Starfighters are incredibly strong. expected or something that will be toned down in the future?

[Mr.Ficarazzi]

I've reached the point when pirates have ships with 5 starfighters and more often than not, fly in squadrons.
I tired playing with just one big ship but being limited by system points, I couldn't handle both "earth defenses" and "air defenses" and 7 point defense turrets seem to do little against starfighters.
Am I supposed to build a second ship and pack it with just shields and starfighters to balance things out? because this is getting out of hand :v

[Spicy pineapple]

Starfighters are great. They can destroy the approaching shuttles with sufficient numbers of fighters deployed and they're great to keep your ship safe while you have an active targeting jammer. Quick to take out ship systems but destroying the hull takes a very long time and a destroyed starfighter is costly to replace.Not so much compared to destroyed turret, but the starfighters are also weaker per system point used compared to turrets. A high point defense ship with good shields will chew down the fighters even with targeting jammer active.

Using starfighters destroys the crews energy levels in a prolonged fight. Boarders can get an opening to attack when the pilots return due to being out of energy. Use that time to send your own boarding team in, or to send in your own fighters after wearing down their crews energy. It's easy pickings when the enemy crew can barely stand due to fatigue. But your ship is also ripe for destroying if you can't keep their fighters at bay.

[HangarPilot]

Ultimately you're going to hit the System Point limit regardless of whether you do one massive ship or several small ones... maybe even hit that limit sooner.

I mean, suppose you want to add 4 fighters ... that's 8 System Points ... but if you decide to add a second ship to do so ... well ... that ship will also need generators, drives, hull stabilizers, power nodes, etc. all of which will eat up additional system points just making a functional ship.

That said, one benefit to multiple ships is that the enemy AI will try shooting at everybody more-or-less equally and not do as good a job at concentrating fire and blowing up your weapons/engines.

But I think this limit is to force the player to make choices. PDCs vs Fighters? Weapons vs Targeting Jammer? Do you fight to the bitter end or jump away anytime you're outmatched? When you see the enemy squadron launch you could jump away ... maybe re-enage them in another sector where another NPC will help and take some of the heat?

As you're finding, I think PDCs play a "support" role (at best). Even with a level 10 Ops person, a squadron of 4-5 fighters will pick off your PDCs and then start chewing through the rest of your weapons. Changing your lineup to something more like 4 PDCs and 4 fighters will probably improve your outcome considerably. I'd also suggest either being intentional of leveling up your pilots (shooting asteroids, shuttles, fighters) or invest in the Learning Computer and Advanced Learning System to level them up passively. It's worth noting that pilots do not gain XP shooting ships or derelicts. This includes picking off their weapons/engines. They'll get XP for shooting their fighters/shuttles ... but not the ship itself.

But at the end of the day, it's a matter of playing in a manner you enjoy.

[Mr.Ficarazzi]

Heh, now I need to recruit some pilots... this will slow me down incredibly much.
Perhaps I should reach new haven and start anew, because any pirate or slaver I find, run with a squadron of 3 ships and have, like, 9+ starfighters... it's madness!

What i really dislike, though, is that starfighters are M.A.D. (as in Mutually Assured Destruction) as hell: no matter if you destroy their origin ships, they will keep fighting and destroy your ship and then die afterwards. They never surrender and never yield. SO frustrating!

[Sekhmet]

From my experience it's always best to have 2x 4-points ships. This way you can get max core-points/ship: 48. Yes, you def should go for at least 2 ships to get more core-points. You are way stronger with 96 core points compared to just 48 (or 36 if you have a smaller ship).

[Mr.Ficarazzi]

Originally posted by MacInTosh:

From my experience it's always best to have 2x 4-points ships. This way you can get max core-points/ship: 48. Yes, you def should go for at least 2 ships to get more core-points. You are way stronger with 96 core points compared to just 48 (or 36 if you have a smaller ship).

heh next playthrough then... this one is a huge ass ship and i really wouldn't like to dismantle half of it for creating a second ship... I also vented so many people that now i'm short on potential recruits that now I can't salvage ships any longer because any pirate I meet will have ♥♥♥♥ tier ships that I destroy in 10 seconds, and then get destroyed myself by kamikaze starfighters that won't surrender.

I might try and play coy, like pretending to ceasefire after I destroyed their ships, then wait for them to asphyxiate, but I'm pretty sure this is exploity and not meant to go down like this :v

[novaboy525]

Fighters for life. I gave up on the turrets. Has mention they’re too expensive to build and recharge (energy turrets) the regular turrets do nothing against a good shield coverage and operator unless you have a good number of them (at least 6) which again cost in points, power node and space.
I use a targeting jammer and I do a trade off on the shield using the basic shields and making sure the penetration is not greater than 8%. Having some micro breaches from time to time is a good random event generator for my play style. Depending on the size of my ship 4 at best.
Sometimes I don’t even bother using a scanner.

