Improving the game (was: fighters and more)

[Campeador]

Yes the fighters behave erratic at times. They do crash with each other, with your carrier, and they do not always obey the command of returning to ship, and as you mention they just line up behind your carrier, annoying.
As SJ point out, if the game goes too fast, collision occur more often. Collision also sometimes occurs to enemy ships in a group as they materialize on the map, as when you take a new mission. I personally do not try to group more than 3 ships together in a group to try to avoid the collisions within a group. When I have fighters around I slow down to half time, and also slow down my speed.
You CAN carry as many fighters as long as you have the storage space, but the maximum amount of fighters that you can launch is limited to the number of 'Fighter Bays' the carrier has. Also note that if the bays get damage the fighters cannot land/launch until they are repaired. You can scavenge fighter parts, but it depends on the damage they suffered, you can even scavenge totally unharmed fighters from enemy carriers, and use them right away.
8 fighters against a cruiser and 3 fighters survive is a good turn around. A cruiser is a powerful ship. It also depends on the cruiser, armor, shields, regeneration and weapons. Your fighters are not the only ships that goes up in levels, the enemy ships also goes up. In general fighters are weak, but they do have a good strategic use, distraction. If you are facing 2 or 3 ships, they can divert the enemy fire that otherwise your ship may be receiving. A couple of fighters with beam weapons are not a big treat, but if they have missiles, as the ones on the Starblazer mod, they could definitely be a treat.
By the way I have killed my own fighters many times by firing torpedoes or missiles at enemy ships and my own fighters get on the way, or during combat the fighters sometimes slow down, and is me the one who hit them!
Yes I agree with you, there are a lot that could use a fix, and a lot that could be better, but there is also a lot of good gaming on it to be a good value for $20.

[Suicide Junkie]

Good to hear.

And definitely, slow down your launch rate... Traffic jams at the exit points are not good.

Oh, and the fighters lining up behind you... that's because you're going too fast. Stop, and the fighters will be able to slowly cruise in and land.

If you still feel that there is too much colliding, the supersize mod versions are available on imagemodserver.
Given the scale of stock, surely it is not surprising that those big vehicles bump, eh?