So I can’t get fighter bays to work. I set my fighters to “cautious 1%” but they rarely ever go back to get repaired. I sometimes see a “1” on the Fighter Bay icon, but never more than that. And my fighters just seem to never retreat even though I can click on them and clearly see that their armor has been hit. What am I doing wrong?
PS: I got the game from Steam this weekend, so I have the latest version.
Make sure they’re fast enough to not die before they have time to run. I was just playing with this and using a fed hull with a level 2 engine and a rocket launcher (and some open slots), I was able to get fighters than were doing a lot of docking for repairs. If I loaded up twin torpedos and a big heavy engine/generator, that fighter never made it back.
It’s too bad that you can’t make specialized carriers to be a viable option, this really needs to be fixed with a variety of tweaking and new modules so it can finally work.
Apologies if this is too obvious, but make sure your fighters have a “Cautious” order applied to them, and that the damage % isn’t too low. They’ll only retreat if they have this order, and if you leave it at the default 25% they’ll often get toasted on their way back.
Perhaps if the carrier modules were moved onto frigate hulls, so you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to have a carrier.
I just put carriers bays on my anti-fighter cruisers. 1-2 depending on the density of my squadrons or if I care that much about them. Fighters I consider a disposable asset in the end. I don’t armour them or make them fancy. Slap an engine and a couple of rocket launchers and support the cruisers. Keep them close and they have a better chance of getting back home.
Berny