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[Chancellor Meatsteak]

I don't feel I fully have a grasp on the details of fighter usage. Ships I got down since I'm either piloting one or directly battling one. Fighters however tend towards the peripherals of the battle, capturing control points and skirmishing other fighters and the odd frigate. Bombing runs are when they most directly interact with ships, but these tend to be rather brief in nature. As such they tend to escape my notice.

I know the basics of fighters; send them first to capture points, don't expect Talons to win against a Xyphos wing, launch strikes against larger ships when they are vulnerable, etc. But if anyone would provide an in-depth comparison between the various fighters as well as tactics that aren't immediately obvious that would be much appreciated.

[Sengbvit]

Apologies for only giving two tips rather than an in-depth comparison:

If you've got a bunch of fighters, make sure to field a carrier! Gives the fighters lasting power over more drawn out battles, since they can repair and restock midbattle.

And the answer to any problem is more Wasps.

[Thaago]

Fighters used to be slightly overpowered, but imo the ship systems have boosted the capabilities of ships quite a bit, rendering fighters a little limp. EMP and the teleporter are especially rough. Basically, bring a a carrier and don't deploy against the TT frigate cloud. Remember that bombers take forever to rearm. If you are using more than 2 bombers bring extra carriers or an Astral. My #1 tip on fighters in large battles: assign them as escorts for destroyers and up. They are really good at escorting and when they leave to get healed another will replace the old one, if free.

My take on the fighters:

Talons: They repair insanely quickly so are survivable with carriers (especially as cheap escorts), but will die vs. pretty much anything if alone. Good for quick scouting: watch on the map and if they encounter resistance at the point give them the 'repair and refit' command early. Very high firepower against hull! Once a ship has been stripped of armor a Talon wing will absolutely destroy them.

Broadswords: Solid all around fighter - probably the best medium fighter for your OP buck. Not bad against high tech but no shields -> EMP is game over. With support they'll survive attacking most cruisers, but capital ships will just destroy them if not en masse.

Gladius: Even better firepower than Broadswords for anti-frigate+, but at only 2 to a wing, only 500 hp each, and 8 OP they are ludicrously fragile and expensive.

Warthog: Very effective against slower ships, but they are too slow to make it back to a carrier - if they run into trouble they will die. Not bad as escorts to a cruiser... but not even close to 10 OP worth - buy another destroyer. Takes huge amounts of supplies to rebuild.

Thunder: The fastest ships in the game, and good point cappers. Fragile, but ion cannon + swarmers makes for a pretty good combo. EMP is a hard counter though as their primary defense (speed) becomes useless. They make fantastic escorts because of their disabling capabilities.

Wasps: Very effective interceptors, but fragile. Be prepared to take expensive losses and never let them get near a cruiser or capital ship (this is very hard atm as there is no avoid command yet). Repairs quite quickly. Again, give the 'repair and refit' command early if they run into serious trouble while capping.

Xyphos: A little slow, but an effective, shielded fighter. Who knows the fate of the phase beam . Not bad against other fighters, does good damage against larger ships. EMP is not a hard counter! Makes for a great escort because of its burst pd and excellent range weapons - and because it needs a little help getting through shields compared to Broadswords and the like.

[Tarran]

Darn it, Thaago already posted everything. But here's what I've wrote, if you're interested.

Talon: Poor hitter, very poor tanker, fast. Not really worth buying in my opinion. Get Wasps instead.

Wasp: Very poor hitter, very poor tanker, fast. Worth it to cap a few spots while the enemy still has fast and small ships. 1v1 they wipe out Talons, and challenge Broadswords. Doesn't do well against bigger ships.

Xyphos: Moderate hitter, strong tanker, slow. Generally good, just keep them out of the enemy's kinetic/large weapon reticles or they'll be taking losses or dying.

Broadsword: Moderate hitter, strong tanker, medium speed. They're just generally nice to have around, but don't be surprised if you lose one every once and a while. Still, they do very well against light frigates and non-wasp light fighters.

Mining Drone: I never use it, just doesn't seem worth it to me. Combined, the wing has the best total HP and armor of all fighter/bomber wings, if that means anything to you.

Thunder: Special hitter (heavy EMP, little damage outside Harpoon and Swarmers), moderate tanker, very fast. Having a few is always nice due to them having the fastest speed of any wing in the game, and their ability to be useful against even the larger ships due to their EMP power.

