Fighter Squadron Combat

[AnotherDilbert]

All weapons of the same type within a squadron make a single attack roll, gaining DM+1 to the attack roll for every fighter after the first in the squadron, and DM+1 per damage dice for every fighter in the squadron.

So if I group 10 different fighters into a squadron, one with a pulse laser, one with a fusion gun, one with a fusion barbette, ..., I get +9 to hit and +9 on every damage die for all 10 different attacks?


Fighter squadrons should get no +to hit, they already hit well enough in dogfight. Automatic critical hit under any circumstances is a bad thing.
They should probably do damage like missile salvoes: Roll one damage, deduct armour, multiply by number of weapons.

 

[arcador]

While the rule from the beta is now obsolete, I have made some calculations on paper.

(I assume the bonus is per weapon type and weapon #, and not per fighter #)

The squadron beta-rule would make them quite deadly, more so than individual fighters. I was wondering if it was viable, but it can quickly become overpowered.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Squadrons have two problems: They make the fighters too easy to kill, and the single attack is easy to degrade by dodging.

My conclusion is that squadrons are just a disadvantage.


The problem with the formulation of the rule remains: Each type of weapon gets a DM for each fighter in the squadron.

 

[paltrysum]

Well, fighters are only 10-20 tons typically, 50 if it's of the "heavy" variety. They're typically armored, but they're small. Based on the critical hits rules and hull points, shouldn't they be fairly easy to destroy if you can manage to hit them? Size and leftover thrust is taken into account as a negative DM, so they're given a fair shot at evasion. Are you saying that the squadron rules remove the ability to dodge?

The big advantages to a fighter squadron are a) the mass of weapons that is brought to bear. A 10-fighter squadron (massing only 100-500 tons total) can carry a similar number of weapons as a 1,000-ton starship, and b) high thrust, which is easier to appoint to a vehicle whose sole purpose is to fight and then come back to the mother ship; conversely, larger craft have to invest their tonnage in all sorts of places and putting a lot into thrust and therefore power plant is expensive.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Fighters are quite difficult to kill, mostly because of Dodging.

A squadron can dodge as usual, but has fewer dodges. A squadron might dodge 5 times, but 10 individual fighters can dodge 5 times each, for a total of 50 dodges.

Each critical kills one fighter in a squadron, regardless of how tough it is, even if it is just a single point of damage from a laser.

So, 10 individual fighters will defeat a squadron of 10 fighters easily.


Fighters are small, but quite expensive with computers and software for each fighter. They also need carriers. The reason fighters are (very) competitive is the dogfight rule.

 

[baithammer]

Here's what the pdf lists.

All weapons of the same type within a squadron make
a single attack roll, gaining DM+1 to the attack roll for
every fighter after the first in the squadronn, resolve damage
as you would for a missile salvo; rolling once for damage,
applying any armour and screens, and then multiplying by
the effect.

 

[arcador]

As it might not be clear, I dig up an old rule for squadrons from the beta and tried to see what is the effect of this rule, with the current knowledge.

I "cleared" the beta rule, so it states:

"All weapons of the same type make a single attack roll, gaining +1 DM to the attack roll for every fighter with the same weapon after the first, and +1 damage per damage die for every fighter with the same weapon after the first."

So the squadron bonus of 10 fighters is:

beam lasers will have +9 to hit and +9 dmg
pulse lasers will have +9 to hit and +18 dmg
plasma barbette will have +9 to hit and +36 dmg
fusion barbette will have +9 to hit and +45 dmg

Now, some fighters can carry even more weapons, giving them another attack with the upper mentioned bonuses.

You can see things are quickly getting out of hand.

-note- this is a beta rule, which is now obsolete.