*DONT SET THE TIME RATE TO 8X*
That will give the ship AI enough time to plot courses around stellar objects.
2X is the most, except when cruising across an empty system just to get to the next warppoint.
Accelerated time also hurts fighters more because they have a lot more to avoid, and its all moving at once.
If you want to see some useful (but certainly not ubered) fighters, try the P&N ism campaigns. Be sure to bring them home for regular repair during longer combats.
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...lCampaigns.rar
If you start in episode two, you even get the opportunity to fly an experimental warp-capable fighter of your own!
(Beware of PDC when flying the fighter
)
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...0Homefront.rar
Supersized P&Nism for campaign 1 is even more so.
It makes planets somewhat more realistically huge, and ships tiny. Collisions are naturally harder. You will find that sensor components are more important, since you can't just eyeball things 1000 distance away
