I stole Zophah's idea... Shameless bump.

Hey guys, I have suggestion I think is cool. Why not be able to equip your starship with fighter craft? There could be a research thing for both a hangar and fighter classes. Each level of hangar takes up a certain amount of deck space, and has a certain number of slots. Each fighter takes up a number of slots, and there are a couple different classes of fighters. Light, medium, heavy, bomber, stealth, that sort of thing. If you attack somebody, the fighters assist, and do their own damage, but have a chance of being targeted and destroyed. Fighters have very low attack strength, but they are slightly customizable...but only to a limited degree. Enemies could have fighters too, and they could target other fighters as well as your main ship. I think that adding these small but useful ships to the game would be great...what do you guys think?

lol. this wont work unless you can figure out how to make it pure attack vs defense based and still have value. there is no indirect fire other than artifacts. if you have fighters, bombers, and missiles etc, they will have to be artifacts. it would be cool to engage targets without engaging with your ship itself. and it gets tricky because the fighters would have to inherit your tech level to be used in estimating damage.

idea 1
these artifacts are randomly available just like the other artifacts.

idea 2
a special module type that has NO BENEFIT must be installed and kept on at earn fighter points. these points should be automatically converted to fighter artifacts (max at # of fighter modules installed on ship). the module must be installed to launch a fighter. one module = 1 fighter slot for 25 minutes. most ships are outfit like battleships. if you want an aircraft carrier type, u have to sacrifice ALOT of space.

idea 3
similar to #2 except that it acts as an action in action tab of the target. 1 attack per module installed without timer, but then each module needs 25 min to recharge and will take energy to launch.


this will allow the attacker to bypass traps, but at the cost of a much weaker ship (virtually defenseless)

http://galaxylegion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1032

That was the last thread that had a lot of fighter ideas. I think it might make sense for it to be a way around the decks/damage cap thing.

similar, but adding a new tech tree is unrealistic. one idea from the link i really like is that the fighters would act BEFORE ship to ship combat. add a button just below the attack button to launch fighters.

to add to the idea. the "fighters" could be the module themselves so if the fighters are disabled (very likely), they will have to be repaired. but this idea will take energy, vs the artifact idea.

there is still a tricky fact that the modules will have to be tiered. perhaps tie it in with the weapons tier. more size per damage like any other weapon, but less efficient than cannons of the same size because of their flexibility.

Well, I was thinking that the fighters are like weapons on your ship...if someone attacks you they launch automatically, and if you attack someone else the same. They can simply add attack value, and can be randomly targeted and destroyed. The hangar is a normal module, and fighters take up space on that module. I think it could be done, with a little effort.

My only idea for research was to use existing technology as well. A different kind of craft could require different tech. Bombers might require energy research since reactors are essentially bombs that are controlled and harnessed. Bombers could have invasion attack stats. Fighters of other kinds might require stealth, weapons, thrusters and they would have different stats from each other. I think the main problem was finding something to set them apart from existing modules that wouldn't be a ridiculous overhaul because decks are limited enough already. I really don't really feel like reiterating every idea I had (or stole) in that thread because it fell into obscurity pretty fast. I couldn't really tell if it was from a lack of enthusiasm or an over-abundance of ideas.

if it reacts just like any other weapon with regular att/def then there is NO BENEFIT to adding this feature. the only way it will add benefit is if it will precede a main attack as indirect fire that is not the same as a standard attack.

this idea is a long shot at best. i think it would add alot to the dynamic of combat to allow more attack options.

perhaps rather than fighters, we should just stick to artifacts. missiles!

EDIT:
what do you think about something like a omicron missile (400 damage instantly), but as rare as the containment missile. this is the effect that will change combat. expensive, but a way to attack indirectly.

I guess your right. But still, fighters could be available, common artifacts, that are permanent. Or like a module that behave like artifacts, but a little differently.

In that thread, the fighters WERE modules. I'm personally all for a new tech tree, but I think that having the fighters tied into existing tech trees would be ok. I think that fighters would draw from a lot of the same research as weapons and defense, so if it WERE based on existing tech trees, it would have to be one (or both) of those. On the other hand, high level players wouldn't need a lot of time to catch up on a new tech tree, and it shouldn't be that hard to add one.

