Can anyone divulge the design of that fighter in Cliffski’s 12,000 point Tribe Challenge? I couldn’t seem to design a Tribe fighter to counter that thing effectively, 1:1. For a moment it looked like I’d designed an exact copy, using the same hull; installing a laser; and in combat it looked to be about the exact same speed as Cliffski’s. All the same, my fighters were knocked out; and not so much by frigate missiles as by that superlative design. So I wonder what it was about that particular fighter design.
My copycat designs never entertained armour… because… after all… it is the Tribe (bad armour). But I still wonder what it was that made that fighter better than any of 5 or 6 variants thrown at it.
I don’t know, but with the tribe’s double hit points I have done crazy things like installing two engines on my fighters. It doesn’t make the fighter any faster (diminishing returns and all that) but it sure does make it hard to kill.
This is the fighter design he is using:
Tribe Serenity Fighter
fighter power II
fighter_engine III
fighter_laser
Just one engine. Please note he has 3 antifighter missile modules in the fleet (one on each frigate.) This may be the real cause of your woes.
Battle orders can be important too. I find setting fighters to cooperative and/or vulture, to greatly reduce their efficiency in a dogfight, for example.
My preferred Tribe interceptor at the moment, is a Serenity with a laser, the basic power plant, an engine I and an engine II. It’s 0.02 faster than Cliffski’s design (2.35 to 2.33), has a little more HP (46 to 38) and only costs 1 point more (86 to 85.)
I didn’t know that; about the Vulture order and dogfights.
Either way, it took me about 4 or 5 attempts to arrive at a fighter which could hold its own in the dogfight in that Cliffski Tribe challenge.
Weren’t you the one with the Tribe Challenge with the fighter swarm and tractor beam cruisers? It was on the big board, with 80,000 points and 300 pilots.
If you look; I played that one 30 or 40 times; and every time until the end; could not come up with a fighter to compete.
It seems like every time I find a fighter combination which gives a good account of itself in a challenge; in the next challenge the same combination is subpar. That’s the beauty of this game!
Of course, the ‘aa’ component of the opposing frigates/cruisers is a major factor, along with the orders given to one’s own fighters.
Thanks for the ‘schematics’ for that particular fighter, by the way.
Well, the second fighter configuration I listed, is the one used in the challenge you mention. So if you are using that, and are losing to those fighters, it’s a battle orders problem (that and my ridiculous overspend on tractor beams.) Well, there are some slightly faster rocket fighters mixed in on that fleet too (to help it cope with frigate swarms.)
As well, I began experimenting with packing all of the open module slots on Tribe fighters, mainly to get the hitpoints.
As for that challenge of yours; it was a disaster. Many attempts were made with the Rebels, and all failed miserably. Then, I started challenging it with my own Tribal designs, and got closer, but not quite.
Typically, the combination of your tractor beams, and that carrier off in the background were nullifying my fighters. Even when I started giving my fighters escort orders - so they wouldn’t get shot up before engaging your cruisers - your fighters would sweep in and lay waste to my fleet.
Finally, adding tractor beams to my own cruisers, and introducing my own carrier(s) was what turned this. But it took something like 30+ tries.
Kudos on that.
Usually, it takes no more than 2 tries to defeat a challenge; unless I’m experimenting with new designs. But in your case I was trying to win the whole time, and it was tough.
As for Cliffski’s fighter in that small challenge; my cruiser design was winning the challenge fairly easily, but my fighters were being chewed up.
Overall, some of this ‘fighter failure’ could have to do with my employing the ‘Vulture’ order. Going forward, I’ll have to drop that and see if the various designs fare a bit better in ‘dogfights.’
Definately. You get a lot of wasted fire if your fighters concentrate fire in a dogfight. It’s a bit awkward, because obviously you WANT them concentrating fire when attacking a cruiser or frigate… But often it’s far more important to be efficient versus fighters, than to be efficient versus cruisers/frigates, so I frequently avoid having any special orders (except escort and/or cautious) on any laser fighters.
