Emissive Armour/Fighter Stacking

[CombatSquirrel]

This fighter stacked damage being applied as one lump sum against the emissive effect has been commented on (and complained about) for years. Is there some explanation or rationalization for why this effect remains?

I mean, of course, apart from the fact that MM isn't a hapless slave to my frivilous demands that is...

Does it serve some little understood function, or simulate some effect that I can't fathom?

CombatSquirrel

[Suicide Junkie]

Well, without it stacking, 90% of fighter weapons would be completely useless against EA level 1...

As it is now, fighters can hurt ships, and Emissive armor is still useful in many situations.

[Captain Kwok]

How about emissive armor on fighters, will that stack too?

[CombatSquirrel]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
Well, without it stacking, 90% of fighter weapons would be completely useless against EA level 1...

As it is now, fighters can hurt ships, and Emissive armor is still useful in many situations.

But it is easy to mod the effectiveness of EA 1, to say just 5 points, and it would beautifully simulate the ineffectiveness of the smaller weapon fire of fighters against full-size system travelling warships. Or, what I am trying to do, set a moderate EA level for Capital Ships to make them truly fearsome and difficult to deal with without Capital Ships of your own.

This works great for everything, except that a hefty stack of fighters can chew into a Capital Ship more effectively than a slew of destroyers.

CombatSquirrel

[geoschmo]

Fighters are so totally inept in mid to late game as it is, making them not stack would make them totally irrelevant. I see what you are saying in theory CS, but in practice the effectiveness of PDC and regular weapons against fighters totally makes up for any on paper advantage the damage stacking should give them. A large stack of fighters against one or two capital ships possibly, but against a fleet, even a small fleet, of capital ships is going to not live long enough to do any significant damage. Maybe it's not realistic, or maybe it is, but it's more of a game play thing really. Trying to keep fighters viable later in the game so that the end game doesn't become more vanilla than it already is.

I have been thinking about posibilities throguh game setup or a mod that will permit a game that is geared more towards the capital ships. To have ship to ship combat be more one on one, or just a handful of big ships. Where one capital ship unsupported, or maybe just a couple, basically is responsible for an entire system. But to do it would make them very suceptable to fighter stacks. What I was thinking is in such a mod you could eliminate the fighters ability to move about stragecially, only allow them combat movement. So they would have to be supported by carriers, or stationed on planets.

Geoschmo

[sachmo]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Fighters are so totally inept in mid to late game as it is, making them not stack would make them totally irrelevant. I see what you are saying in theory CS, but in practice the effectiveness of PDC and regular weapons against fighters totally makes up for any on paper advantage the damage stacking should give them. A large stack of fighters against one or two capital ships possibly, but against a fleet, even a small fleet, of capital ships is going to not live long enough to do any significant damage. Maybe it's not realistic, or maybe it is, but it's more of a game play thing really. Trying to keep fighters viable later in the game so that the end game doesn't become more vanilla than it already is.

I have been thinking about posibilities throguh game setup or a mod that will permit a game that is geared more towards the capital ships. To have ship to ship combat be more one on one, or just a handful of big ships. Where one capital ship unsupported, or maybe just a couple, basically is responsible for an entire system. But to do it would make them very suceptable to fighter stacks. What I was thinking is in such a mod you could eliminate the fighters ability to move about stragecially, only allow them combat movement. So they would have to be supported by carriers, or stationed on planets.

Geoschmo

Geo,

Since I haven't really made it to the endgame stage yet, can you tell me in what way point-defense becomes so effective that it nullifies the fighter advantage? Does it get more shots, or a longer range?

[dumbluck]

I'm going the other way. AoW will make fighters very important, in all stages of the game.