I agree. It would not be such a big issue. Fighters would be great, and add a new and more realistic level to the gameplay.

i disagree if you want it just to have it. nail down what you want to GAIN out of this. so far all i hear is WOW wouldn't it be cool if...

I get really tired of hearing this from the "fighters are cool" crowd. Here are the facts:

Fighter and carrier concepts work because aircraft operate in a different medium, with different constraints, than ground or water surface forces. When all your vehicles are spacecraft, what exactly is the different medium to make fighters realistic? Military SF authors have to jump through a lot of hoops if they're to make fighters seem reasonable, but, realistically, fighters simply aren't practical in space combat.

Only in the same way that lasers aren't instantly fast. That can either be attributed to the "sci-fi" factor or actual excuses found in the defense research tree. With our ships as big as they are supposed to be, a defensive perimeter would seem imperative. Only fighters would be capable of maintaining that. You can make up any universe and find a spot for them. Huge ships are supposed to be vulnerable, and they are. The larger ships (us) usually have a little bit of every module equipped in order to deal with pretty much anything while AFK. Any technology can be, and should be, miniaturized in order to save the vested interest of the whole (us) in a dispensable fashion, even if it is insanely expensive. Fighters are typically specialized for defense (usually through offense and some perimeter), but I guess dying isn't the end of the world in this game. I can see many roles that a fighter squadron might realisticly fill outside of the realm of existing modules, given the right prerequisites, stats, and costs (massive and probably consequential I would hope). It would be totally subjective how they were implemented and only at Dan's will. Frankly, Dan isn't retarded enough to make a reiteration of an already existing module. Even for whatever generation of this thread that still is ONLY investing in decks, there should STILL be a reason for it.

Fighters would be the means by which our very large spacecraft gained interesting special abilities. It's almost like a catch-all category for new modules.

New ideas and ideas mentioned in previous threads include, in no particular order:
1. Bombers - Reduces planetary defense, or adds to your invasion attack, or possibly destroys planetary structures (I like the reduction to planetary defense)
2. Marine Shuttle - Adds to your raiding chance
3. Scouts - Increases the number of enemies in your battle tab
4. Space Superiority Fighters - Add to Attack AND Defense, first line of offense (use these without endangering your ship) and defense (you have to destroy these modules before you can actually hit your target)
5. Transport Shuttles - These could add to the number of shares you could do in the same period of time
6. Repair Shuttles - Adds to the number of times you can repair in the same five minute period (+1 per 5-minute)
7. Larger Small Craft (Runabout, Captain's Yacht, Blockade Runner, etc.) - Could be used to guard a second planet, would have a very high deck requirement (remember, all small craft need a place to stop and refuel, and your ship is it!)
8. Mechs - Some of us think it would be cool if we could buy more of the prototype mechs, which add to invasion attack

I think that fighters would just be realistic...for example, our ships are giant frigates, cruisers, battleships, etc. Our ships are armed with giant mass drivers, laser cannons, gravity shearers, phase cannons, etc. These weapons are designed to blow holes in other huge frigates, cruisers, battleships, etc. If some guy threw in tiny little heavily armed ships, our craft couldn't hit them, and they'd blow us into scrap metal. What I would like to get out of this is another level of gameplay, added skills, added techs, and a new and interesting advantage/enemy stat in the game.

I just realized a point in why there is no fighters with our huge space battleships. In the days of America's fight for independance and the Pirates of the Caribbean, the only way for ships to fight would be to pull up next to each other and throw everything they had out of their cannons. Smaller boats wouldn't be used, and I suppose that was because small boats can't really fight against warships. So in mega-ship vs mega-ship, fighters would be reduced to scrap in seconds and barely make a dent in the other ship. It's like the Rebels going up against the Death Star if the Death Star didn't have a weak point, but thankfully combat in Galaxy Legion is like 2 Star Destroyers going up against each other.

Though using drones as mobile armor and firing platforms, has been used as the 66th mission tier reward "Drone Cluster", so perhaps going with the idea of them as modules is the best idea.