Fighter Question

solops · #1 August 24th, 2002, 05:41 PM

In SE IV v 1.49 fighters and missiles seemed to become relatively useless at the higher tech levels, so long as the oppositions point defense was intact. Is this still true in the latest Version of SEIV Gold?

Gryphin · #2 August 24th, 2002, 07:14 PM

solops,
SE for the most part is a matter of Play Style combined with "Sissors, Paper, Rock".
So I feel the answer is: Yes and No.

Ed Kolis · #3 August 24th, 2002, 09:57 PM

Probably. Though you can fix that by giving missiles more damage resistance and/or mounts (yes, those do work!) and giving fighters special armor that takes more hits...

[ August 24, 2002, 20:59: Message edited by: Ed Kolis ]

PvK · #4 August 24th, 2002, 10:43 PM

In the unmodded game, I think there is not much difference in that department, except that drones are now also a major PD target, which are much more durable at higher tech. So, a combined drone/fighter attack, especially with ECM/shields/armor, can overpower PD defenses, and since fighters and drones have no maintenance cost, they can be worthwhile to accumulate during peacetime or in limited resource games.

Mods tend to make fighters for valid in various ways, however. In my Proportions mod, for example, I actually reduced fighter weapon damage by about a factor of five, but then made the to-hit chances very high in their favor, so that PD is not a guaranteed hit, and main weapons usually can't hit them, which makes a world of difference.

PvK

DirectorTsaarx · #5 August 26th, 2002, 09:48 PM

I think they've also made seekers harder to hit:

From History.txt:

Quote:

Version 1.75:
7. Added - Added new Settings.txt fields - "Seeker Combat Defense Modifier", "Planet Combat Offense Modifier", "Planet Combat Defense Modifier".

So that may help keep seekers viable until later in the game. Besides, just because it's "common knowledge" that seekers lose their effectiveness once everyone has point-defense doesn't mean you should completely abandon seekers; more importantly, you also can't just stop using point-defense because the enemy isn't using seekers anymore. If the enemy is human, they may just be waiting for you to let your guard down (i.e., stop using PD). Finally, a large planet full of seeker-armed weapon platforms can still be fairly deadly to a smaller fleet. Or, if the ships are smart enough to stay out of range of missiles, they're not going to get many shots at the planet...

mottlee · #6 August 26th, 2002, 10:08 PM

Or you can overwelm there defences (?) with a lot of them at one or two ships (will still need some beam weapons tho)