Fighters! What are they good for?

[mac5732]

Aginst AI's, ftrs excellent as long as you put in Groups. Put some of the missle weapon
that shoot 1 time with 100 damage in each group. Has good punch and other ftrs help defend and fire each turn. I use them for defense of worm holes along with mines, sats and battlestations. Usually have 2 carriers with ftrs with battle fleets to take out the AI's fts. I usually put them in Groups of 20-30. Important worm holes will have 100-150 ftrs. The AI usually only Groups in 5's. Against human, different defense later in game especially once worm hole opener is obtained. Makes wormhole defense obsolete which makes your ftrs an in system defense force able to respond to threatened planets.
Depending on which trait you take ftrs if used right can make difference in a crucial battle. I like Temporal, excellent ftr weapons tht shoot both seekers & against ships. In hot-seat against humans, good to use in tactical. Need something to draw their fire and ftrs so your main fleet can get in and hit them especially if you are using missles and he has good PD's. He then has to make choice, ftrs or seekers. I never used them but once I tried them, I now use every game.

just some ideas mac

[Saxon]

So, fighters can work well in an auxillary role and, if used in numbers, can be useful additions to a fleet. They also provide a method of getting planets without shipyards into the game.

What is the best setup for a fighter? One person suggested temporal tech is good, but what if you don't have that tech tree?

Hearing your thoughts would be interesting.

[PsychoTechFreak]

quote:

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Originally posted by Saxon:
What is the best setup for a fighter?

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Shields, which let the fighter survive the first shot of PDC 5. Sensors to increase attack and defense bonus.

Suggestion for weapons (most powerful, but special tech tree again) :
Organic: Small Electric Discharge 3.
Psychic: Small Telecinetic Projector 3.

[Kadste]

Against the AI with lots of PDC, I will use many single fighters to soak up the PDC. In the same turn, send in the big Groups (20-30)fighters to cause the real damage.

Most of my fighters are optimized for speed, then defense, then offensive weapons.
I like using the combination of a ranged weapon (rocket pod) and a DUC. The PDC's fire will be spread out.

Fighter Groups make a great Warp point defense, especially when you get the first shot.

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Never Give up, Never Surrender!

[dogscoff]

Another good fighter tactic:

When your opponenet has decent PDC, launch your fighters in small Groups, or better yet as individual units. It's a nightmare to move them all around in tactical, but every shot that hits your fighter will waste your enemy's hitpoints:

For example, say your opponent's PDC does 50 damage per hit. Each fighter takes 30 damage to destroy (These figures are straight out of my head and completely random).

If you have one group of 15 fighters, that's 450 hit points. Therefore, it will take just 9 PDC hits to destroy your group. If you have the same 15 fighters in 15 Groups of one, however, they will have to hit 30 times to destroy them all, because 50 damage-30 Hit points = 20 damage points wasted per shot.

Lik I say, the numbers are made up but the principle still applies.

This does make sense. If it doesn't, you haven't drunk enough beer=-)

*Dogscoff has been down the pub again=-)

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[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

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If you have one group of 15 fighters, that's 450 hit points. Therefore, it will take just 9 PDC hits to destroy your group. If you have the same 15 fighters in 15 Groups of one, however, they will have to hit 30 times to destroy them all, because 50 damage-30 Hit points = 20 damage points wasted per shot.

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You might want to check your math again: if the PDCs are killing one fighter each shot, then it takes 15 PDC hits, not 30.

[Askan Nightbringer]

quote:

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Originally posted by dogscoff:

This does make sense. If it doesn't, you haven't drunk enough beer=-)

*Dogscoff has been down the pub again=-)

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Makes perfect sense to me (just coming back from the pub myself after another dominating performance on the pool table..wish my Space Empire strategies were as good).
Unfortunately the fact that the fighter Groups will take longet to get to combat and have more concentrated fire on them will suck a bit.


Now personally I think the only thing fighters acheive is to give lots of experience to the enemies fleets as they mow them down. I understand the now maintence thingie but my "living on the edge" sytle of economics means all my resources are for pumping the ships out. No minerals to spare for those fighters.

Askan