Fighters, Bombers and Heavy Fighter

[Birdie_Sparrow]

Hi All

Every now and then I see a post re: what I will call "fighters" and why would anyone put them on when the Blueprints data shows them as 0 DPS. I experimented with a cruiser stripped of all weapons and then added a single fighter, then bomber, then heavy bomber bay on them. The cruiser also had Class X shields, Xentromium Armor and Auto Repair as I needed the cruiser to survive long as possible to gather data. In each case but the Fighter only the cruiser was put on Hold on the tactical map. I fought 2 pirate raiders then a space eel.

Fighter only - You may only auto-resolve as the attack value of the ship is "0" with "0" DPS. However, when fighting the pirates the fighters were able to destroy one pirate ship and take the other down about 1/3. So fighters if not performing Point Defence do indeed do some form of DPS. I calculate about 3-4 damage per hit per fighter. The eel ate me.

Bomber Only - You have the option of "Take Command". Bombers have a DPS of 21.43 and Attack Value of 24. Bombers insta-killed each raider. The Vic Conditions for the eel were "balanced" and I did get the eels shields almost down when he killed the cruiser. Bombers release short range missiles doing about 125 damage per missile.

Heavy Fighter only - You have the option of "Take Command". Heavy fighters have a DPS of 17.5 and Attack Value of 73. Heavy fighters insta-killed each raider. The Vic Conditions for the eel were "favorable" and I did kill the eel just before my shields collapsed. Heavy fighters release short range missiles doing about 125 damage per missile as well as doing multiple beam damage of 3-4 points on top of that as they fly in and then out of the strike.

Some have observed that with multiple bays it appears that only one bay launches at a time. In this case all fighters DO launch but they tend to be on top of each other. When they turn back to re-arm you can make out individual craft. Each bay is composed of three to four fighters.

Their FLIGHT range is 60 units but their beam weapon and missile launch range is significantly shorter at around 10 units or less it appears. So within PD range.

Hope this helps people better understand the fighters if they want to make carriers!

[Doombringer]

Fighters (Bombers, Heaavy Fighters) tend to just be worse than using real weapon systems due to the large space requirement of the bay and the low damage output.

[purdueguy]

Thanks for info. They don't sound very useful when compared to other weapons that take equivalent space.

[seabo_76]

That's actually a great help for breaking it down. Thanks for that!

But have to agree that the weight of the bays opposed to the damage output is just too low....I have tried multiple blueprints and, currently at least, guided torpedo BB's and Titans trump all backed up by Dauntless equipped Cruisers for screening forces.
Beams are, sadly, woefully outclassed.

[Osu]

I prefer missiles early on. Missile cruisers with merculite MIRV and dauntless is unparaleled in early game combat. A torpedo or 2 is always nice for fixed defenses. However, late game, with all the added damage bonuses you can get, beam weapons are the way to go.

[Zhivago]

"The eel ate me." Nuff said.

[Falaris]

I think the main selling point of fighters should have been their range. (across the map, more or less). That would have made them more relevant. Right now they seem to have same range as most other guns and missiles.

[Birdie_Sparrow]

I will pass these observations on. And yes I do agree they are currently lacking in some areas I just wanted to dispel some of the posts re: the 0 DPS shown on blueprints is all :)

[purdueguy]

Originally posted by Doombringer:

Fighters (Bombers, Heaavy Fighters) tend to just be worse than using real weapon systems due to the large space requirement of the bay and the low damage output.

Tangent here: @Doombringer, how are you NOT playing the new Deus Ex game?!

[Dirt Merchant]

Thanks for testing this out for us OP. I was wondering about those things.

[Eupolemos]

Interesting - but they are utter rubbish and seemed bugged when I've used them.

They advance, the target goes down before they get there, they return (rather than shooting 4 times or picking a new target) unsuccessfully trying to catch up with their carrier only to repeat the impotent cycle.

I feel fighters have always been a wasted area in the MoO-titles, unfortunately.

[wildmick]

barring the doomstar, i make my titan a carrier, chockers with bays only, and it works well as i can invest in some specials that i wouldn't normally use.

[frdnwsm]

"They advance, the target goes down before they get there, they return (rather than shooting 4 times or picking a new target) unsuccessfully trying to catch up with their carrier only to repeat the impotent cycle."

This sounds pretty terrible. In MOO2, fighters and bombers were basically just targets for PD weapons, unless launched in massive numbers. In that case, a lot of them would actually get through, and do some fairly devastating damage. Heavy long range beam weapons were, of course, better. But at least they would pick a new target if the old one went down.

If hat you say is true (I have yet to build a "carrier" type, nor have I seen any of the AI's do so either, so I can't speak from personal experience), then the programming for fighter-bomber types has taken a step downhill from MOO2.

[Carody]

Ok old line of discussion, but playing recently I have noticed that Fighters have a range of 120. is there any change to how well they can fight? just wondering.

[bilbous]

Fighters in moo3 were good, they had researchable tech upgrades, fighter laser cannon, mass driver, ion cannon, etc. and came in two types, space control and point defense (i think). A titan could carry 50-odd. The ships stayed back with the missile boats and sent their payload wherever you could target. The fighters would not return to the ship but rather would swarm out and search for new targets. New waves of ships would intermittantly issue from the carriers.

Good times. I won many a game with them and the missile boat fleets.

[frdnwsm]

I have been doing a couple of games with the restriction of not designing any ships with missiles. Torpedoes and fighter bays are acceptible. Under that restriction, bombers and heavy fighters become quite valuable. I have both escort (cruisers with 1 bay) and fleet (battleship size) carrier designs. The post combat read out almost invariably has them as being the most effective ships in the fleet.

If they ever fix the ridiculously OP nature of MIRVed missiles, bombers/heavy fighters would become much more attractive.