I’d like to see fighters deployed as a module on a cruiser size ship. You could still design your fighters as before, but have them installed as a module on a cruiser. They could modify the pilot count of the cruiser as needed (so 1 module on a cruiser would be 17 pilots I think).
In addition you could have fighters set to return to the cruiser at a certain level of hp to repair, possibly using the cruisers repair modules to modify repair speed.
I think this would help the overall balance as well as provide the carrier capability that makes more sense than fighters just flying around on their own.
Cruiser goes down, fighters lose their repair functionality.
Or/in addition, something that occurred to me. Hangar modules on ships could just increase the total number of pilots, enabling you to field more fighters by having dedicated carrier ships.
Hanger modules adding pilots makes sense to me. They’d cost a lot of credits, so you’d basically use them to turn money into pilots, and would have to also pay for the hull surrounding them.
Fighter modules shouldn’t override pilot count for a mission. Otherwise you’d need a way to counter a fleet of carriers each with 7+ fighter modules.
Ideas:
Maybe Fighter Modules could “heal” nearby fighters (nanobots swarm out a bit from the ship and can repair it)?
Maybe fighter modules have very low HP so they get destroyed easily, making the whole carrier that much more fragile?
Rather than adding more fighters to the initial deployment, a Fighter Module lets the pilot “respawn” with a new Fighter (once)?? Imagine the pilot hits his escape pod and X time units later he has returned to a carrier and can launch in a new fighter. That might balance nicely out with the cost/weight of the module.