Small one man space fighters

[Enlightened]

As a general thing, in your experience playing the game, how effective is the concept of a small one man space fighter in Mongoose Traveller space combat?

Are they so underpowered as to not be worth the trouble?

Do they do OK? They are just another valid option?

Are they a must have for a ship that can hold them?

What do you think?

The players in my to-be-starting-in-September game are trying to decide if they want to bother buying and hangering four robot-piloted space fighters (lile to ones on page 136 but with robot pilots) or not.

Is it worth it? What does it being worth it or not depend on?

 

[rust]

In my experience fighters are very useful as scouts, for planetary opera-
tions and for police and customs duty involving lightly armed civilian star-
ships. They are much less useful against warships, especially when they
are deployed in small numbers only.

 

[Enlightened]

The players are hoping to be able to engage in a little piracy.

They have a civilian style ship (to get close) and want to be able to take down cargo ships with the small fighters.

In my reading of the rules, their plan doesn't sound so hot, but I wanted to check here.

 

[AndrewW]

The Imperium doesn't consider a small one man fighter a threat or they would have a tighter defense.

 

[rust]

They have a civilian style ship (to get close) and want to be able to take down cargo ships with the small fighters.

Well, each time one of the fighters is destroyed - and it does not take
much to destroy a fighter - the characters have lost 18 MCr plus the
cost of the robot pilot. From an economic point of view, this is hardly
a way to make piracy profitable.

 

[BP]

Against unarmed cargo ships, they could be quite effective, especially given their thrust advantages.

Against armed ships, as rust pointed out, they might just make for expensive target practice... though, with enough armour and/or decent pilot skills they might survive a few rounds for offensive fire.

They do allow a small ship (fewer hardpoints) to brandish more firepower, but against armed foes (were the need is greatest), they would have to be deployed strategically or the target 'worth' enough to be feasible as expendable assets, for their use to be worthwhile.

[Note: haven't checked the errata, but the location table on pg 151 for small craft might should read Structure in place of Hull...]

 

[dmccoy1693]

You should check out Fighters and Small Ships (shameless plug). One of the fighters there has a thrust of 12 and 14 armor. Fighters can be rather nasty when built right.

 

[Captain Jonah]

Plugs aside

12 armour makes you imune to any "legal" civilian weapons in the rules.
A Pbeam allows you to cut up a civilian taret fairly quickly. Thrust 6 means the target cannot get away. Under Mcr20 to take out a target worth many times that. Plus if it is a Q-Ship you are safely hidden a long way off and get to run away

MonT lacks turret mounted fusion/plasma which were the other option for close range Traveller fighters. Or as a missile platform launching waves of missiles significantly increasing firepower.

The problem with one man fighters is that when built properly they are too powerfull against civilian targets.

If you want recon use drones, a couple of them ahead and either side of you gives a very large range of detection, Thrust 6 allows your combat drones to catch the target quickly and Pbeams and Armour 12 will mincemeat a civilian target. Keep your converted civilian ship well back so you are never seen or shot at.

 

[DFW]

Plugs aside

12 armour makes you imune to any "legal" civilian weapons in the rules.
A Pbeam allows you to cut up a civilian taret fairly quickly.

MonT lacks turret mounted fusion/plasma which were the other option for close range Traveller fighters.

Particle Beam Turrets are 3D6

 

[Sturn]

I've created a couple military small craft at only TL11 for my Terran Dawn campaign. I used High Guard and especially in the fighter, considered survivability.

A 50-ton torpedo boat (2-man crew) and 20-ton medium fighter (1-man crew) are in the PDF below. They aren't complete, but nearly so (total price not figured on the boat, no deckplans for the fighter).

Titan Boat and Luna Fighter

The fighter has 11 armor, 7 thrust, and lots of extras for survivability - reflec, self-healing, reinforced hull, reinforced structure (for Hull 3 and Structure 2, better then a scout ship), and armored bulkheads around the cabin, power plant, and manuveur drive (allows you to ignore the first hit on these areas).

The 50-ton boat has a list of powerful weapon options for its size (look at the modules). These are all legal using MGT High Guard (tell me if I'm wrong). Examples of Titan versions inlcude a Torpedo Boat (carries 2 for 4d6 each, 6d6 if you go nuclear), and Heavy Fighter (particle beam barbette, 4d6). The Titan also has Armor 8, Hull 4 and Structure 2 (compare to free trader Armor 4, Hull 4, Structure 4).

