Fighter Stacking question
 

deccan asked a question similar to this in the FAQ thread, but it didn't get answered in detail. Seeing as I've had the same question for a while I thought I'd call it out in a separate post:

If you have a carrier with 2 or 3 different types of Heavy Fighter, how are those fighters launched during Strategic combat? Are the fighters inter-mingled during launch, or are they launched individually, one type at at time?

I've seen multiple Posts, and the FAQ, mention that you only need one fighter with ECM and Sensors in a stack for all fighters in the stack to gain the ECM and Sensor bonuses. How does this work in Strategic combat? Is there a way to tell your carriers to intermingle different types of fighter when launching units?

For example, if I have the following Heavy fighters on my carrier, is it possible to have my carriers launch them in Groups of 15 (5 of each type):
- 20 Type A (ECM, Sensors, DUC)
- 20 Type B (All DUCs, no ECM or Sensors)
- 20 Type C (Rocket Pods, no ECM or Sensors)

Sockum

Re: Fighter Stacking question
 

it is true about the stack, but arent fighters are launched in alphabetical order?

re:stack - doesnt it put you in the possibility of losing the sensor/ecm fighter too early? because then it could realy cripple the whole stack. im prett sure the damage distribution is random but someone might correct me on that one.

Re: Fighter Stacking question
 

Fighters are stacked according to type, one type per stack, whether in tactical or strategic combat. This is hard-wired into the game.

Re: Fighter Stacking question
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I don't think that is true, actually. I haven't seen this to be the case.

The order they are launched is either the order they are loaded or the reverse order they are loaded, I forget.

Re: Fighter Stacking question
 

If someone does a good test of this, I will put it in the next FAQ revision. I don't have time for this one unfortunately.

I have seen stacks of fighters with multiple designs in them. I *think* the stacks are created as follows: the ship/planet/base will launch fighters each combat turn until empty or combat is over. The stack size is set in the strategy. The maximum launched per turn is set by the launchers on a ship/base or 1000 for a planet. The order out is: first in = first out. Like I said, I *think* this is how it works. Anyone willing to do testing??

Slick.

Re: Fighter Stacking question
 

General is right. During combat fighters stack according the type. Outside combat, you can launch and stack different fighters in strategic map, I think.

Re: Fighter Stacking question
 

Outside of combat everything definitely goes into one big stack.

Inside combat, (tactical) I opened the launch window and set launch orders for two different designs at once. Two separate stacks were made in combat.

Re: Fighter Stacking question
 

All I know is that fighters arent that strong http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif unfortuantely for me ...I need better fighter based technology !

Re: Fighter Stacking question
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">What happens when you have one big stack and then have combat?

Re: Fighter Stacking question
 

If they don't stack with unlike, then that clearly answers the "just one ECM protects all the fighters" issue. Is the same true for Sats, Drones?