Sin and Sacrifice: how to deal with the post mission 6 [spoiler]

[Requiem762]

after mission six it seems that the cylons suddenly and a qualitative and quantitative advantage in fighters and they always travel in one big swarm of angry bees. in most battles they seem to have a 4:1 advantage in fighters and a 3:1 advantage in ships in matches of roughly equal fleet sizes.

my fighters genrally get evicerated pretty quick and then go ship by ship like a swarm of bees taking out my escorts.

my fleets genrally have 2 battlestars as the core to function as carriers and AA platforms and i cluster adamants and rangers around them, usually bring a herecles as a close range bruiser. however the tried and true fleet structer is starting to fail me as i am routinly getting outnumbered and out gunned, the fighters i once relied on are drowned out due to being out numbered. how have others dealt with this.

[USS Midway veteran]

I don't remember ever being so consistently outnumbered by Raiders in Sin and Sacrifice, but I usually never have fewer than six Viper squadrons and make use of flak shields. I also set battlestar and other Colonial point defense cannons on "Squadrons." It's difficult at times, but I rarely considered it overwhelming. However there is an 11,300 Cylon fleet in Sin and Sacrifice in Resource missions, but not a story mission. I just skip it and move on.
Generally, Cylon Raiders will outnumber Vipers; depending on fleet composition, of course. If you are playing at the Admiral level you may want to go to Lieutenant or Commander. One defense you may want to consider is turning your battlestars and Heracles with flak facing forward. Most of the Raiders will fly right into it and that will help to decimate their numbers. Be sure to provide specific targets for your Vipers, don't let them fly "wild." To beat this game, you really need to make sure all your weapons are focused on targets by threat priority. Pretty much, I ignore Raider prototypes altogether and it has never been a problem - except on escort missions. Use your Vipers to target Raiders, Heavy Raiders and Wardrivers. They are much greater threats and make sure to perform repairs on damaged ships. Raiders will attack a ship that has been weakened by damage. (I would also recommend Janus cruisers in place of Rangers. They cost less and carry more missiles. They also have heavier armor and heavy turrets as well.)

[Sir Wagglepuss III]

If your intent on running less than 8 squadrons of Vipers, packing Debris Mines can go a long way to curbing the flow of Raiders. When I play campaign, I usually end up packing at least 1 Debris Mine on all fleets as soon as they are available just so I have the option of controlling large quantities of Raiders if I need to.

The Ranger is a pretty solid pick to mount the Debris Mines on, as it has very fast reload and you can poke it out around flak to throw out the mines.

[Sabaithal]

There are a couple of ways to even the odds.

First, as has already been said, are debris mines. They deploy in a line, but their actual radius is much wider than the UI for launching them suggests. They tear up fighters that try to fly through them pretty quick. ALSO, they do NOT distinguish between your fighters and the cylons, so keep your fighters well clear of them when deploying.

Second, strategic use of flak shields. Some of this is contextual, and depends highly on how you use your formation, but it does damage fightercraft. Having the ship set to defensive posture means the flak does more damage to fighters trying to pass through it.

Third, if you find yourself gravely outnumbered, I would keep your own fighters close to your fleet. The firepower from a battlestar point defense, minotaur guns, or any given ship for that matter can help even the odds of a fighter battle, and you can also recall fighters to their hangers respectively to prevent undue losses.

[Supreme Doge]

Originally posted by Requiem762:

after mission six it seems that the cylons suddenly and a qualitative and quantitative advantage in fighters and they always travel in one big swarm of angry bees. in most battles they seem to have a 4:1 advantage in fighters and a 3:1 advantage in ships in matches of roughly equal fleet sizes.

my fighters genrally get evicerated pretty quick and then go ship by ship like a swarm of bees taking out my escorts.

my fleets genrally have 2 battlestars as the core to function as carriers and AA platforms and i cluster adamants and rangers around them, usually bring a herecles as a close range bruiser. however the tried and true fleet structer is starting to fail me as i am routinly getting outnumbered and out gunned, the fighters i once relied on are drowned out due to being out numbered. how have others dealt with this.

In S&S I basically rushed the campaign missions and tried to take on the fleets with lowest point values when it was absolutely needed.