SE4 Advice on Fighters.
 

I'm a PBW SE4 game and I like using fighters. Well in my first engagement i was sorely disappointed in their performance. I need some advice on how to make carrier fleets effective in a Stock SE4 game. I ran combat simuluations that showed them being FAR more effective, but the real thing was a bloodbath at my expense.

I'm going to change my Medium Fighters to be slower and more armored as their 80% defense did little against the PD's. i will say the Enemy ships may have hit one fighter with their main guns, but the PD's ripped me to shreds.

My old Design: Cockpit/lifesuuport, max engines (speed 9 or 10), 1 X Emissive Armor, combat sensors, ECM, afterburner, Phased Beam.

My new design: C/L, speed 7 (same as my ships), 4 X Emissive armor, Combat sensor, NO ecm, Phased Beam. (at work and i think that adds up to 20kt)

I'm gonna add a Missle to my ships as well to add to the amount of stuff coming at the enemy to tax his PD's.

Is this worth doing?
Better ideas/strategies?
Feedback welcomed.

Romulus

Re: SE4 Advice on Fighters.
 

Depends on the tech levels, enemy fleet composition, and relative attack/defense proficiencies, ecm, etc.

In general though, fighters have some niche uses but in stock are often overpowered by enemy point defense, which is massive accurate and damaging in stock.

Two niches even in stock though include:

Early on, researching fighters instead of ship construction can get carriers which can mount heavy weapons and serve as cruiser-class warships which also carry fighters. If/while your combat proficiencies can make fighters hard to hit, and/or the enemy neglects point defense, then they can be useful.

Later on, they can be useful as auxilliary weapons which can provide leverage because (like drones) they have no maintenance resource costs and can be hidden on planets and inside ships. Used in large quantities and with shields to provide them at least some survivability, they can be fairly effective. Some Temporal and Organic fighter weapons are particularly good.

However, an enemy who puts enough energy into combat bonuses and/or point defense can generally make it inefficient (hopeless) to concentrate on fighters.

There are mods though where fighters come into their own. Carrier Battles, Proportions 2.x, etc.

PvK

Re: SE4 Advice on Fighters.
 

It's been a while since I played SE4, so I can't quite remember if you can do this in strategic combat, but launching your fighters in smaller groups can also be quite effective. If an enemy PDC can destroy 10 fighters with a hit, and you're launching your fighters in groups of 5, then not only is half the damage potential of the PDC wasted, but you also have a better chance of getting your fighters into range, since your enemy will have to spread his fire more.

Re: SE4 Advice on Fighters.
 

What about shields?

Anyone tried that?

Re: SE4 Advice on Fighters.
 

My suggestion, first off drop the emissive armor, on fighters it's completely useless, use shields. Secondly, (in my opinion) PPB on fighters isn't very good either, if you have racial tech weapons use those instead, except for maybe the crystal race (unless your foes use a lot of armor). For normal weapons, rocket pods are good for heavy damage and APB's are good for general use. Fighters can be useful even into the late game, what you need to concentrate on is building *huge* amounts of them.

Re: SE4 Advice on Fighters.
 

I think I stated the wrong weapon. They have the Photon Beam at max level 3 for fighters.

Rocket Pods means you must get to range 2 and I'm getting shot up far away. I only have Rocket Pods 1, will they get more range with higher levels?

Re: SE4 Advice on Fighters.
 

Romulus68 said:
Rocket Pods means you must get to range 2 and I'm getting shot up far away. I only have Rocket Pods 1, will they get more range with higher levels?

IIRC, they get up to range 3 at max level. You're looking to make many small fighter groups of these, perhaps groups of 3, and let their considerable punch wreck ships after they've at least some groups have survived point defense.

Medium fighters are probably the most viable. They have moderate innate defense, and you can augment with ECM and shields.

Re: SE4 Advice on Fighters.
 

How do I make them launch in units of a specific size? (this is my first SE4 game)

Re: SE4 Advice on Fighters.
 

No, they just do more damage. Since their reload rate means only one shot per battle, I only use them when I don't expect the fighter to survive long enough to get two shots.

There aren't any fighter weapons in stock with a range over 3. I agree with the others who've suggested small groups of heavily shielded fighters.

The size of your fighter groups is set in (F11) Empire Status/Strategies/Launching. (That's also where you set number of drones launched per target.)

Re: SE4 Advice on Fighters.
 

The fighter group size depends on the carrier's launch strategy.

See: Empire Options (crown) -> Strategies (text button on right)
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...chStrategy.png