I think the weight of the fighter target painter is out of line with the weight of other fighter components. It currently weighs more than the fighter torpedo (15 tons) and is the heaviest thing a fighter can carry. Given how target painting works, I understand that a fighter target painter with a “realistic” weight (like 10 ounces) would be hopelessly overpowered, but as it stands a fighter with a target painter flies more like a cruiser than like a fighter.
I agree with you there. If our current military has target painters that a solider can carry, I don’t see why in the future they weigh more than armor plating.
If they were laser pointers, the enemy would deploy a few rocks, and shine laser pointers at them, and your missiles would make lots of pebbles instead of big holes.
They need the correct cryogenically cooled algorithmic pulse generation equipment such that the laser reflected off the target - taking into account interstellar dust density, target albedo and countermeasures, both doppler and relativistic frequency shifts, etc; - exactly matches the pre-programmed targetting signature required by the missile, on an instant by instant basis.
No, you’re right, they’re a tad on the heavy side.
Ooo. That would be nice. As it is now I have to armor/engine them up to get them to live longer than 5 seconds. Then they are just too expensive. Perhaps a little AI loving to have them not all fire simultaneously at the same ship then wait to fire again. Though I haven’t fielded them in a while to say it is still doing it.
I note that in version 1.26, the weight has been dramatically lowered and I’ve started experimenting with fielding a few targeting fighters when I deploy fleets with lots of missiles. It gives a new twist to things. Those fleets that deploy no fighters and think “ha! our armor will protect us from anything fighters can do” now get a rude awakening when EVERY one of my missiles hits because I have 16 targeting lasers flitting about! mwahahahaha!