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[ArthropodOfDoom]

All right, I have come up with a ridiculously powerful setup that kills anything and everything in its path.
The Broadsword Brigade.
The ultimate setup that really does kill almost everything. (Haven't tested against mother ships though)

Step 1.  Obtain loads of Broadsword Fighter Wings, and I mean loads.

Step 2.  Make sure you have loads of elite pilots as well, they help.

Step 3.  When entering a battle, select all Broadswords for your fleet, usually between 12-15 total fighters.

Step 4.  Order the Broadswords such that there are enough Broadswords spread over the map to flank from all sides.

Step 5.  Upon seeing enough enemies (2-3 ships, usually frigates/fighter wings), hit SEARCH AND DESTROY.

Step 6.  Select a wing to watch and wait for the fireworks.

Step 7.  ??

Step 8.  Profit!

Thoughts and/or other tactics?
And as a suggestion to Alex, you might want to fix this unbalanced bit of the game.

[Nori]

That might work early game, but my broadswords die quickly to mid and upper tech level enemies and also larger ships. They generally can't get through the shield on the cap cruiser and up. But that is a perfectly valid tactic against frigates and destroyers. Though you better hope they don't have a large amount of point defense ships.  

Really awesome fireworks is 4 wings of bombers.. Order a strike on a cruiser and it is gone in a big flash.

[Iscariot]

Jesus, I don't put elite crewmen in fighters unless they're Xiphos's. They're valuable!

[ArthropodOfDoom]

Jesus, I don't put elite crewmen in fighters unless they're Xiphos's. They're valuable!

Well, I use Elite pilots because they do very little on my Onslaught, and my Onslaught class would stay Veteran with or without the Elites pilots.

[Nori]

My fighters and bombers have elites. Well rather my broadswords. I may lose one every now and then, but the bonuses they provide is worth it.

[Iscariot]

I never have enough elites. I don't buy 'em, that's for sure. I dunno, feels cheaty.

EDIT: I also admit to kind of hating fighters in space games. I've always been more of a capital ship guy, and I've got a bit of a chip on my shoulder on how much more glory fighters get despite being completely not viable space warships.

[SgtAlex86]

I never have enough elites. I don't buy 'em, that's for sure. I dunno, feels cheaty.

EDIT: I also admit to kind of hating fighters in space games. I've always been more of a capital ship guy, and I've got a bit of a chip on my shoulder on how much more glory fighters get despite being completely not viable space warships.

Bold statements u write hmmm? fighters are cheap and theres no reason u couldnt strap big enough gun on em to hurt capital ships... 

[Iscariot]

That's not my point. Speaking practically and realistically, there's nothing a fighter can do that a missile can't do better. A fighter is really just a missile that carries less punch per mass, has to come back for no reason, and carries a squishy human being that can't even handle fifteen g's without passing out.

[arwan]

just pointing this out..

John Paul Stapp was a pioneer in studying the effects of acceleration and deceleration forces on humans. In one of his final rocket-propelled rides, Stapp was subjected to 46.2 times the force of gravity.

video
http://videosift.com/video/Human-G-force-testing-on-a-1000km-h-rocket-sled

the human body is more durable than what most people give it credit for. also, fighters are intelligent because of there pilots. and are reusable delivery platforms. with the capability to take down ships MUCH larger than themselves. and are dirt cheep comparatively to a capital ship which is why they get the praise they do... send in 1-3 men to take out a capital ship is much prefered over send in 1500 men to knife fight with two capital ships...

now that being said to each there own and this is a video game so knife fights are really cool.

[SgtAlex86]

:3 because of magick pilots wont be squished making tight turns at huge speeds with fighters 

[Iscariot]

Humans could withstand 200 Gs and it still wouldn't make a difference in the assessment. A human gets markedly dumber, fatigued, and less responsive as acceleration forces act on his or her body. A computer does not. Human nerve signals move at one hundred miles per hour. Computer signals move orders of magnitude faster than that.

Lemme make a list of all the things a fighter has to have.

1) A squishy human being that blacks out if you burn too hard.

2) Engines and enough fuel to reverse your delta V after an attack run and come home, plus fuel to maneuver and get there in the first place.

3) Life support for your squishy human.

4) Heads up displays to interpret data for your squishy human.

5) Warheads and propulsion for your warheads, assorted weapons systems.

6) Complicated mechanisms back at the mothership for retrieving your fighter.

7) Crews of people to repair and rearm your fighters.

