Re: Fighter Morale

Grogan, Paul wrote:

>Now, I may be wrong on this but fighters seem a lot, lot worse than
>they used to be.

Depends entirely on how you used to interpret the MT fighter morale
rules :-/ In FT2, fighters used to be *gods* unless the enemy ships
flew fast enough to outrun them...
 
>Fighter squadrons attack a enemy within 6MU, the enemy ship assigns
>its PDS and other defences.
> 
>Rerolls apply for PDS fire on a '6'

Yep. As do the fighters' own weapons (except Torp fighters, that is) if
they press the attack home.

>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.

And similarly, an *un*lucky PD roll (or lucky fighter attack roll) can
be devastating as well - though usually not for the fighter player :-/

>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.  

Sounds like a house rule; the MT fighter morale rules as printed don't
require the enemy to have functioning PDS systems in order to force a
morale check.

>And as per new ADFC rules, if they don't declare an attack run, they
>cannot be attacked.

Correct. Well, as per the 2-year-old ADFC rules for the humans at
least; all the alien races in FB2 have weapons able to kill fighters
which don't declare attack runs (KV scatterguns, SV Interceptor Pods,
Phalon PBLs - though the last one only kills if the fighters forget to
run away or try to shoot the PB down but fail).
 
>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.

Yep.
 
>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?

It is how most of those playtesters who responded when I brought the
question up play them, at least :-/ I've done it both ways over the
years, but I prefer checking morale after PD fire.
 
>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

Depends entirely on the size of the battle, and what targets they
attack. I've seen a single DD wipe out two attacking squadrons and take
virtually no damage itself, but I've also seen last-ditch fighter
attacks destroy enemy capitals and reverse the course of entire battles
<shrug>

Regards,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry