Reynard said:
From Trillion Credit Squadron, a good source for what constitutes a reasonable force for stellar navies:
"The final limitation on the size of a squadron is the number of pilots available to man vessels. The career track to become a pilot is one of the most strenuous and they are the most select group in the navy. While this makes sure that pilots are the best men and women the training regimen can produce, it also means there are few of them and the number of pilots available essentially becomes a top limit on the number of ships that can be formed into a squadron. There is no limit on crewmen
who are not pilots but they must be included in the squadron documentation."
Normal stellar forces don't shove untrained newbies into cockpits. You cited modern ground forces, what about modern air forces? Do they normally send up the greenest trainees in the best fighters let alone stealth fighters? Absolutely not!
Once again, a player is most welcome to put poor quality pilots behind the stick. Remember again, once the fighter is detected, it becomes a fighter of equal strength but with a less capable pilot. Stealth doesn't protect them.
Alright let me see if I can clarify my points.
If you consider a fighter as a high value asset, and fighter pilots are considered ELITE forces, then yes every thing you said is true. Yu put your best men in them, you give them your best tech, you don't put them at risk without significant assurance of survival/victory.
this is the current model..because fighters are a preeminent weapon of war. our fighters are vital to every facet of warfare, and our strike craft can destroy any surface vessel with a single hit....so pilot of our fighters and strike aircraft crews, are the elite..the best of the best.
Now in a setting where fighters are NOT a predominant force in war...say replaced by battle cruisers, battleships and dreadnoughts. The best of the best would be channeled into that force. the qualities the current military looks for in fighter pilots ,would be the qualities a heavy ship fleet would look for in line officers, command staff, and tactical officers.
with a small percentage of the population holding those qualities...any one with them would be heavily encouraged to become a Warship officer..not a fighter pilot. those individuals would be considered to valuable to put into a secondary arm, which has limited impact on the outcome of battle, and a very high atrrition rate when anywhere near a capital ship.
In the second model fighter pilots become the Fleets version of infantry, they re well trained in their field of expertise, but not much else. ( currently an officer spends most of his time learning things not related to his specialty...ya know four years of college, a couple years of officers training, then he gets into the meat of his specialty. and after he arrives he gets more training in things other than flying a fighter.)
Tank crews on the other hand get a very focused training regimen. they learn to operate, and fight a tank, and not much more..it's not that they are any less intelligent, or skilled than their fighter pilot friends...they just don't need to learn all the other facets of being an officer...unless they are training for a command position.
I am suggesting that since fighters are NOT the major weapon of war in certain sci-fi settings..they would be less than elite groups with the best men and resources being channeled to forces that ARE considered primary forces...
pilots woulld recieve only the training they needed to operate, and utilize their fighters, and would not e considered elite personnel..unless they had displayed the skills and experience needed to be elevated into a specially formed squadron that was an elite force.
I am fairly sure flying screening, ground support, and escort missions would not be on the list of duties for the specialized Elite fighter groups. they woud be given more training, better fighters, and then be given specialized fighters with the best weapons, armor, and stealth technologies...
Or more likely put into command, or training positions where they could use their skills. Without exposing them to everyday risk of being vaporized by a stray shot from a cruisers secondary weapons.
And to counter the argument that a force that did put elite pilots in their fighters, or use their best men to operate them would defeat force that didn't..... I will counter that would deplete their pool of possible Warship officers. Weakening their main fleet assets by denying it the best of the best.
if fighters are not the main force in combat then they wont get the best men, and the million or so to fit fighter with stealth gear will be used to build more fighters, or used to pay for improved heavy ships systems.
It all pretty much depends on how important the fighter is to the outcome of conflict...
(because general ineffectiveness compared to heavy strike craft, carrier/tenders concerns, and so on)