At TL 15 something even more survivable could be created. If you really look into the MGT High Guard rules and consider military small craft design, you will see many options. Design them with all of the defensive options (reinforced hull, reinforced structure, armored bulkheads) and they are much more powerful I think then like examples in Core or even High Guard.

I'm not a MGT spacecraft combat master though, so please tell me if these could greatly tip military small craft to not only survivable, but very useful. On the surface they seem to be able to go toe-to-toe with smaller armed merchant ships one on one (better armor, comparable hits, more powerful weapons in the case of the boat).

 

[DFW]

Very nice Sturn!

 

[Captain Jonah]

Plugs aside

12 armour makes you imune to any "legal" civilian weapons in the rules.
A Pbeam allows you to cut up a civilian taret fairly quickly.

MonT lacks turret mounted fusion/plasma which were the other option for close range Traveller fighters.

Particle Beam Turrets are 3D6

Yep but they are class 6 permits, IE not for legal use by civilians. Of course if its a Q-Ship or another pirate then they may well have PBeams but 3I no Pbeams on the civies.

 

[DFW]

Yep but they are class 6 permits,

Hmm, I didn't see that rule.

Did a text search of Main RB, Spinward Marches & HG. Nothing.

 

[Sturn]

I guess my examples in the PDF above were both military. The 50-ton boat has illegal weaponry, but the 20-ton fighter's weapons are all legal in OTU for civilians.

In my evaluation, the fighter could still do well even one-on-one against a scout ship. Two of them I believe would win against an armed free trader. Heck, actually one considering the armor, reinforcement, and armored bulkheads could win against a free trader?

Opinions with better knowledge of the MGT starcraft combat system please respond.

 

[locarno24]

They are much less useful against warships, especially when they
are deployed in small numbers only.

As noted, it's not hard to put enough armour on them to ignore any 'flak' weapons short of particle fire.

They are useful for commerce raiding, because (a) they are sufficiently fast no-one can disengage short of jumping out, (b) if they have a reasonable endurance they can attack somewhere whilst their base ship is verifiably somewhere else (oh look, an alibi) or for that matter, can 'lie in wait' just under a gas giant's atmosphere whilst someone drives prey towards them. They're a good way to avoid your own ship getting spotted and identified.

Against warships, small craft need to be in a big group to act particularly threatening. The biggest advantage is their ability to pack torpedoes or heavy missiles - whilst a capital ship needs a massive barbette or bay launcher, a fighter can sling the things on an external mount, and even a small wing can lay create a 'virtual battery' capable of barrage-fired torpedoes - one of the scariest things a capital ship can be on the receiving end of.

4 fighters does not such a threat make, however. Useful for piracy, but remember that it's going to cost the players a lot if you lose one - and it's going to be awkward to take advantage; to make the money back for that kind of investment you're going to be looking at taking the ship itself as a prize rather than just jacking cargo; some halfway competent marines and an assault shuttle or two are not a bad investment.

 

[BP]

Hopefully the posts answered the OP:

• They can be combat effective depending on those attacked.
  
  They can be economically unsound - or force the PCs to undertake higher risks (sell ship vs cargo, etc.) to 'recoup' investment.

 

[Geesuv]

I think the fighters in the corebook are stupidly expensive anyway 18 MCr for a light 10 ton fighter? Why bother when you can have a fully kitted out scout for less than 28 MCr.

I say, if they really want to have fighters, bump the cost down to a couple MCr. If only for the sake of fun.

 

[AndrewW]

As noted, it's not hard to put enough armour on them to ignore any 'flak' weapons short of particle fire.

I recently did a 10 ton fighter that's immune to any turret weapon including particle beam.

 

[rust]

I think the fighters in the corebook are stupidly expensive anyway 18 MCr for a light 10 ton fighter? Why bother when you can have a fully kitted out scout for less than 28 MCr.

Or 2,400 smart missiles for the price of the 4 fighters - in my view a much
better investment for a pirate ... :wink:

 

[DFW]

I recently did a 10 ton fighter that's immune to any turret weapon including particle beam.

Yep, easy to do with a high tech fighter.