Approximating High-Tech and Ultra-Tech with Spaceships

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Here's another build of a TL7 fighter jet, modeled on the F-15:

Light Alloy Armor x5 (dDR 12 for the cockpit only)
Control Room x2
Tactical Array
Defensive ECM x3
Jet Engine x2 (Afterburning Turbofan; 1 G acceleration; Top Speed 2,500 mph)
Fuel Tank x2 (Provides one hour of fuel)
Medium Battery (3 fixed mount 16cm missile launchers)
Major Battery (fixed mount with 2.5cm very rapid fire conventional gun)
Maneuver Enhancement x3

The armor is designed to protect the pilots from antiaircraft fire rather than add to the plane's survivability. Cost is $1.57M—less than a tenth of a real F-15!

I get $3.115M and only dDR5 at SM+5. The Defensive ECM and Tactical Array cost $300k each, so $1.4M just for those four systems. You also left out Emergency Ejection. I suspect you forgot to add Streamlining (lowers dDR) and Wings (increases cost somewhat, as well as giving a big Handling bonus).

Three Maneuver Enhancements is overkill. Base Handling for SM+5 is 0, +0 for being 1G, -1 for TL 7, +4 for Wings gives a handling of +3. Maximum Handling bonus is +5, so two Maneuver Enhancements maxes out the bonus. A third only acts as a redundancy in case of damage; it would be better off with some more fuel.

Also, Spaceships standard layout is to list which section each module is installed in. It makes it easier to check/test designs if you use something approximating the standard layout; it also helps if you make sure to list the SM and TL. E.g.:
Center
[1-5] Light Alloy Armor
[6,Core] Control Room