quote:
Originally posted by Spoo:
Is there a way to make ships dockable like fighters? I don't mean making a gigantic fighter that just looks like an escort or frigate, cause then it could be loaded with fighter components and be shot down w/ PDC, and basically be not good.
I'm thinking a baseship that holds a small fleet of escorts and/or frigates.
I imagine this would need a code change, but I figured I'd bring it up in case it could be moded.
As others have pointed out, this is basically "Pseudo-fighters" from Starfleet Battles. You can get awfully close to this in the follwing way:
1) Mod your data files:
a> Make a "Combat Movement" component for ships as well as fighters. +1, +2, and +3 movement is good. Where to place these in the engines field, or whether to make them a special field, is up to you.
b> Give "supply storage" and "solar collector" components in your data files a cargo storage ability so they can be placed in transports. Make it '0' cargo storage of course, and don't give it a description so it doesn't appear in the abilities list.
c> Optionally, also give the repair bay the '0' cargo storage ability so it can be added into the mix.
2) Design your attack escorts with minimal engines, NO supply storage or other non-combat peripherals, and these special combat thrusters. They'll be slow on the strategic map but kick-*** in combat. If you equip them with missiles they can make "torpedo runs" against enemy ships. Even if you equip them with beams they might be able to dance in and out of range, although the advantages of mounts for larger ships could be a problem for them to cope with. They can probably outrun other ship's missiles, though.
3) Though you cannot actually make a ship that carries other ships, you can make a "PF Tender" that keeps these attack escorts supplied. Fill a transport hull with as many solar collectors as reasonably possible plus a few supply storage units to make a reserve supply pool. Include a repair bay if you've made that mod. Equip it with minimal defense components. ECM, maybe. Nothing more. The PFs are supposed to protect it, while it is supposed to keep them supplied and repaired and be CHEAP on maintenance.
Fleet a bunch of these attack escorts with one or more of these tenders and you have a slow fleet on the strtegic map that turns into a very fast fleet in tactical combat. This is about as close as you're going to get to PFs and tenders in the SFB style.
[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 03 May 2001).]