.

All I wanted to say is that it'd be great to have a ship that maybe fits the gap between super small and super big. Let that be a Cruiser or a Destroyer or however you want to call it.

I however like the idea of maybe creating a mid size ship and merging it with the Anti Strikecraft frig to create a more reliable and powerful support ship that is either Frig or Cruiser SIZED.

And yea...Developers will never waste any time on anything. Everything they design for a game is something valuable. Even if it turns out not to be too good in gameplay, they earn experience and stuff. The thing is, that this Mid-Size ship does NOT exist yet! You can either mass lesser ships or go for a few more expansive and cap heavy big ships. But there is no middle. As I think LRF's don't fit that role in my fleet.

LRFs as they stand now would be "missile frigates" in a present day navy and they have little in the way of defense--other than missiles.  One thing that might boost your LRF a wee bit is to give it a researched ability to switch to anti-strikecraft using the ability with a reasonable cooldaown.  In RL, missile frigs can swap missile types as needed.

What I would love to see but highly doubt it would happen, would be differing levels based on the research tree plus stock armaments, of anti-strikecraft/anti-bomber weapons. Most modern ships have them in some form or fashion. Even if it's just one fairly weak weapon it would be a huge improvement in my mind.

After I finish mines, I already am working towards creating a research tree to let LRFs use the differing abilities like splash damage and antistrike damage.

There is n o reason why an LRF can't be a true missile frigate with the ability to attack planets, structures, capitals or strike craft.  The siege frigate, flak frigate and possibly even Ogrov could all be merged into the LRF with a proper research tree and balanced abilities.

Almost all these things exist already or are capital ship abilities.  LRFs aren't dogfighting so stopping and activating them isn't a liability.  A ship that does this would really be a "light cruiser".  Good conversion for the Ogrov.

Baclk to corvettes and our mod/dev's challenge to guess.  I'm guessing one thing corvettes will do is provide anti-strike enhancement and another would be essentially function as "torpedo boats".  that's my guess for two roles.