Re: Fighters vs. Heavy Fighters - another newbie question

Joseph L. Poulin wrote:

>	I've been thinking about using heavy fighters instead of
standards
>for the same reason that I like the idea of using L2 screens on my
>ships:  The extra survivability gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, even
>if it isn't quite as efficient.

There are lots of weapons which ignore screens, but only three which
ignore the Heavy modification - and of those three the human B1 and the
Kra'Vak K1 guns are rather weak to begin with :-/
 
>	How many of you use heavy fighters regularly?  If you add in 
>the carrier cost, the upgrade to a heavy doesn't seem that expensive
>for what you get.  Anybody disagree?

Not me. IMO the Heavy fighters are pretty well balanced against the
other types (and no, I wasn't involved in determining those points
costs).
 
>	How do you feel about using heavy interceptors or heavy attack
>fighters?  Are there any rules against mixing variants like that?
>I wouldn't try mixing a heavy-interceptor-attack variant, but heavy or
>fast seem okay to mix with the other options.

I'd probably also protest if someone equips a single squadron with more
than one armament option, unless they pay extra points to do so.
Interceptor vs fighters with Standard vs ships is IIRC worth about +1
pt per fighter (+6 per squadron) and combining Interceptor with Attack
or Torpedo is worth +2 per fighter in addition to the cost of the
Attack or Torpedo option; but as long as each fighter only has one set
of guns it can combine any engine, fuel tank and fuselage options it
wants for the points costs specified in FB1.
 
>	What's the best way to use fighters?  Depending on who I face
>I'll be fighting anything from a standard FB fleet with a few ADFC to
>a custom fleet with a fairly strong area defense net.	Should I hold
>back the fighters until I can whittle down the escorts?  Go after the 
>escorts themselves?  Concentrate on smaller ships that are outside
>the main defense net?

As you say it depends entirely on what fleet you're facing. Against a
closely packed custom-built ADFC phalanx I usually hold back until the
enemy breaks formation or I destroy some of the ADFCs, and I'll usually
concentrate the fighters against one or a few targets. Killing
reteating cripples is a common fighter task in such battles. Against
Phalons I tend to spread the attacks out to draw Pulser fire away from
my ships, or hit their escorts to clear the way for a missile launch
(for some reason Phalons are wary of shooting down well-aimed missiles
with plasma bolts larger than strength-2 <g>); and against an FB1 fleet
I may do either... the most important word here is "usually", I think.
If you stick rigidly to a single tactic your opponents will soon
develop a counter-tactic and beat you :-/

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