Value of Fighters

[Stockman]

Are fighters worth the effort. I never use them and I got this way in the beginning of my ownership of this game months ago. I see that the AI uses them and 90% of the time I can knock them right out. They seem never to have enough firepower to be a strong force in the game. Need advice on if I am wrong and am missing out on good strategy? Thanks

[evader]

In SeIII they were good for planet Defense. But in SEIV you have wepons platforms for that. So in IV I am not sure how you'd use them

[Taqwus]

Well, you can build 'em on worlds without a spaceyard, put them towards the middle of a system, and then they can hit anything that enters. So if you have excess resources (!) you can add to a cheap-to-build, maintenance-free response force.

They're also nifty if you PPP a yard-less planet, or CI a colony ship in enemy space -- in either case, you can build fighters quite quickly, and they may be able to hit nearby worlds, intercept colony ships and transports, and so forth.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[Blue Lord]

They're usefeulness depends on their numbers, weapons, size, speed etc. My own little killer, where 14 of these fellows can bomb out a dreadnought (in both tactical and strategical). I've got a strike force of them heading towards a neutral, on heavy carriers of course. The poor neutral won't know what hit them, when my Mine Nought mines the only warpoint leading to a neighbour that might aid them, and mu troop ships dive in. That's real fun.

[Instar]

A well designed fighter (large fighter, one or two small shields, plus a few weapons, and an afterburner III is really good) is an incredible weapon. With the Afterburner III + the engines, you can get some mighty fast fighters. I have designs that go up to 8 or 9 moves in combat. They are great interceptors. In a group, they can wallop small to medium ships, and if they carry missiles, they can blow anything up.
A good carrier with 100-150 fighters is one of the most important components of my fleets.

[Sinapus]

Yes, but the annoying thing about them is that they are a hassle to maneuver in tactical. Plus if you launch them outside of combat, they all form one big mass.

I'd like to see the 'launch fighters in Groups' command be useable outside of combat, as well as allowing a "fleet" to be preset for each carrier's fighters so that when you do launch them in small Groups they automatically are part of the "fleet" (think of it as a fighter group or wing) upon launch. Would make it much easier to move them on both the tactical and main game board.

Having the fighter Groups clump fighters of the same type in the same unit when you launch them would be nice as well. As of now I have separate carriers for different fighter types. Fighters w/rocket pods on one ship, fighters w/weapons that fire more often on another, etc.


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--
"What do -you- want?" "I'd like to live -just- long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I would look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this..." *waggle* "...can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?"