why should i bother building foxtrots?

[Ryodan]

I know i have got to be missing something here, but it seems to me that condors are far better than foxtrots especially when were talking 1v1 air fights. So far I have been unsuccessful in effectively using the foxtrot. i've seen a number of youtube videos where the foxtrot has 4 missile points yet mine only have 2?

i have been playing on the latest steam stable version, 19. however i just switched to the experimental build and have not built another foxtrot yet, dont want to waste the money.

any advise?

[Commissar Pancakes]

Foxtrots can mount Torpedoes, which deal far more damage than a regular missile.

It's kinda been neutered with the reduction to only 2 hardpoints though...

Hopefully it can later mount an external cannon?

[Msvknight]

foxtrots are useful went attacking bigger ships like corvettes. BUT! the only time you sent foxtrots by themselfs are when the aliens have no fighter cover. what i do is sent condors to kill the fighters, then send foxtrots to kill the main ship

so in my opinion. BUILD FOXTROTS!

[Dranak]

It's still possible to use Foxes effectively, but in general they are currently inferior to Condors.

[Ryodan]

Ok so they were nerfed down to 2 torpedos. How many condors should I have per base and how many foxtrots? Currently I've felt even when sending 2 condors with a foxtrot that I wished I had sent 3 condors. I admit I'm still learning the air combat but I've yet to be happy I had a foxtrot in a fight. Do the 2 avalanche torpedoes do mor damage than 2 sidewinders and a full cannon do?

[Markon]

They strike harder than the sidewinders, not sure about sidewinders + cannon, but I think they also have more range.

[Ryodan]

yeah the torpedos do have a lot more range but if they arnt enough to kill the target your too close to turn around without being shot down it seems. think i'll try them again after i get 4 condors at both my bases.

[Markon]

It's possible to turn around, gotta slow down and start turning as soon as you take the shot, then hit the afterburner once the ship is facing away (to the side, if you wait until facing completely away, you're generally too late). It might depend a little bit what sort of alien ship you're fighting, of course.

[superbob]

Foxtrots are _great_ later on in the game. You will get better stuff to mount on these babies and the result will be huge enemy ships (that appear more often later on) leaving the stage in a giant fireball, dropping on the ground cooked and ready for your soldiers to pick clean.

As things are now, two Foxtrots are good for most things. Three when something really big shows up. Unless you lag behind in research, but you should be fine if you make sure to research explosives first.

What's so nice about Foxtrots is that torpedoes let you keep your distance, so there's almost no adjustment required when facing a lone enemy ship. Just let them fly within range, let loose the hurt and immediately order to retreat, most things won't even be able to shoot back. If they do, use the afterburner, that's usually sufficient to dodge enemy fire unless you're at a really unfortunate angle.

[Max_Caine]

Dranak has said something about this before, but each class of interceptor tends to have a mutually exclusive style to other interceptors. Foxtrots work very differently to Condors, and tend to be better in their own squadrons. Corsairs are upgraded Condors, and Marauders just kill everything.

[Ryodan]

Maybe I'll try the to trots together. So far I've never taken more than one to a fight. This newest play through I'm really focusing on my air power as I quickly fell behind last time. I'm on the 3rd month and have 3 bases with a total of 9? Condors

Are corsairs much better than condors?

[superbob]

They are as fast as Foxtrots and more agile than Condors. So far I've observed pretty good results using them a bit later in the game. Generally, not much better, but definitely sufficiently better to make a big difference.

In geoscape, they are cool because they get to their destination as fast and as far as Foxtrots, so they increase the range you can pick off large enemy ships that have escorts.

In air-to-air combat, they are faster and more agile than Condors, which makes dealing with tough enemy ships a bit easier, which can make a pretty big difference. Also they get to escort ships faster, so there's a good chance they will be done with them before the main enemy craft can turn and fire its main canon.

Also, their longer range means that most of the time Corsairs will have more combat fuel left, making fights less stressful.

Ultimately they are faster, tougher Condors, and if either gets to its target with enough fuel to do the job, there isn't much of a difference if things go well. If something goes wrong though, Corsairs give you a larger margin of error.

[Ryodan]

Looking forward to getting to them this time. Will build 2 foxtrot sad soon as I get home so I can try them out paired up.

Thanks.

[superbob]

early on, you're better off with 2 Condors + 1 Foxtrot. Once medium/large ships appear, and you get better cannons on your Condors, you may try your luck with 2 Foxtrots + 1 Condor/Corsair. If all goes well, the fighter will deal with the escorts and Foxtrots will down the main craft with 4 torpedoes. That results in a shorter fight, with less risk of losing any aircraft.

protip: you can shoot down enemy fighters with light missiles - fire one to make them dodge then fire the second one once they stop their roll. They won't be able to dodge in time. You can use this to win 2vs1 dogfights without damaging your interceptors too much.

[Ryodan]

I've been doing the staggered missile tactic, works great. fighters I tend to lead away with whichever craft they are chasing then use the other one to drop them with my cannon only, saves the missiles in case I find another mission for the interceptors before they get back to base. Only takes 30 cannon rounds for one fighter to go down. Just got home, time to try out the foxtrots again.

[mrsisk]

With 2 Condors and 1 Foxtrot, slow your Foxtrot down so the enemy target the Condors first. Then the Foxtrot can safely close and launch missiles, turn and flee w/out much fear of retaliation.

I'm only getting into the air combat side of this game now. I've neglected it because in the original XCOM, as well as the new reboot, air combat was really dumbed down and you didn't have to worry about actually controlling the fight. Xenonauts, on the surface, appears to be similar...but it's actually far more tactical than either the original or the big budget reboot.

Kudos!

[dropbear]

Actually, with the experimental 7 release the condors speed has been nerfed into oblivion. I guess this will change in the future, but currently the Foxtrots got an early game use. Mainly I use them in pairs, armed with sidewinders or 1 sidewinder + 1 torpedo as soon as possible, simply because they can catch the scouts. It's a pretty heavy investment, but so far it's working and I'm usually able to shoot down roughly 75% of the early ufos (compared to condors maybe catching some 20% if at all).

You will still need the condors for any figther escorts i believe, but with the foxtrots hunting the scouts I managed to stall the relation decline in the first month (inside the covered area that is) and got some much needed combat experience for my rookies.

[Nhert34]

In the latest versions of the game, Foxtrots typically have two missile points. Condors may excel in certain situations, but experiment with different tactics, loadouts, and formations for Foxtrots in the experimental build to optimize their performance.