Re: Fighter Morale

Hello Paul and the list,

I played with fighters last weekend for the first time.  They scared the
heck 
outta me!  I have been teaching my nephew and my brother-in-law FT, and
we 
added the fighter rules to the mix when my nephew chose a NAC CVL and
escort 
(1500 pts FB1) against a NSL task force (same points, FB1).  His four
fighter 
groups carried the day for him.  The battle would have been close other
than 
the fighters.  

The NACs lost 11 fighters out of the 24 deployed.  If the NSL had not
been 
able to re-roll, only one group would have been destroyed.  With FB
ships, 
the re-roll needs to be implemented IMHO because there is a lack of PDS 
compared to many custom-designed ships that I have seen.  

As for the morale rule, we played it as FB2.  The NACs never failed a
morale 
check, even with the one fighter!  In their first run, all four groups 
attacked a Maria von Burgund battleship.  One group lost a fighter.  The
MvB 
was severely slapped around.  The next run saw two groups maintain
pressure 
on the MvB while two others swooped down on a Waldburg/M missile
destroyer.  
The destroyer was destroyed having inflicted no losses to the fighters. 
The 
MvB meanwhile took another lashing.  The ship had already lost a PDS in
the 
first volley, and now it lost two more.  Worse for it was when the NAC 
capitals fired, they forced another threshold roll.  This time the MvB
lost 
its command bridge for two turns and life support would fail in four
turns.	
With one damage control party left, it was only a matter or time before
the 
MvB became a mission kill.  The NAC birds moved on with 2 of their 6
combat 
endurance points left.	The MvB never did manage to repair life support,
and 
had to be abandoned.  The NAC groups came together again against a
Richthofen 
battlecruiser.	Between three PDS and two C1 beams, the BC managed to
finish 
off a group of three fighters and kill four out of five in another
group.	
Two groups came in untouched.  And the solitary fighter did not fail his

morale check either!  After that attack run, the fighters were devoid of
CE 
points and were going to return to the carrier.  The battle itself I
think 
lasted another turn or two after their last run.  The NSL opted to FTL
with 
their remaining vessels (a Maximilian BC and a Markgraf CH).  The NAC
had 
their CVL and two CEs (one on it's last leg)

The morale rules and PDS re-rolls are the only two things keeping
fighters 
from dominating the game.  Each standard fighter group is equivalent to
6 
beam dice.  Do your fighters get to re-roll, Paul?  I have only run one
game 
with fighters, but my opinion is that even with morale checks and PDS 
re-rolls as they are, fighters are dayum powerful!  I know my
brother-in-law 
thinks so!  My nephew's comment was, "Why didn't you teach us about
these 
before?"

So while I am certainly not an expert, my first taste of fighters tells
me 
that at least against FB1 and similarly designed fleets, PDS re-rolls
and 
post-PDS morale checks are required to keep fighters in line.

I have a question for the list.  Suppose these four fighters groups are 
attacking a MvB.  The BB opts to use PDS against two unscathed groups
and 
leave two half-strength ones alone.  PDS removes a couple fighters from
each 
of the fresh groups.  Do only they roll morale checks since they were
the 
only groups under attack?  Or do all four groups roll checks because
they are 
all diminished?  My first thought is that only the groups under fire
roll, 
but I'd like to hear what y'all have ta say.

Bill

In a message dated 7/13/00 7:52:04 AM Central Daylight Time, 
pg70201@glaxowellcome.co.uk writes:

<< Now, I may be wrong on this but fighters seem a lot, lot worse than
they 
used to be.
 
 I've not used fighters that often, and never in large amounts, but the
way I 
read it is as follows:
 
 Fighter squadrons attack a enemy within 6MU, the enemy ship assigns its
PDS 
and other defences.
 
 Rerolls apply for PDS fire on a '6'
 > This is the first bit I don't use.  I like the re-rolls against ships
as 
ships now have generally more mass, and a few extra DP doesn't sway the
game 
too much.  However, against fighters, a lucky roll can be devastating. 
How 
many other people don't use re-rolls for fighters?
 
 Now, the morale rules are OK, I used to use these and have the roll
before 
the attack run is announced, so a reduced strength squadron is unlikely
to 
attack an enemy with functioning PDS systems.  And as per new ADFC
rules, if 
they don't declare an attack run, they cannot be attacked.
 
 FB2 suggests the morale rule is used after the PDS fire has been made. 
This 
means that any casualties that were inflicted by PDS fire reduce the
chance 
of the remaining fighters making their attack run.
 
 I know I am allowed to make my own house rules for this, but most of
you out 
there have played around with fighters more than me,  is this how you
guys 
play them?
 
 If this is they way they are played, then if you only have 1 or 2
fighter 
squadrons per side, I can see them getting blown to bits without
inflicting 
much damage
  >>