I get enough points for 8 fighters when space optimization is not bad. (I always go for full industry and enough farming to sustain my vegetable and fruit consumption. The later eat a ton of space)
I wish we had more core points to go bigger with a mammoth ship. I cheated on my late v19 game and allowed me a 3x3 ship as the points are tied to the size, I was able to get 14 fighters. I could probably add lot more but I decides to get more shields too.

I tear down anything as long as i manage the attack. The worst I faced was 4 pirates ships regrouped which exposed me to 7 point defense cannons.

I lost 6 fighters on the first wave and had to come retrieve some pilots trying to board enemy ships.
Lost 5 on the second wave and that was it.

I destroy first the point of defense then the hyperdrives so that my loot stays put and i let the pilots rip the rest themselves. Sometimes I destroy the hangars as well so that I dont get boarded. You have the choice to destroy so much stuff. It is fun.
When I want to go fast I destroy the hull stabilizer and when all of them are gone destroying the hull is a piece of cake. I usually destroy their cockpit and a good area around it in a matter of seconds as one hit remove a tile most of the time.
If I want to toy with them I hit their power node to make then lose energy too.

[Mr.Ficarazzi]

Originally posted by novaboy525:

Fighters for life.

You gave me a nice idea.
next playthrough I will try and mass recruit pilots and have just shields and starfighters xD

[Flavalicious]

If your going to fight fighters with point defense you need to place them well. Having the PD spread out is a mistake, group em up right at the center of your ship, a few spaces apart to avoid enemy cannon fire from taking them all out and just ensure your shields are decent. As long as your operator is on the console before the fighters are all over you, you'll dps them down before they can do much of anything.

The game sort of tricks you into figuring you need PD for astroids and ♥♥♥♥, but once you have decent shields you can just tank everything (and honestly just avoid sectors that have the flares that render shields inactive, they are ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and almost never worth the hassle.

Overall I run 1 large ship and then eventually take a small little support ship on the side, its not optimal points wise but I enjoy it thematically.

[RavensDaemon]

Fighters are the worst, do not tone down fighters, they suck as it is.... still waiting on my hauler plushie,,,

[Kingston]

Originally posted by Mr.Ficarazzi:

I've reached the point when pirates have ships with 5 starfighters and more often than not, fly in squadrons.
I tired playing with just one big ship but being limited by system points, I couldn't handle both "earth defenses" and "air defenses" and 7 point defense turrets seem to do little against starfighters.
Am I supposed to build a second ship and pack it with just shields and starfighters to balance things out? because this is getting out of hand :v

I agree, the starfighters are OP, although when used by yourself it is also a good fighting force, i only have one ship a huge one, with 8 star fighters and I can get rid of 3-4 pirate ships at the same time, I didn't focus on defense turret but rather focused on starfighters. just use multiple starfighter to destroy enemy thruster and they'll be stuck in the system so you can pick them off at a later date.

[Sekhmet]

I have 2 big ships and 6 defense turrets on each ship, placed the way that both ships function is one huge ship and complement eachother: 2x turrets in the corners, 4 turrets in the centre. Aliens, robots, human starfighters... they all die...

[Chaos]

Fighter swarm needs alot of crews and big crews required lots of foods which required a lot of other things, so I would say that balanced out.

[matxbox360]

Originally posted by Chaos:

Fighter swarm needs alot of crews and big crews required lots of foods which required a lot of other things, so I would say that balanced out.

you are forgetting the O2 demand and CO2 production

[Spicy pineapple]

Originally posted by Chaos:

Fighter swarm needs alot of crews and big crews required lots of foods which required a lot of other things, so I would say that balanced out.

I've noticed this myself but I balanced this out by sacking off most of my crew that aren't good at construction, industry or botany and are not good pilots with 3+ in weapons. Rifles are still relevant with the attachments for them so those with low weapons skill are still useful for a supportive role inside derelicts and my water usage is not a disaster despite the heavy starfighter design.

[Molenga]

Honestly, in my gameplay experience so far fighters are the only attack system worth investing in.

A targetting jammer completely negates all attack turrets like missiles, laser and autcannons, and most ships you would normally fight against such as slavers pretty much all have jammers, so you will not be able to use yours anyway.

So, having a jammer is the ultimate defense system, followed by shields. Point defense turrets are a necessity of early game, but you really do not need more than 2-4 of them to cover your whole ship.

In most ship to ship combat scenarios I faced after having a fully built and functional ship, both sides have jammers, so going ballistic and blasting each other is already not possible, which means both ships will sit there quietly until either side sends fighters to destroy the enemy jammer and fighters or shuttles to board the ship and take the fight directly to the enemy crew.

I have yet to see a successful battle using turrets as the main strategy, meanwhile I never faced a situation that was not mostly handled or could have been improved by the presence of figthers on your side.

So, in my opinion, invest in 1 jammer, 1 scanner, 2 to 4 PDCs, 2 to 4 large shields (depending on your preference for extra defense) and the rest use for fighters, except for like 2 builders and a miner. having 4 shuttles is also great for most of your logistical and miliary needs.

TL/DR Attack turrets are garbage, replace all for extra fighters and shields.