Warthog: Strong hitter, very strong tanker, very slow. If you can get it to your target, it can cause a frigate's worth of damage. And Warthogs have a lot of HP... But no shield! Don't expect them to survive the return trip to the carrier if they're being followed.

Gladius: Moderate hitter, moderate tanker, medium speed. Similar to a warthog in it's usage, but faster and with energy weapons. Can't take as much damage, though.

[Jonlissla]

Talon: Poor hitter, very poor tanker, fast. Not really worth buying in my opinion. Get Wasps instead.

Considering their cost they perform admirably, and are definately one of my favourite fightercraft. Easy to mass and ridicolously cheap.

Warthog: Very effective against slower ships, but they are too slow to make it back to a carrier - if they run into trouble they will die. Not bad as escorts to a cruiser... but not even close to 10 OP worth - buy another destroyer. Takes huge amounts of supplies to rebuild.

Have to agree with this, no matter how many times I try to field them, I always get mediocre results due to their speed. Getting two extra frigates or a destroyer is much more effective.

[Vind]

Fighters definitely need a buff. Fighter AI tries to surround and attack from other sides - but its not very effective vs fast frigates. Order 2 talon wings attack a hound and you will see how "intellegent" they flying in circles around hound never trying to attack him directly - waiting for ideal other sides attack. Also fighters not to quick to accept new orders - then you command them to repair they spend 1-2 seconds "thinking" - usually enought to be killed completely. Still talons with vulcan cannons can literally shred hull in seconds if no armor present.

[Faiter119]

Considering their cost they perform admirably, and are definately one of my favourite fightercraft. Easy to mass, ridicolously cheap and not to mention they have kinetik weapons, which makes them good at overloading shields.

They have vulcans? And they are frag.

[Jonlissla]

They have vulcans? And they are frag.

Ah, mistook it for the LMG, that's the one with kinetic weapons. Thanks for pointing it out, will edit my post.

Fighters definitely need a buff. Fighter AI tries to surround and attack from other sides - but its not very effective vs fast frigates. Order 2 talon wings attack a hound and you will see how "intellegent" they flying in circles around hound never trying to attack him directly - waiting for ideal other sides attack.

Sounds more like the AI needs a slight tweak than the fighters themselves. I have no idea how the AI works but it I presume it should be possible to add a exception to flanking if the target ship is faster than X.

[DelicateTask]

Wasps win 1v1 versus all fighters except Xyphos on a regular basis. Or they used to. Did they get nerfed in this version? Whatever.

The MAIN use of fighters that everyone is neglecting to mention is for WINNING THE GAME. Because Starfarer will doubtlessly be critically acclaimed as the Best Space-Themed Plasma Globe Simulator of 2013.




 

[Thaago]

Lol good picture! Although... I think the Paragon would be able to swat even that many

[Chancellor Meatsteak]

Thank you guys for the help. I'm going to go simulate some space-themed plasma globes now.

[armoredcookie]

Now if only that Paragon was armed with Proximity Charges

[calciumdeposit]

Talon Interceptors are a pretty good buy early on in the campaign.

Right off the bat you can buy 2 wings of them which really helps since they can either add additional fire power or run interference if you're fighting hard odds


Although my favorite has to be the Thunder multi-role fighters. They can do pretty much whatever you need them to do reliably well and don't seem to die too often as long as you have a carrier

[icepick37]

Wasps win 1v1 versus all fighters except Xyphos on a regular basis. Or they used to. Did they get nerfed in this version? Whatever.

The MAIN use of fighters that everyone is neglecting to mention is for WINNING THE GAME. Because Starfarer will doubtlessly be critically acclaimed as the Best Space-Themed Plasma Globe Simulator of 2013.

 

Aw now I want a real plasma globe, haha.

[DelicateTask]

Lol good picture! Although... I think the Paragon would be able to swat even that many

Actually, the main strength of the Wasp wing it that, like all other fighter wings, only one has to survive for refit. Since there are six drones per wing, the chances of destroying all of them is fairly slim. Once you create a large enough swarm of them, being able to target all six members of a particular wing becomes impossible. The Paragon was destroyed without losing a single wing, although plenty of single  drones were smashed up good.

Also, since Wasps are some of the fastest fighters in the game, they're nearly impossible to intercept when running away for refit. +1 to survivability!