Fighters! What are they good for?

[dogscoff]

I oftn find myslf using fighters as an emergency defence: If an enemy has managed to get into an undefended system and is only one turn away from my planets, fighters are the best defence I can build in just one turn:

Sure, I could build some weapons platforms or sats but one turn's worth of weapons platforms isn't much good. However, one turn's worth of fighters is worth more becasue it's one turn x several planets. You can group them up next turn and they will the equivalent of a good ship which would otherwise take several turns to build.

Think of it as a way of spreading a ship's build queue across several planets in order to get it built quicker.

The problem is that fighters can't move immediatly after launching=-(

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[Taqwus]

Fighters can also have higher combat speed than any ship, which is nice for nailing fleets whose ships are designed for long-range fighting.

And, of course, they're nice against missile-heavy fleets...

But yes, the main use would be emergency defense. Fighters don't take maintenance, and ones in planetary storage don't count against the unit limit, so you can stockpile large numbers of fighters. As long as you have early warning (like cloaked sensor/scanner satellites up to two systems away from your colonies), you can launch 'em faster than you can get a defense fleet there. Unless the game's progressed to warp-point-opening combat, of course, in which case offense wins. *shrug*

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[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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SE4 Code:
L GdY $ Fr- C- Sd T!+ Sf-- Tcp-- A% M>M+ MpD! RV Pw Fq+ Nd- Rp+ G-
/SE4 Code
Go to my meagre SEIV pages to generate your own code.