gameplay purpose of fighters

[kefeinzel]

I'm curious about the justification for fighters, and maybe want to start a discussion..

I think the game is at the stage where I am playing for fun, and shooting down 5 fighters for every one ground combat mission capable craft that have no chance of a ground combat mission or any non negative financial or casualty implications is not really fun. I just started getting to the point last night where I would just let the fighters escape to space and only attack light scouts and above. It's on easy and I feel like I'm constantly swarmed by fighters that I get no benefit from shooting down. I think going into air combat with one fighter which has the same outcome every time (ripple one wave of missiles, second wave as fighter evasive rolls, dead) really dilutes the fun of the air combat too.

I am curious to know other people's thoughts on fighter craft.

-TW

[flashman]

The balance of fighters to combat has not been balanced yet.

Chris improved it slightly in the recent build, though I agree fighters should be escorts for the larger ships not independent wings. Heavy bombers however, should be flying around.

[Gorzahg]

Flashman beat me too it.

[IceVamp]

They can be a real menace in fact. They have a tendency to go for your transport when they are spawning aggressively. Also, shooting them down increases the funding you get, but without the tedium of ground combat. (However, at the moment, if you shoot things down over water, no region grants funding for it.)

[kefeinzel]

huh, from what I could gather, it looked more like if you let them roam around they strafe stuff and reduce funding from x country they strafe, but if they give you money, that's a very slight positive

[IceVamp]

Exactly, so if you don't shoot them down, they can quickly put a dent in your income. But I agree there are a bit many atm, but this will almost certainly change.

[erutan]

I agree they are a bit much at the moment, but once I was going after a corvette and on the way two different fighters attacked my fighter wing. While I can take down a corvette with one MiG, if I didn't bring along some f17s that would have been a lot of afterburner retreats from the fighters and fuel would have been a problem. I thought that was really cool. Also having the wing of 3 fighters presents a hazard if you've hit something larger and are low on missiles.

re: autofighting them, I have lost a f17 to a single fighter if i was lazy/not paying attention to missile timing, even once when I had two f17s I think, so an autofight function may give you some unanticipated funding issues.

[Belmakor]

I've noticed that the fighters often spawn just before scouts and corvettes and agressively attack my fighter wings. Pretty much forces me to take them on first, go back to base, refuel and rearm and if I'm lucky get into a 2nd engagement (but many times missing the turkey). Tbh that is a good conundrum to face as far as I am concerned.

[BobbyDylan]

If you ignore them, they also cause havok in the regions they're flying over. Strafing highways, taking down passanger jets... et cetra. You there to protect the earth, so save those people!!!

[crusherven]

Their spawn rates definitely needs to be adjusted. I had nothing but fighters spawn for most of a month--really tanked my cash flow. The weird thing was they were always spawning right next to my base, two at a time, flying separately. Another thing--I had to retreat a time or two (still figuring the game out), and I've noticed that combat persists long after my interceptor is off the screen. Is this intended? I've even had an F-17 shot down well after it left the screen with full health.

[Corporal Hicks]

I agree, too many fighters and annoying battles, same thing over and over...

One thing I haven't figured out yet is how to disable automatic missile launching... I hate when my squadron deploys all missiles at once, I want to control the missile launching myself.

[ChAnKoEr]

Click on the missle icon. It should turn red. If you want to fire, just click them again

[Corporal Hicks]

Click on the missle icon. It should turn red. If you want to fire, just click them again

Hummm I see, now I understand why they turn red!

[Gorlom]

Their spawn rates definitely needs to be adjusted. I had nothing but fighters spawn for most of a month--really tanked my cash flow. The weird thing was they were always spawning right next to my base, two at a time, flying separately. Another thing--I had to retreat a time or two (still figuring the game out), and I've noticed that combat persists long after my interceptor is off the screen. Is this intended? I've even had an F-17 shot down well after it left the screen with full health.

Are you talking about the screen or the battlefield? did you pan the screen to show the edge of the air combat area?

[crusherven]

Are you talking about the screen or the battlefield? did you pan the screen to show the edge of the air combat area?

As far as I can tell, the entire battlefield is already displayed. I certainly can't find a way to pan farther. What key is it supposed to be?

[Hellstormer]

Gorlom you can get shot down by missiles even once you are off the grid which IMO is a bug and shouldn't happen. I think that's what crusherven is getting at.

But there is a way to scroll around on the grid too though atm I can't recall if it's click and drag or just mouse panning around.

[MrPyro]

Click and drag I think; sadly stuck at work so can't verify.

[Gorlom]

you can also pan with the wasd keys

[crusherven]

I just checked--I'm zoomed all the way out (playing on 1920x1080). As hellstormer said, there's still a brief period while you're off the grid but you can still take damage because your aircraft aren't removed once they leave the grid. Just now I was able to count to three after my last interceptor flew off the screen before combat ended (and I was still receiving fire in that time). Feature or bug?

[Corporal Hicks]

I just checked--I'm zoomed all the way out (playing on 1920x1080). As hellstormer said, there's still a brief period while you're off the grid but you can still take damage because your aircraft aren't removed once they leave the grid. Just now I was able to count to three after my last interceptor flew off the screen before combat ended (and I was still receiving fire in that time). Feature or bug?

I was playing at full resolution too, but things get too small... I prefer playing at lower resolution, with larger overall image.

[Targe]

They should be more aggressively trying to establish air superiority, as they would be in reality. There should be a random low chance you actually get to recover one, single pilot for small fighters, 3 crew for large.

The funding increase should be bigger, especially if you pull off heroic type intercepts, like shooting down 3 small fighters with 1 fighter.

I don't like the escort thing unless the fighter combat engine is improved and enhanced, making it into more of a mini-game (which I fully support). Perhaps like Steam Birds, inputting your orders and then processing a 'turn', rather than whaling on the space bar repeatedly to coordinate your planes.

Also, if you do increase escorting and have bigger fleets, the jets need to be WAY cheaper... We'll need to be able to afford squadrons of planes to deal with the onslaught! (Which would be fun as hell!!!)

[Swe_Racoon]

I've noticed that the fighters often spawn just before scouts and corvettes and agressively attack my fighter wings. Pretty much forces me to take them on first, go back to base, refuel and rearm and if I'm lucky get into a 2nd engagement (but many times missing the turkey). Tbh that is a good conundrum to face as far as I am concerned.

I've noticed this too, and that kinda makes sense to me. Have fighters paving the way, so to speak, for the bigger boys.

That said, they do spawn a lot from time to time (I've had three fighters spawn at the same time, one of which was a wing of three). Not that I can' deal with them, but it does get a wee bit boring to shoot down a small country's worth of fighters.

[mhtsort]

A nice feature would be to be able to scavenge matterials from shot down fighters (automaticaly from friendly regions). Even from some of them, it would be a great motive to scramble interceptors.