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Cruiser, Hailstorm Class

Hailstorm Cruisers (6.5 kt, dV 3.8 kps) face forward and engage enemy capital ships at 100km, with PDCs for CQB. This brawler cruiser has more combat power but less range than a Blizzard. 2x easily wins Vesta Overkill.

Key design principles:
- Balance of protection and firepower on a single ~80MW custom reactor.
- High-low armor, with protection concentrated on sloped nose cone
- Composite armor based on 3-layer sandwich - high Young's modulus (sapphire), high temperature resistance/elasticity (amorphous carbon), high yield strength (reinforced carbon-carbon), with optimization based on cost and choices made for thicker armor as opposed to higher value thinner armor.
- Inner layer uses spidersilk or boron filament; other features include spacing with separation/aerogel, diamond layer for anti-laser conduction, aluminum or platinum whipple shields, and titanium nitride coating for color.
- Testing vs. workshop, I found that lasers are much less of a threat to weapon systems and ship armor than accurate kinetics, and that nukes are ineffective as antiship rounds except as a coup de grace. I armor my turrets against kinetics and don't bother with antinuke armor.
- Ships exist in defined classes: Frigate (3kt, high DV), Cruiser (6.5kt, medium DV), Battlecruiser (13kt, low DV) and Battleship (36kt, low DV).