2nd ed fighters - have they changed?

[Locutus9956]

Rutarian - wonderful - deadily guns and hard to kill but able to dogfight with the best - especially with a fleet carrier!

Rutarians are evil and very powerful pretty much how shadow fighters should be.

But also expensive You only get 2 to a flight and it costs extra to swap them for carried fighters.

I do think shadow fighters should get some kind of boost though at least in campaign cost, but its tricky to do right, they are actually very well armed if they actually get to fire....

 

[angelus2000]

EA fighters.

Third Age EA

Starfuries - Bread and butter fighter. TL gives some anti-ship, especially agianst Hull 4-5. Faster than the average, Harder to kill with ship cannons than most (Hull 5, Dodge +2), Good dogfighter, becomes very-good with a fleet carrier (which you should have at least one except at low PL)

Thunderbolts - Fast for a fighter-bomber. Good anti-ship capability and can stay out of AF range. Average dogfighter.

Badger - Half-breed fighter. An Starfury that trades a lot of speed to gain more anti-ship weapons. Great for campaigns due to its flex design

Early Era EA

Tiger - Very slow, average dogfighter. Very early fighter-bomber and it shows. Quite cheap though, 6 per patrol

Nova - Cheaper less capable Starfury, average in every respect.

Starfury - Same as 3rd Age

Crusade EA

Badger, Thunderbolt, Starfury - Same as in 3rd Age.

Firebolt - Combines all the best aspects of Starfuries and Thunderbolts. Quite fast, good dogfighter, high dodge and hull. Anti-ship capability is unmatched by any major race, only the Rutarian comes close. The best fighter-bomber in the game IMO, as it sacrifices none of survivability to gets its antiship capability.


EA is still one of the only really capable fighter fleets (Gaim aside). Theres a lot of fighters which are better on a flight to flight basis (Nials, Sentri's, Rutarians; the list goes on), but those advantages are usually reduced if not outright gone by the EA fighters real strength.... numbers.

Raid and above PL ships tend to carry twice what their counterparts do; only Crusade EA doesn't follow that trend. Great carriers make it even more lopsided, with the Raid level Avenger providing fleet carrier and dumping even more into the mix. The Posiedon is more nasty than before, carrying more fighters than ever and being much harder to kill than it used to be (its still a carrier though, use it like a warship at your own demise).

IMO of the three Eras, 3rd Age is the best at the fighter game. Crusade Era has a hard time with the numbers (Most crusade era-only ships carry few fighters, if any, and no Avenger), but gains the Firebolt to compensate. Early Years EA can match, even exceed the numbers, but has no real bomber (No T-Bolt or Firebolt). 3rd Age has the right numbers and the right capability.

 

[Da Boss]

But also expensive You only get 2 to a flight and it costs extra to swap them for carried fighters..

so same cost as Shadow fighters then (except in campaigns)
:wink:

I do think shadow fighters should get some kind of boost though at least in campaign cost, but its tricky to do right, they are actually very well armed if they actually get to fire....

its a big if

 

[No. 1 Bear]

I'm with Da Boss here there only range 2 which means anti fighter gets to fire. Plus with the low numbers of the fighters they will get taken out.

On a different note do shadow ships get to regenerate fighter flights or do they have to be bought?

 

[Da Boss]

I'm with Da Boss here there only range 2 which means anti fighter gets to fire. Plus with the low numbers of the fighters they will get taken out.

On a different note do shadow ships get to regenerate fighter flights or do they have to be bought?

Now what do you think :wink: They are far to good to get them back for free :roll: