Escaping interdiction with fighters...

[Arvel Yael]

Okay, so this is probably fairly new territory for a lot of traders like myself.

I'm currently flying an unarmed Type 9 Heavy with a fighter bay carrying a single fighter crewed by an expert NPC pilot. Fine, it's nice to have company.

But under what circumstances would I use the fighter? If I'm interdicted, the type 9 is bigger than 90% of the ships out there so mass locking usually won't prevent me from escaping. If I am mass locked, it's a safe bet that a single fighter won't do much good against a ship of that size.

Why would I take the time to deploy the fighter instead of just telling the NPC to buckle in because we're about to run? At what point would I recover the fighter?

I mean it's snazzy to have and it's fun to fly when I get a little tired of piloting this jet-propelled whale around, but now the novelty's worn off, I have to ask, what is it there for?

 

[woodbane]

Okay, so this is probably fairly new territory for a lot of traders like myself.

I'm currently flying an unarmed Type 9 Heavy with a fighter bay carrying a single fighter crewed by an expert NPC pilot. Fine, it's nice to have company.

But under what circumstances would I use the fighter? If I'm interdicted, the type 9 is bigger than 90% of the ships out there so mass locking usually won't prevent me from escaping. If I am mass locked, it's a safe bet that a single fighter won't do much good against a ship of that size.

Why would I take the time to deploy the fighter instead of just telling the NPC to buckle in because we're about to run? At what point would I recover the fighter?

I mean it's snazzy to have and it's fun to fly when I get a little tired of piloting this jet-propelled whale around, but now the novelty's worn off, I have to ask, what is it there for?

I'm glad someone else has jumped in with this question.

I literally just spent about 25 minutes going from my home system to the nearest place I could pick up and outfit a Keelback.

Got it all set up, fighter bay, condor fighter - hired a pilot. Dedicated the rest to cargo, gave it some teeth and then sat there staring at outfitting thinking "Under what circumstances will this setup actually be useful?"

Thoughts from fellow CMDRS about how they foresee using ship launched fighters?

 

[Adhock]

T9's also do pretty well at mining. Fighters would allow the T9 to fight off mining pirates.

Also you get a unique "bait and switch" for Bounty Hunting. Have the T9 Loiter to draw in pirates and then pounce with the fighter deployed a short distance away.

Ambush the Ambusher so to speak.

In a convoy situation, it would allow the T9 an option to join in on the destruction of the pirates that interdict them to get credit for the bounty kill with their escorts instead of just sitting there waiting for their escorts to kill the hunter so they can move on.

 

[Andovar]

I would think it gives you a little more teeth if you choose to fight the interdictor instead of run, since it effectively becomes a 2v1 scenario.

In the case of the unarmed T9, i guess the only real use is to use the fighter as a decoy/distraction as you try to escape. Though if you don't normally have any issues escaping, then I suppose it's not much use after all.

 

[Scoopy Doopy]

I don´t think they are of any real use to anyone really but they sure are fun to fly around in.

 

[Ryan256]

My T9 doesn't run unarmed. Mine has teeth. Many NPC pirates have died thinking my cargo ship was an easy score. Although I'm not sure if I'd be willing to sacrifice the cargo space necessary to add in the fighter. So I can definitely see your point of "What is the point?"

 

[777Driver]

Okay, so this is probably fairly new territory for a lot of traders like myself.

I'm currently flying an unarmed Type 9 Heavy with a fighter bay carrying a single fighter crewed by an expert NPC pilot. Fine, it's nice to have company.

But under what circumstances would I use the fighter? If I'm interdicted, the type 9 is bigger than 90% of the ships out there so mass locking usually won't prevent me from escaping. If I am mass locked, it's a safe bet that a single fighter won't do much good against a ship of that size.

Why would I take the time to deploy the fighter instead of just telling the NPC to buckle in because we're about to run? At what point would I recover the fighter?

I mean it's snazzy to have and it's fun to fly when I get a little tired of piloting this jet-propelled whale around, but now the novelty's worn off, I have to ask, what is it there for?

It all depends if you prefer to fight or run. If running is your prefered tactic than you'll have no use for a fighter (except for deploying a decoy) My plan is to keep a fighter bay equipped on the T9, train up the crew member whilst doing mission running, let him pick off the easy targets and gain rep from my kills.

 

[dutchy2000]

I put mine in an FGS 'corellian corvette' turret FGS, put my harmless NPC pilot in there and went bounty hunting with my fighter, great fun watching the harmless NPC destroy elite pythons.... For a T9, I have no idea why you would want to put a fighter in the bay when you can just get more cargo in there...

 

[Bomba Luigi]

When you don't want to fight there isn't really a point in putting a fighter in your T9.

 

[Moonax IRL]

Okay, so this is probably fairly new territory for a lot of traders like myself.

I'm currently flying an unarmed Type 9 Heavy with a fighter bay carrying a single fighter crewed by an expert NPC pilot. Fine, it's nice to have company.

But under what circumstances would I use the fighter? If I'm interdicted, the type 9 is bigger than 90% of the ships out there so mass locking usually won't prevent me from escaping. If I am mass locked, it's a safe bet that a single fighter won't do much good against a ship of that size.

Why would I take the time to deploy the fighter instead of just telling the NPC to buckle in because we're about to run? At what point would I recover the fighter?

I mean it's snazzy to have and it's fun to fly when I get a little tired of piloting this jet-propelled whale around, but now the novelty's worn off, I have to ask, what is it there for?

Its good to have options, what you do with them is up to yourself.

 

[777Driver]

My T9 doesn't run unarmed. Mine has teeth. Many NPC pirates have died thinking my cargo ship was an easy score. Although I'm not sure if I'd be willing to sacrifice the cargo space necessary to add in the fighter. So I can definitely see your point of "What is the point?"

Repsect to you for running a 5A, I wouldn't equip anything less than a 6A with modified boosters. How the heck do you deal with Elite rank FDL's/Pythons or other Cmdrs? 6A with quad boosters gives me 540mj stock. No way would I fight with anything less, especially in open.

 

[S~P]

Well I've got a mining T9 and plan to put turret weapons on it to support fighter, it can be a real nightmare getting in and out of mining fields without attracting unwanted attention.

 

[Nazdakka]

I've tried building a combat Keelback which could attack using both the mothership and the fighter, and had the same experience. The fighter added some extra teeth, but I will still flying a Keelback, with all that entailed. I certainly agree that flying the fighter was fun.


Maybe they could work as support when added to a big, dedicated combat ship, like an Anaconda?

 

[bitstorm]

Got it all set up, fighter bay, condor fighter - hired a pilot. Dedicated the rest to cargo, gave it some teeth and then sat there staring at outfitting thinking "Under what circumstances will this setup actually be useful?"

Thoughts from fellow CMDRS about how they foresee using ship launched fighters?

One role for the Keelback is mucking round with other players.

Rebuy for stock is ~150,000.

Next size up for SLF capable is the Gunship with ~1.8 mill rebuy at stock.

Simply the Keelback is the ship where you can muck around with a fighter and just not have to worry about your main ship being blown up.

Not sure if it was planned that way but for any player ran combat event using SLF, Keelback I think is going to be the ship of choice.

And if it wasn't for the Keelback I think rebuys would be a bit of a blocker to the sort of events we had in beta, where you just have a big FFA.

PvE? well I don't know. =p

 

[ph1Lt0r]

If you do chose to fight, use any fighter with plasma repeaters. Sure they're fixed.... but they will rip through any sized ship.

 

[Ryan256]

Repsect to you for running a 5A, I wouldn't equip anything less than a 6A with modified boosters. How the heck do you deal with Elite rank FDL's/Pythons or other Cmdrs? 6A with quad boosters gives me 540mj stock. No way would I fight with anything less, especially in open.

