Random Questions

[Randallw]

I have a 1.66 game with BM 1.13. I don't see any problems, apart from for some reason if a carrier is destroyed it drops all its fighters in the sector.

[Xrati]

Narf, too easy...
How do you shoot a pink elephant? With a water gun. The pink paint runs off as we all know elephants aren't pink. The elephant turns to gray, it's natural color.

How do you shoot a gray elephant? With a rubber band on it's trunk. The rubber band get stuck on the trunk and the elephant (not being able to breath) turns blue.

How do you shoot a blue elephant? With a paint gun. Use pink paint and no one will ever know you shot it in the first place.

See, AND you only need one elephant this way!

Any questions ?

[Suicide Junkie]

Randallw said:
I have a 1.66 game with BM 1.13. I don't see any problems, apart from for some reason if a carrier is destroyed it drops all its fighters in the sector.

If the fighters had been launched in combat, and the carrier died... then the fighters are still in space with nowhere else to go.

If a carrier is just blown up unexpectedly (intel op, random event, or whatnot), the unlaunched fighters should go up in the blast.

How did your carrier die?

[Randallw]

It works like this.

My enemy sent a colony ship through a WP. I destroyed it. The colony ship had a fighter bay and 16 fighters onboard. in the brief battle one was launched (1 bay). in the next turn the other 15 fighters, which never launched, were dumped on the wp and fought by my fighters.

I noticed this strange event and tested it in the simulator. a freighter with 1 bay and 50 fighters will die, launching maybe 1 or 2 fighters. The other 48 fighters are niow listed as existing when the simulation ends, and if you restart it, will be massed in the area the freighter died.

So now I, and I wouldn't put it past my enemy to do likewise, build freighters with lots of cargo space, and one bay (you need at least 1 bay for it to work). The ship will die, but then it drops 50-60 fighters on the wp.

This is 1.66 with BM 1.13. It seems a bit buggy, but nevermind we can both use it equally. It just adds an interesting change to war plans.

Edit: I just remembered he used it too. He dropped 41 fighters on my side of the wp that then flew off across the system, avoiding my 60 fighters.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

...Emergency launch!

[Randallw]

Personally it reminds me of the Star Wars novel where the Empire uses a cloaking device on freighters, not to hide the freighter, just its cargo. It scans as an empty freighter, until it breaks up and squadrons of TIE fighters float out and attack.

I think of them as Tenders. They don't hold the fighters inside, they are on external hardpoints and just detach.

The delightfully ironic thing is we stuck with 1.66/BM 1.13 to avoid the new 1.71 rule that fighters can only leave their carrier once a turn

[Daynarr]

Actually, this happens with all units (except that ground units get lost as they can't exist in space of course). I know some AI cargo ships who were carrying satellites and mines. It managed to launch some satellites before I killed it, but when it was gone, there were tons of mines and satellites in sector that I had to wipe after that battle. Apparently the cargo does not get destroyed if it can be used in space (fighters, sats, mines).

[Randallw]

it does require the relevant unit bay though. I just tested.

[Xrati]

Units like that (mines, fighters and SATs) are carried in an inert state. They are not sitting there on racks 'ready to go' they have to be "launched or primed" for operation. They would be sitting there as "Space Junk" with maybe a small chance that a small percentage of them would be in an operational mode.

[Randallw]

My opponent is now claiming it is a bug. I just used it once. He has benefitted from it maybe 4 or 5 times. As I said I had no problem with it, we could both do it equally. He begs to differ.

I will say no more.