Fighters! What are they good for?

[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.

[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

[Cyrien]

Anyone ever tried pumping some fighters full of shields and using a missile fleet with the fighters moving in first to soak up the PD fire?

[Kadste]

Cyrien,

Although I have tried this, I usually find it cheaper to create a defense ship and load it up with shields. Fighters die quickly, but the defense ships usually survive combat to be repaired.

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Never Give up, Never Surrender!

[tesco samoa]

ahh but fighters are cheap to build and require no maintence.

All comes down to balance. Fighters can tip the scale in a battle.

Now if you actually controlled combat fighters value jumps 100 fold.

I use them. A fleet without them can be destroyed quickly.

Jump an enemy with 3000 fighters and see what survives.



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Inter arma silent leges