22 hours ago, Norsehound said:I'll bite. This is how I see the universe:
Auxiliary : GR-75, Gozanti
Not equipped for fighting. Support ships at best, the Gozanti is only good for chipping away at targets, the armed one is never seen.Corevttes/Destroyers : CR-90, Raider
Light attack assets and escorts. TRCs on the CR-90s for light gunship roles, Raiders with Ordnance Experts and APTs for strike roles and escort AA. Activation padding if you want to fight.Light Cruisers : Nebulon-B, Pelta, Arquitens
Larger dice pools at long range, with some secondary firepower. Best as gun platforms to engage at range. The Nebulon is contorted because the Yavaris title is so good it outweighs what you're usually supposed to take the ship for- point forward at enemy and shoot. The Arquitens does better in this role because it can maintain distance while firing away. The Pelta is harder to place because it's a standardized fighting cruiser, with more robustness than the Nebulon but slower and more focused on fighters.Strike Cruisers : MC-30, Gladiator Star Destroyer
Designed for rush and close range assaults as shock forces. Demolisher is supreme offense, Admonition is supreme defense. They're specialized, upgunned light cruisers.Medium Cruiser : Assault Frigate, Interdictor-class Cruiser
Four-dice throwers across multiple arcs with larger hull capacity and medium bases. These are the lighter end of the cruiser specification, the A/F betrays its ad-hoc nature (though being flexible) while the Interdictor is a utility ship with actual weapons. In theory as mediums they're supposed to give some heavy battery power to your list, but leaning on these outside of a specialized function (Interdictor upgrades, A/F with gallant heaven + Flight controllers) are going to find them lacking.Heavy Cruiser : Victory-Class Star Destroyer
Standard heavy battery firepower designed to crush smaller ships. Multiple small ship attacks in the current meta overwhelm them in this capacity, forcing some to turn them into carriers and de-power their guns. Properly configured they can still threaten smaller ships with impressive batteries.Battleship : MC80 Home One, MC80 Liberty, Imperial-class
The biggest sticks to each force, with the biggest batteries, largest hull, and biggest capability. The Imperial is supreme here because it's designed to handle all comers. Home one and the Liberty are too specialized to compete.
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With this understanding, Light Cruisers I'd like to use in gun support roles. The Rebels can do this better with massed CR-90s with TRCs (and they don't have the vulnerability the Nebulon suffers from), but I've liked my Arquitens whenever I've brought them to the table. Usually they're running fire support for the heavy element in my list (either ISDs, or a GSD).
Gladiators and MC-30s are pretty straightforward to understand nowadays: get them into close range of your target in the proper opportunity, then strike.
Maybe in WW2 but in modern navies Destroyers are now larger than cruisers. The Zumwalt is supposed to be over 600 feet in length which is longer than the Ticonderoga class (which was supposed to be a replacement of the Sruance class destroyer) The Arleigh Burke class was shorter than the Ticonderoga but thee Arleigh Burke has more tonnage than the Ticonderoga.
But yeah it is hard to make a distinction on what is a destroyer and what is a cruiser now these days. The cruisers might be a little longer but Destroyers are now larger.
Edited by Marinealver