[primitive]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
I do not see why people are so concerned about me making alleged blanket statements. Everyone does so.

Not the way You do Fyron, You are the Champ.

Fighters are:
- Very usefull in very early game to block warppoints and take down lone Scouts, Raiders and Colonyships.
- Usefull in early scirmishes not because of their power, but because they force the enemy to keep their fleets together. Excellent as delaying tactics after that early breakthrough. Very few players will move to the next system with a few small stacks of fighters on the loose.
- Usefull again in mid/late games (if you can handle the micromanagement). Large fighters with Shields and Armor are almost imune to PDC and very hard to hit with ordinary weapons.

But the most important thing with fighters is their impact on the economics of the game. A small investment in research and the showing of a few hundred fighters early forces the other guy to go heavy on PDC. This will cost him much more than what you have invested in the fighters.
Small excample: Putting 1 extra PDC on a LC only costs 250 Mins. For a fleet of 100 (very common in KOTH) it adds up to 25 000. You also need about 10 more ships to get the same amount of offensive/defensive power, another 60-70 000. Then you have to pay maintanance throughout training, transport to the front and waiting for battle (lets say 10 turns on average), "oups" thats another 125 000 minerals.

To call fighters nearly useless is just plain wrong. It is one of the most usefull weapons in the game (after mines) if used properly. I would dare to say that if you don't find fighters usefull, you have never fought someone who knows how and when to use them, or you have never done the math on the economics.

Now for some real useless stuff: Satelittes and Weapon platforms

BTW: Missile ships can do most of the same thing fighters can, but at a greater cost.

BBTW:
Fun with fighters
Try this one in late game: Put 1-2 Fighterbays on each capital ship. Load with large fighters with Shields, Armor, ECM and Small Rocket Pods. Make sure the fighters have the same speed as the ships. Attack a fleet of equal size (this is especially fun in warppoint defence/offence). Depending on the other guys settings, two things can happen: A - He wastes a lot of shots from his main guns trying to hit the fighters or B - your fighters will get through and do some real damage. Cool thing (for the fighter guy) is that there is no smart defensive settings (I know of). If he let his main guns fire at the fighters he wastes a lot of firepower firing on small stacks (I have seen 20 shots from PPB5s fired at 2 fighters), If he chooses the "do not fire on fighters" option he is very vulnerable to a "real" fighter attack next time. Do NOT try this against the Talisman