Fighter questions

All the fighter designs mentioned here assume large fighters with cockpit, life support, shield, max best engine, afterburners, ecm, sensors, which leaves 6 space left over.

1) I think the best defense against fighters when attacking is battle cruisers full of PD since the BC is the biggest ship that can have max engines. Of course if you are defending a fixed position then a starbase with lots of PD would work too. But sometimes it may come down to fighters versus fighters. In that case would the best fighter weapon to have be ppb ? The damage is puny, but not much is needed when the nonphased fighter shields are bypassed...

2) When fighter versus ships armed heavily with pd is expected then is the best weapon rocket pods ? I need to know if fighters will run to the corners after expending their rp, or do they just stay in place getting slaughtered ?

3) If not so much pd is expected, then wouldn't the best bet be to trade two engines to get the space for small antimatter torpedos ? The 35 every two combat turns beats 50 once only if the fighter survives to make a second shot.

4) If a cloaked carrier on station engages an attacking carrier to launch its fighters, then does that make it decloak ? If decloaked, is there a way to recloak during combat ? If it stays cloaked and refuses to engage, does that mean that the opposing fighters cannot shoot it ? That would be REALLY nice!

5) Of course if you see the fleet coming and units in space slots are available, then the fighters can be launched on the strategic map before the enemy arrives and the carrier can be cloaked when combat begins. In that case does it stay cloaked during combat, and if so, does that mean that enemy fighters cannot attack it ? If the attacking fleet has sensors, do they let all units see and attack cloaked ships ?

6) A smart enemy would launch a recon satellite in the system to reveal all cloaked ships before entering the sector for combat. Is the AI that smart ? This is obviously not a problem for warp points, but most of the places I will be defending are planets, not WP.

7) Many of my colonies will be in enemy home systems. Once hostilities begin, my first priority is to shoot every satellite in orbit. Does the AI keep recon satellites in cargo as a reserve ?

8) For shooting down satellites, would the best bet be a battle cruiser split 50/50 between shields and pd ?

9) One of the threads I read suggested launching missile satellites in tactical just in range of the planet, then pounding it until all the weapon platforms were gone. Does the AI put pd on its weapon platforms to negate this trick ? I have never seen it, but that was with the standard AI, so the modpack may have smarter designs. When I build wp, my weapon space is split half pd then the other half either beams or seekers.

That's all I can think of for now. If anybody else has related questions post them on this thread so it can be made a faq.

[This message has been edited by LCC (edited 10 June 2001).]

It seems unlikely, but is worth checking. I assume a mothballed ship cannot move in combat. But :

1) Can a mothballed base/ship fire its weapons against attacking ships/fighters ?

2) Do its shields/shield regenerators and armor work, or is it a sitting duck with only its components damage resistance ?

If mothballed can defend itself, then there is no limit to how much you can build for defenses since they do not count toward the score determining MEE and cost no maintenance !

[Marty Ward]

I have had great success using a LC as my PD ship so a BC would probably be very effective. Even using an LC, if my fleet has two I never worry about fighters or seekers, they are effectively removed from the game.
See above. PD is to effective in the standard game.
If you expect to meet some PD I like fighters with 2 shields and the rest weapons and armor. I try to design a fighter that takes 2 hits to destroy. I like DUC's as my weapon because they are cheap.
Don't know about the rest.

[This message has been edited by Marty Ward (edited 10 June 2001).]

quote:

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Originally posted by Marty Ward:
I like DUC's as my weapon because they are cheap.

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You must mean because the tech is cheap, because the weapons are a minor component of the fighter cost. What I am interested in is what is most effective assuming all tech has been learned by everybody.

[Marty Ward]

Yes they are a cheap tech but they also cost less resources which could add up after constructing 10k or so of them.
You can fit 2 of these instead of 1 small ppb. A stack of 10 fighters with 2 each will do 300 damage, which ain't to bad.

[DirectorTsaarx]

You can also fit 2 small meson bLasters on a large fighter, for increased range (10 damage for each MB at range 3, vs. 15 damage for each DUC at range 2). Of course, if you're playing a Temporal race, you can use "Small Time Distortion Burst" weapons; same space requirement as DUC or MB, but does 4x damage to shields; base damage rate is equal to DUC.

I've heard the organic weapons do well on fighters, too, but I've never played an Organic race...

[Nitram Draw]

Have you tried the Dev mod with the Assault Bomber and mounts for fighter weapons? The Cue Cappa designed fighters that do 250 damage each. Couple of 10 stacks of them will get your attention!

[rdouglass]

quote:

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Originally posted by DirectorTsaarx:
I've heard the organic weapons do well on fighters, too, but I've never played an Organic race...

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Yeah, that Organic Tech has that nasty little "Electric" weapon that does like 30 damage at 2 spaces every turn or 2 (I think). I'm at work so I don't have the details handy, but ISTR it being the best weapon for fighters (IMO).....

Ouch! I did not realize there were fighter weapons for the race specials! I guess I better check that out because in my game I am up against :
Pyschic - Abbidon, Cue Cappa
Crystallurgy - Cryslonite, Phong, Piundan
Religious - Narn
Temporal - Pyrochette, Sallegra
Propulsion - Rage, Sergetti
Organic - Ukra Tal, Xi Chung
nothing so pushovers ? - Amonkrie, Colonials, Drushocka, Eee, Krill, Sergetti, Toltayan, Toron
I was only going to build 7 pd battle cruisers times 80 locations. Looks like I better make that 14 - two per starbase defense base.....



[This message has been edited by LCC (edited 12 June 2001).]

[Will]

quote:

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Originally posted by rdouglass:
Yeah, that Organic Tech has that nasty little "Electric" weapon that does like 30 damage at 2 spaces every turn or 2 (I think). I'm at work so I don't have the details handy, but ISTR it being the best weapon for fighters (IMO).....

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Small Electric Discharge, range three, damage 20, rate 1, size 3kT. I remember that one's stats by heart, since I use it so much. I'm not sure about price, but it's the best fighter weapon in terms of damage per turn per kT. Plus it has the longest range among fighter weapons. Favorite design has two variations: Large fighter, 8xengines, 1xshield, 2xSmTDB, 1xSmED, afterburners; or same design only 1xSmTDB, 2xSmED. Kill the shields, then kill the stuff under them