Quote:
You're not strictly enforced to do it, you can place masses of Interceptor weapons on bombers, what I meant is that heavier anti-attack craft weaponry and anti-ship weaponry gets increasingly larger, and the I/S/B is mainly just a means of defining the max level of weaponry you can place on the craft. Interceptors can be built/launched in swarms, are very fast but cannot wield heavy anti-AC weaponry, they're mainly limited to swarming enemy S/Bs and mainly harassing them, superiority fighters can carry swarms of Interceptor weapons but they can also carry some heavier, longer-ranged anti-AC weapons, but they are slower - designed to fulfill a more defensive role, escorting warships and bombers and protecting them from enemy interceptor/superiority attack. Bombers are simply the minimum size ACs that can carry anti-ship weapons, but you can also cram Heavy Bombers with Interceptor weapons and thereby spread out your to-hit chances against ACs. Normal PD can only target seekers, and modded PD will be a threat to ACs but if you put enough armor on them they'll be able to hold their own against ships with PD. Bombers will thus be a pretty serious threat for smaller warships, and can be an effective support when attacking capital warships, but since PD will be less effective against them, you'll need interceptors and superiority fighters to take out enemy bombers before they can cause serious damage/interference to your fleet.
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-----TRANSLATING-----
Players aren't meant to stick by the rules strictly. The general division between interceptors, space superiority fighters and bombers isn't meant to keep players from putting Interceptor weaponry on Bombers.
To put it this way:
Interceptor weaponry is an assortment of light short-ranged anti-attack craft weaponry. This, combined with the facts that Interceptors are really really fast and that they cannot carry space superiority weapons, makes that Interceptors are quite limited fighters, as they cannot hold their own against equal numbers of SSFs, however they are very cheap and can be built and launched in swarms, making them effective ways to swarm enemy SSFs and bombers encroaching on your fleet, or simply to distract enemy defenders to provide cover for Bombers approaching the enemy fleet.
SSFs (space superiority fighters) are larger, slower attack craft designed to fill a more defensive role. They are more expensive than Interceptors and therefore cannot be launched in similar numbers, but still SSFs are invaluable if the enemy makes use of a lot of Bombers. SSFs can carry heavier weapons than the Interceptors but still cannot use anti-ship weaponry. SSF weapons have a longer range and a higher damage than Interceptor weaponry, but interceptors can use their speed and offense/defense bonuses to their advantage.
Bombers are very large, lumbering craft, sometimes even slower than a fast warship. They are the only attack craft capable of wielding anti-ship weapons, and this makes them a powerful enemy. Even more so, because Bomber anti-ship weapons pack quite a punch. However, since Bombers are such huge craft (especially compared to Interceptors), they can also carry a lot of Interceptor or SSF weaponry. A screen of Bombers carrying a mix of Interceptor and SSF weaponry can be a very powerful defense against enemy Bombers, but be wary that they are pretty expensive and quite slow, and therefore Interceptors can easily deal with the Bomber screen - they dart in range, fire their weapons, then flee again so the bombers cannot return fire.
All in all, I'm trying to make fighters play an important role in campaigns, as Bombers have the potential to be even more dangerous to enemy ships than a Light Cruiser, simply because they are harder to hit and their weapons are proportionally stronger. As I said, most of my inspiration came from SJ's Carrier Battles Mod.
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This is what you meant with the empty post, right? You couldn't make heads or tails of my rant?