Impressive!
How many of those can you load upon a carrier?
They can´t be expensive in terms of minerals either.
How many of those can you load upon a carrier?
They can´t be expensive in terms of minerals either.
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It won't be twice the firepower, they're one-missile wonders versus the three-missile solutions of previous ships. So at twice the fighters and one-third the firepower per fighter, it would be two/thirds the firepower.
Of course, the upside is that it also provide twice the decoys for the Prix.
Of course, the upside is that it also provide twice the decoys for the Prix.
Having a cheap, expendable fighter screen is a good idea in order to soak up potential hits. Of course, in order to avoid massive casualties, I'd rather see our PD take care of anything incoming before we send our fighters.
We can carry twice as many aircraft (20 instead of 10), but they only have 1/3rd the firepower... so it's a trade-off: only 2/3rds as much total firepower, but offering twice as many targets to the enemy, and much harder to hit (9400 kps instead of around 4000 kps). They also have improved FC, and the new Composite Armor instead of the old Duranium Armor. New models of Spitfire and Hurricane are also being produced, to take advantage of the newest Armor, FC and Command Module. Speeds increase by about +1000 kps, with no loss of cruising range and somewhat better firing range.
Will they reload faster? If they do (and assuming better survivability rate), the firepower decrease might be less than the nominal ammount...
They'll be there (on target) to fire the missiles and back faster.
They'll be there (on target) to fire the missiles and back faster.
Not until we've developed Box Launchers, which is years away... we don't even have the pre-req tech for it yet.
The 9400 kps speed also offers us some added tactical flexibility, of course. Having Fighters that were actually SLOWER than our Carriers was not what you would call "flexible and efficient"... instead of the Fighters returning to the Carriers, the Carriers had to GO GET THEM.
As a carrier commander, having fighters that are actually faster than our carriers is a good step in the right direction.
At 9400 kps they can match the speed of Prix warships as well, can they not?
At 9400 kps they can match the speed of Prix warships as well, can they not?
considering that at this point they are mostly there to absorb missiles it seems like a good trade off. Of course you could always opt for both and have both a "metalshield" fighter wing and a slower wing that packs a bigger punch.
About 200 kps slower still than the Prix, but essentially yes.
We can certainly pursue DAMAGED Prix vessels, and perhaps damage them further... enough for the Fleet to catch them.
So... given six carriers, each of which can either carry twenty of these or twelve heavier fighters with three missiles instead of one... what's the optimum force mix?
Two carriers filled with Gnats and the other four with Spitfires?
Another possibility is to reduce our heavy fighters from three missiles to two, which would add another 1400 kps and allow fifteen instead of twelve to be carried.
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I'd prefer to stock our carriers with the smaller, faster fighters, and use the heavier fighters to defend our planets and colonies.
Out of interest how large and fast would a compromise fighter, one with two missile launchers rather than the one or three the other fighters have, be?
judging from the previous engagement it's good to have a fast fighter that can get in range and absorb missiles that would otherwise go towards much more expensive and important targets; in the previous engagement you started pulling back the big ships to wage a fighting retreat so if you launch the slower but better armed fighters at this point their speed doesn't matter that much, they simply got carried into battle then deployed as the carriers start pulling back. I think an extra 1.4k speed (from an initial 4k IIRC?) isn't important here except maybe if it (exceeds or at least) closely matches the speed of our carriers. If they are still significantly slower then chances are if you'll have the luxury of slowing down your carriers to pick up the heavy fighters at X+1.4k speed for rearming, you'll also have the luxury at slowing down to X speed to pick them up. If there is a need for these fighters to be rearmed then at this point it takes 36 minutes which is a long time anyway. So basically if these guys aren't expected to race circles around either the enemy's nor the home fleet you may as well prefer the extra missile which can actually hurt the enemy, as opposed to speed which is not always the best strategic option (a faster plane could also simply allow it to fly towards death more quickly, whereas a missile is always promising to bring more death to the enemy).
So if we loaded three Carriers with Gnats (1 missile each, 9424 kps, 20 per Carrier) and the other three with Typhoons (2 missiles each, 6870 kps, 15 per Carrier), that would give us 105 Fighters and an alpha-strike of 150 missiles, divided into 105 separate salvos.
Sound OK?
The alternative is a mix of Gnats and Spitfires (3 missiles each, 5487 kps, 12 per Carrier)... or a mix of all three types.
Sound OK?
The alternative is a mix of Gnats and Spitfires (3 missiles each, 5487 kps, 12 per Carrier)... or a mix of all three types.
Sounds Ok for me.
When you can afford it you probably should build some Military Academy as well. You gonna need all the characters you can get now.
When you can afford it you probably should build some Military Academy as well. You gonna need all the characters you can get now.
Ideally you want whatever complement the decoys to pack the maximal alpha strike possible. On a carrier's capacity, that's the Spitfires (36 missiles from a carrierload of Spits vs 30 from a carrierload of Typhoons).
A 3/3 mix of Gnats (60) and Spitfires (36) sounds good...send the Gnats out ahead between the Rocks and the main fleet so they can serve as decoys (60 Gnats should take a lot of volleys), keep the Spitfires in reserve with their 108-missiles alpha strike capacity, reinforced by whatever Gnats survive.
A 3/3 mix of Gnats (60) and Spitfires (36) sounds good...send the Gnats out ahead between the Rocks and the main fleet so they can serve as decoys (60 Gnats should take a lot of volleys), keep the Spitfires in reserve with their 108-missiles alpha strike capacity, reinforced by whatever Gnats survive.
I agree that speed is not always the best strategic option, but it is a card that has been completely missing from our hand in our last engagement with the Prix, and might greatly increase our tactical flexibility. The trade-off of one missile vs two vs three is not quite as clear-cut as it sounds, because the smaller fighters take up less hangar space, so we can carry somewhat more of them (20 vs 15 vs 12).