8 ) Room and life support for your pilots on the mothership.

9) Gym facilities to keep your pilots healthy enough to survive the meager number of Gs they can resist already.

Now lemme make a list of the things a missile needs.

1) Engines and enough fuel to get there and maneuver.

2) A warhead.

3) Guidance systems.

The less things you need, the more mass you can devote to engines, complicated guidance systems, or a more powerful warhead. If you're worried about your missile not being creative enough, then you need to get a better programmer, or if you're fussy, use a laser to command it.

[hairrorist]

The thing about fighters that doesn't make sense isn't that they wouldn't be effective... The ability to make smart and unexpected decisions is what make manned craft so attractive.  They can also do things that a missile cannot do--like taking out other fast ships/strike craft.

In ground war, infantry will always have a place.  They're not as big, they are squishy, but they are dynamic and versatile, and they go places and do things that larger ships or guided missiles cannot.

The thing that doesn't make sense about them is that they have to have a pilot onboard.  There's no reason to put a valuable pilot inside one of those things when remote control is possible.

[SgtAlex86]

1) A squishy human being that blacks out if you burn too hard. (MAGICK! prevents this ^^)

2) Engines and enough fuel to reverse your delta V after an attack run and come home, plus fuel to maneuver and get there in the first place. (u sure the engines use fuel?)

3) Life support for your squishy human. (sure but who knows maby it will fit in match box ;3)

4) Heads up displays to interpret data for your squishy human. (actually whole cockbit with chairs and stuff...)

5) Warheads and propulsion for your warheads, assorted weapons systems. (indeed fighter needs guns)

6) Complicated mechanisms back at the mothership for retrieving your fighter. (jup carrier is needed for fighters)

7) Crews of people to repair and rearm your fighters. (or some automated system...)

8 ) Room and life support for your pilots on the mothership.

9) Gym facilities to keep your pilots healthy enough to survive the meager number of Gs they can resist already.

Now lemme make a list of the things a missile needs.

1) Engines and enough fuel to get there and maneuver.

2) A warhead.

3) Guidance systems.

The less things you need, the more mass you can devote to engines, complicated guidance systems, or a more powerful warhead. If you're worried about your missile not being creative enough, then you need to get a better programmer, or if you're fussy, use a laser to command it.

but on the other hand its hard to rearm missiles... and that squishy human in the fighter can make desicions unlike long range missiles... by ur logic there wouldnt be single fighter still in service by any military but look and behold... theres plenty :3 jup missiles are cheaper than fighters... but on the other hand u need battleship to launch em from and those are mighty expensive considering one hit can take em out...

and yes all this is completely theory cause no one can prove what tech we might have at the point when war in space becomes an actual issue

[SgtAlex86]

The thing about fighters that doesn't make sense isn't that they wouldn't be effective... The ability to make smart and unexpected decisions is what make manned craft so attractive.  They can also do things that a missile cannot do--like taking out other fast ships/strike craft.

In ground war, infantry will always have a place.  They're not as big, they are squishy, but they are dynamic and versatile, and they go places and do things that larger ships or guided missiles cannot.

The thing that doesn't make sense about them is that they have to have a pilot onboard.  There's no reason to put a valuable pilot inside one of those things when remote control is possible.

u sure enemy cant hack that control? would be kinda nasty suprice to have ur own fighters coming at u :3 thats why remote controlled weabon systems are so rare...

[Iscariot]

You guys are highly overrating the power of human ingenuity. It doesn't matter how smart or creative you are, you can't outrun a bullet, hell, you can't even dodge one because they move faster than your nerve signals. The best you can do is move out of of the way of where your opponent is pointing his gun, and most of the time you can't even do that. That's what a fighter is to a missile. A man with a knife to a bullet.

Sure, the man's real creative, he's got the love of his family, years of training, he's been working out for months and he's jacked, but it took him eighteen years to grow up, and he's still got to run two hundred yards at his target and then think about how he's gonna knife that other guy. All a bullet's gotta do is fly.

There is zero advantage to a fighter in space. Fighters are not space infantry, because space has nothing that could be considered analogous to terrestrial terrain. The only reason we have fighters at all on Earth is because we have a horizon, something to hide behind. There's a reason to delay launching munitions, you have to spot your target first. There is no hiding in space. An amateur stargazer can spot the maneuvering thruster of a probe headed to Mars as it passes through the asteroid belt. Optics are that good.

And again, if your missile isn't smart enough, then just fly your missile by laser signal. It's still more punch per mass.