[Lerchey]

so far, this has beena really good discussion. As was pointed out, the typical (WWII-ish) walls of lead, did not do much fighter killing. Heck, for that matter, flak cannons firing into bomber Groups weren't that effective at killing. Instead, since the AA did pose a threat, the figher or bomber pilots would be less inclined to close into a range which would make their firing/bombing accurate, and thus the overall effect was to reduce the *effectiveness* of the fighters and bombers.

That said, I like the changes in PDC vs fighters and main guns vs fighters. One thing to consider as a "fighter defense" would be to charge maintenance for fighters. This would make it expensive to build and maintain billions of fighters (hundreds at each planet!). Fighters (currently) are very expensive to maintain, so with the new, more realistic role, make maintenance more realistic as well.

Major John