Disclaimer: Most of the vessels presented here are not original creations on my part. They were derived from suggestions made on the Steam and Reddit sub-forums for Highfleet. That said, I did not copy and paste any of these war machines. Additionally, they all saw extensive tweaks and overhauls in order to get the maximum amount of viability out of each design.
Overview: Before getting into the stats for individual ships, I think it would be a good idea to touch on three key points of fleet doctrine which guided the general design philosophy on display here. The first is speed. Basically, there are one of two categories to aim for - slow or fast. "Slow", in this case, means keeping up with the Sevastopol (100 give or take). "Fast" is standing a decent chance of getting a sudden strike on local garrisons (around 300). Any ship significantly outside of these two ranges (or directly between them) is going to slow down the reset of the squadron or fly at suboptimal speed themselves. Either way it's inefficient. Second is range. More is obviously better, but not at the expense of combat effectiveness. The distance between towns varies, but always seems to be somewhere between 850 and 1500. Having less than this range leads to an easily stranded ship in constant need of attention from fuel tankers. The third and final point is cost. I have seen a lot of airborne monsters that will pretty much thrash any opposition, but as a consequence they are outrageously expensive. The real challenge of the Highfleet editor, in my opinion, is to build ships that aren't cost prohibitive yet still capable of fulfilling their intended roles. So, keeping those three criteria in mind, here are some designs.
Classification: Attack Frigate
Role: Air Superiority Ship
Description: Serving as compromise between armor, firepower, speed and range, the Lynx is well suited to clearing out lesser garrisons or capturing prize trade ships. Ideally the Lynx should pounce on targets with close-range bursts of 100mm cannons while using its Gatling gun to shootdown incoming missiles.
Classification: Attack Frigate
Role: Air Superiority Ship
Description: Armed with a pair of the heaviest cannons in the game, the Bulldog is a small ship expressly made to take down enemies much larger than it. Against foes of equal or smaller size it fairs poorly unless proximity rounds are employed, in which case it can dispatch them with relative ease.
Role: Air Superiority Ship
Description: Taking the tried-and-true quad-turret arrangement and applying to 130mm cannons, the Puma is well suited to a snipe-and-dodge style of aerial combat. Due to the lack of any rapid fire weapons, a flare system has been installed to ward off incoming missiles.
Classification: Heavy Corvette
Role: Aircraft Carrier
Description: Being able to deploy jet aircraft on a budget is what the Shortbow is all about. At less than half the price of its bigger sister (the Longbow), this light carrier still has decent striking power. In a pinch, the Shortbow can also share its ample fuel reserve to extend the range of other ships.
Classification: Auxiliary Corvette
Role: Early Warning Ship
Description: While the Sevastopol comes with an impressive array of both passive and active sensors, there are times when a cheap semi-expendable scout ship can come in handy; creating diversions, visiting intel sites, and hunting for hidden rest stops are just a few examples. It is also equip with a jammer and anti-missile system though lacks offensive weapons
Classification: Attack Frigate
Role: Air Superiority Ship
Description: No matter how agile or well outfitted you're going to get hit sooner or later. This means landing in a dock for repairs is an unavoidable necessity. Big ships can either go wide, landing on multiple pads for a bigger bonus, or they can go tall and narrow so they can slip into those sunken 70 meter pads that offer faster repair speeds. Vanguard is the latter.
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