Starsector 0.95.1a is out! (12/10/21); Blog post: Hyperspace Topography (10/12/22)
The first big one is that fighter wings no longer go back to a carrier as a single unit. Instead, individual fighters peel off when they need to repair or rearm, while carriers launch replacements for every wing that needs them. This does a couple of things.
Second, carriers stay busy. There’s almost always a fighter coming in for a landing, a few circling waiting for a free deck to land on, another fighter preparing to take off, etc. More traffic all around lends the proceedings a livelier feel.
If it a weak, cheap fighter like Talon, I want them to die so they can respawn with two missiles instead of one. Also, drone fighters have no crew and should be fearless.However, it makes sense for crewed fighters to dock for repairs if they are merely hovering around the carrier doing nothing.