NPCs in anything smaller than a Python get spaced. Anything bigger and I high tail it out.
CMDRs I take a different approach. Submit to interdiction, 4 pips to shields, charge FSD as soon as I can, once in SC immediately drop back into normal space, quickly go to system map, choose first system on the list and warp out.
So far I have never had a CMDR succeed in preventing me from getting back into SC. By the time they can line up on my low wake and try to drop in on me again I have already warped out to a different system. Thus they get no high wake to scan.

 

[Riverside]

CMDRs I take a different approach. Submit to interdiction, 4 pips to shields, charge FSD as soon as I can, once in SC immediately drop back into normal space, quickly go to system map, choose first system on the list and warp out.
So far I have never had a CMDR succeed in preventing me from getting back into SC. By the time they can line up on my low wake and try to drop in on me again I have already warped out to a different system. Thus they get no high wake to scan.

If only this worked on NPCs

 

[Arvel Yael]

HAH! I nailed the rat!

On my way to Gidzenko ring to drop off some cargo and change the loadout a bit, and I get interdicted. Oh dear. The Type9 is too unweildy to break his lock so I submit and drop into realspace.

I select nearest target, I'm dismayed and surprised to find that it's a Deadly Adder, of all things. Hardly a federal gunship, but he's still faster and better armed than I am.
Or is he?

I launch the fighter (itself carrying two plasma guns) and align to the station I was jumping to. Presented with a more immediate threat, the adder switches his attention to the F63 Condor nipping at his heels (and melting them with plasma).

The fighter's ducking and dodging, the adder's shields are struggling, and I'm feeling a little daring. Flight Assist Off, I bring the nose of my Type 9 around through about 90 degrees to see this adder failing to shake off my fighter.

I deploy my weapons (3x class 2 seeker missile launchers) and straight away all my systems go offline. Oops, not enough power! By the time I've retracted the weapons and restored power to my (FA off at this point) engines I've done a rather graceful pirhouette through space and I'm facing him again.

Fiddling with the systems menu, I disable two of the three launchers, and extend the third. Just as I do, his shields go down, and I gleefully press the fire button, sending the first missile shrieking on its way.
The missile hits with a satisfying boom, and as I launch several more, the fighter joins in, alternating its plasma blasts with my missile impacts. A few seconds later, the adder's hull gave out under the punishment and he exploded.

How did it feel? Like this! (er, skip to 5:24)

[video=youtube_share;VPz-6HuM8Sc]https://youtu.be/VPz-6HuM8Sc?t=5m24s[/video]

I recalled the fighter, picked up the handful of materials he'd dropped, stowed my weapons and went on my way whistling a merry tune. I certainly never killed anything in my type 7, I didn't think I'd ever manage it in my type 9!

Now, to get that power issue sorted!

 

[Codger]

A fighter is for fighting, not running.

Sure you can mess around deploying it as a decoy, to keep the NPC busy while you jump out, but you'd probably be already gone by then anyway. And you lose the fighter if you jump away while it's deployed.

So they really aren't going to be very useful to a pure trader ship that never wants to fight. You're really better off having more cargo space.

On the other hand, if you run armed, and are interested in fighting back against NPC interdictors, the fighter might be very useful.

That's how I see it, anyway.

 

[kofeyh]

The question is, do you want to fight, to protect your cargo and prosecute that to the utmost? Or run?

The former? The fighter is the answer, it is fast, very nimble, a very small target and can prosecute violence against an aggressor with pretty ruthless efficiency. It helps to be a competent pilot, but they can be a force to reckon with in confident hands.

The latter? Fit a strong shield, boosters, and defensive measures (point defence in particular). Submit, every time. 4 Pips to SYS, every time. Leave, every time.

It comes down to do you value prosecuting violence against those who try to take what is yours, or do you run? Both are highly viable strategies. Your cunning and intellect and ability to think laterally, means you will always, always have the edge over AI.

And other commanders? Sometimes they can be bought (rebuy vs requested cargo value is typically a no-brainer). Or fought. Or simply left (15 seconds to high-wake).

It comes down to what you want to do, and how you want to engage with others, and the game itself. That will, really, define your choices.

But it sounds to me, like you have your answer already; General Chang would be proud.

Fly safe Fight well, commander.