Burger: Most strongly disagree!
Can two LRs cover one another from fighters? Absolutely:
....-->...4.686"...<--....
The above bad ASCII art figure is supposed to show how some coverage can be attained. Here, two raiders are placed optimally apart to exclude fighters getting to them (technically, the optimal distance is 8(2-Sqrt(2)) ... a homework exercise, say!). Each can be attacked by 2 range 4 fighters, such as Thunderbolts.
The maximum and minimum distances that they can be apart like this and defend against fighters are 6" (obvious) and 2.828" apart -- 2*Sqrt(2)), should be obvious if you solved the problem above correctly. With all stop, this is indeed sustainable.
However, it is reasonable to assume that another ship is opposing you. If not, the scenio very likely would have ended; most scenarios are done when one side no longer has ships on the board. With your range 8 guns only, you can't defeat this ship while not moving. so, can these two ships move at all and maintain defense?
The answer is yes. Even if they tried to maintain orientation, They'll spread out 4" from one another:
Ship starts:
......>
Moves half distance, turns 90, moves 2", turns 90 again:
......>-------7"------------]
...........<----up to 5"----]
so you can indeed move and retain coverage. But here's the price --> how far can I move my center of mass -- move my fleet -- towards the enemy?
It turns out that, if I want to move the stack, one of the two craft must turn back on itself as fast as possible, and the other must turn basck as late as it can and get back in the 2" halo. If I start under the optimal halo, I can move a total of 1.324" --- that 4.686 number above minus the outer edge of the halo, 6". If I did not start under the optimal halo, I can (will prove later if I have to) move 3.182" (the full length of the envelope) in a turn, after which I will have to spend a turn reorganzing the two craft to close the gap between them for another cycle.
Best net speed: 3.182"/2 = 1.591". Some attack speed!
There may be more involved and better methods involving more than one Light Raider. but the contrivances necessary are similar. these are not luxuries avaialble when an enemy warship is on the board.
The other option is to simply RUN. That works for the Light Raiders for a while, they eventually have to come back to the target to be killed, of course. again, the 8" gun forces the LRs to be close to kill. If the fighter swarm in question has a good idea of where that LR is finding its next meal, that running thing won't work too well, either.
The prudent strategy is to simply kill the enemy ships before the fighters kill you. Any Drazi player will tell you the same thing, with even more ridiculously small numbers. Sunhawks have had this valid complaint for like, what, forever?
Light Cruisers and Cruisers help a lot: there you get halos of safety. The Hangar ships do this too. But raiders are meant for independent action --- otherwise, what is that speed 14 2/90 turn for? So hunt, kill, initiative sink out theri ships to preserve your heavy guns, the Heavy Raiders (HRs), just don't expect to use that antifighter beam on fighters. Save it for that tasty Sho'Kov.
