RE: [FT] Yet Another Fighters Suggestion

Jumping into the middle of the discussion...

What about revisiting hangar bay cost/launch facilities.

For instance, bays can be any size (mass 2 per fighter) for storage;
launch tubes are mass 2 per fighter, and recovery bays are mass 2 per
fighter.

So to carry, launch and recover a standard fighter group will require 36
mass plus normal ship parts, with cost savings as your storage bays get
larger.

The caveat - if you have fewer launch and recovery bays than fighters,
you have two choices - you can launch early in waves (with fighters
losing endurance to "keep up") or you start the game with only part of
your fighters launched and additional fighters launched during the game.

Or simply re-write the fighter types to balance out the game - for
instance only "strike" fighters carry an anti-ship payload and are
single shot.  "CAP" fighters have unlimited ammo but are limited to
engaging other fighters and missiles.  You get your choice of strike
fighters: armored, torpedo or heavy but can't mix types.

Other ideas - "Death Blossom" mines or ships - equipped with a new
weapon system known as the "Death Blossom" it is a large (mass 3) mine
that has the ability to track up to 36 targets within a short range (6
MU) attacking as if it were 6 separate PDS's.  Fixed installations on
ships are the same mass and are single use. 

Or perhaps rewrite PDS so that it may fire at ANY fighter group within 6
MU or attacking fighters within 12 MU. Class-1 beams would still be
limited to fighters directly attacking the ship.  Combined with
single-shot AS fighters you could then field outlying "picket" ships
armed with a couple of PDS's to provide a shell that fighters would have
to get by first, rather than the current system where they can ignore
everything but their target.

Fighters are similar in practice to NOVA guns, which are no longer in
use, for a single ship they weren't much of a problem, but tweleve or
twenth four in a a line were just no fun to play against.

Reflex shields? Perhaps this system should make a return, with attacking
fighters not knowing if the shield is up until they fire.

Some more ideas to stir up the pot.

--Binhan