Shadow fighter question

skavendan said:
Can Shadow fighters be used as interceptors on there ships? That could be nasty

well it actually means they can be used for something - crossed fingers for an upgrade in the Powers and Principlaities book :)
 
Da Boss said:
skavendan said:
Can Shadow fighters be used as interceptors on there ships? That could be nasty

well it actually means they can be used for something - crossed fingers for an upgrade in the Powers and Principlaities book :)

Wha, Wha, What?! There's a source book coming out?
 
Well looking at their weapon Shadow Fighters look pretty good (for a fighter) at worrying enemy ships and we thought they might be good used in combination with Scouts. Basically the Scouts can clear enemy fighters if necessary while the fighters bug the ships. Once the enemy fighters are dead the Scouts can help destroy the enemies ships.

Some fleets with good fighters wouldn't like you hunting them down with accurate Scouts & the shield makes Shadow Fighters quite tough.

I'm guessing someone must have tried this, what results did you get?
 
Rawwar said:
the shield makes Shadow Fighters quite tough.
Shields don't help against anti-fighter
Shields don't help in dogfights

Shadow fighters, despite their nice weapons, die very easily. The ones that come for free with the ships are OK (well they are free after all!), but at only 2 flights per Patrol point, buying them separately is a total rip-off. They need to be increased to 3 or 4 per wing.
 
Rawwar said:
Well looking at their weapon Shadow Fighters look pretty good (for a fighter) at worrying enemy ships and we thought they might be good used in combination with Scouts. Basically the Scouts can clear enemy fighters if necessary while the fighters bug the ships. Once the enemy fighters are dead the Scouts can help destroy the enemies ships.

Some fleets with good fighters wouldn't like you hunting them down with accurate Scouts & the shield makes Shadow Fighters quite tough.

I'm guessing someone must have tried this, what results did you get?

Hmm yes in theory that sounds good - however

Killing fighters is not that easy with Scouts and if youare firing at the fighters - you ain't firing at anything else with your RAID level ship.

as has been mentioned - the fighters shields only work against normal guns and are usless against AF and enemy fighters..........

I tend to think the Shadows excrete their fighters.............

they just need to be better or more numerous
 
Shields don't help against anti-fighter
Shields don't help in dogfights

Pah guessed about the dogfighting one but not the anti-fighter that seems a bit excessive. There's no point them being expensive if their defensive stuff isn't actually good for something, might as well take the shield off them and make them cheaper.
 
It does give them a better chance of getting into range of a target ship without being nailed by twin-linked Pulse Cannon or what have you. Which isn't much use if the enemy has decent dogfighters and/or good AF defences. They could have given them Hull 6 to represent their energy dissipation ability without changing any fighter or AF rules.
 
I just played a 6 skirmish points against a drazi fleet and I took 2 points of fighters .. I wanted to try and it was not bad ;-)

Ok drazis don't have second weapons and no AF so it's the best fleet to put shadow fighters against.

But where I was surprised was when the shield of 2 fighters was saving them from death... yes shield :D

A drazi ship exploded and two fighters took 1 point of damage which was absorbed by the shield :D

Ok that was just the counter exemple, in any other combat versus another fleet I wouldn't take fighters (maybe if 3 per wing ;) )
but I had to tell you about my shadow vs drazi :D

And as interceptors I tried it once ... and got two 1 on my first roll ....

Edit : Just to had : "have U already tried to hunt down fighters with scouts ?" You need at least 2 scouts to get a chance to catch some fighters and you will end with them either out of range or in a grey zone since they move after you :( very hard unless your opponent is making a big mistake
 
I presume he did not bring Guard Hawks :wink:

Good to hear that you had some success with the little ones.............now all we need is a little boost or more of them..............

Any of these would be handy.............

Give them range and keep the shield as is - - you really have to try and kill them............
Make them 4 a Wing
Give Shadow Ships Fleet Carrier/Carrier (campaign use)
Accurate guns
Give them 1 AD guns and make them 6 a Wing (thanks Katadder for the idea)

They get a free huge nuclear bomb that can be used against enemy ships :wink:

or use my versions :twisted:
 
Something my gaming group will be trying to make fighters more effective is a 50% increase in firepower and giving them all 2 hits against regular fire (AF, Dogfight still kill them in one hit, however).

That, paired with the 1/1 shield for the Shadow Fighter actually working against AF (But _not_ dogfight) would make them pretty effective, I think.
 
I still like the idea of just making them ships (a two for one patrol choice). They would have the special rule that they deploy as fighters, but otherwise would be ships with a single damage point.

As a Shadow ship they would be able to move at double speed in a straight line just like their bigger friends and would not have to worry about dog fighting and AF.

They would be fairly comparable to other fleets similar choices... I think...

This would also be in line with Matt's idea that Ancients "don't do fighters".

ShopKeepJon
 
I like that concept a lot myself. Not sure why that one doesn't get more traction. It would mean the fighters could not act as interceptors for the larger ships, but other than that is there a downside for the shadows in a regular battle?

Campaign it would have a downside, replacement costs would be staggering, but I've always disliked the expense of replacing lower PL ships in campaign.

Ripple
 
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