[murx]

I like the idea to kill the strategical move of fighters to zero and only have them combat movement.
They still could stay in space forever - but only at the point their carrier released them.
At a planet or at a carrier this would depict the fighters are 'on patrol' and just make short landings on the planet/carrier for crew shifts and resupply.
Another way could be to cut their movement to only 1 or maximal 2 spaces away from a landing point (or maybe 1/2 their maximal move) - depicting the same 'patrol' mechanism as before, but the 'main patrol' is at the location where the squadron is shown on the map.
But will be hard to programm, as the fighters should be destroyed when their 'landing base' moves away or is destroyed.
murx