[TC] Air Superiority Fighter Choice

[Triaxx2]

The AI doesn't really use the sweet spot on the PBG so it's less effective in AI control. It gets away with using it by just using a ton of it. It's also not actually damage over time, it's just a hold trigger, weapon does damage.

As for weapon energy you're assuming incorrectly that it matters. You're basically going to see them expend all their energy in a single pass no matter which fighter you choose. The difference in weapon recharge is so negligible that either one will fully recharge it's weapon capacitors before making a second pass on a target. More important is the physical profile. The Chimera suffers from the Split flaw of being very very long. So it will, the same as with the scorpion, catch more fire than the Tenjin which hurts it's overall survivability. I do like the side turret placement on the Tenjin as well, which supplements it's slightly reduced turning.

Attack Fighters use the 20km sphere to attack. Interceptors use an 8km defensive sphere. They're not meant to be haring off chasing squirrels, but acting as a close defense against something that's managed to bull it's way through the attack fighters. But also to act as target bait while the defensive guns on the carrier itself do their work. M5's react rather explosively to being shot with flak so being unable to catch them is only an issue if they survive long enough to be chased. And unless you're running CODEA on a TM, M5's aren't enough of a threat to be concerned about.

Are you mounting missiles on your fighters? I like 20 Mosquitoes and 10 Wasps per fighter. It's enough to provide distraction while the enemy tries to evade and close anti-missile defense without the fighters having to go to the same extreme defensive measures as the enemy. Also are you using recon M5's? They're not always a good idea, but being able to set them up and take control of an area can help on patrol missions because it expands your sensor sphere and the carrier's sphere of influence to 30km.

[moleman122]

As for weapon energy you're assuming incorrectly that it matters. You're basically going to see them expend all their energy in a single pass no matter which fighter you choose. The difference in weapon recharge is so negligible that either one will fully recharge it's weapon capacitors before making a second pass on a target. More important is the physical profile. The Chimera suffers from the Split flaw of being very very long. So it will, the same as with the scorpion, catch more fire than the Tenjin which hurts it's overall survivability. I do like the side turret placement on the Tenjin as well, which supplements it's slightly reduced turning.

I'd like to point out, while I'm unsure if this REALLY is a CODEA thing since it's not in the featurelist, CODEA does seem to manage weapon energy on its own, I wasn't making a baseless assumption. When you observe CODEA fighters they pace their shots if weapon energy is running low, and they also do NOT fire a full salvo until they're at a reasonably close range, at a distance they always pace their shots. As a result, I'm pretty sure it does have a significant impact on their firing rates to have a better energy reload rate.

However, what you said about the physical profile helps me to understand what makes the Tenjin special, definitely going to be adding it to the list of test subjects. Side turrets are also a nice touch.... Maybe it's time to grind some yaki rep

Are you mounting missiles on your fighters? I like 20 Mosquitoes and 10 Wasps per fighter. It's enough to provide distraction while the enemy tries to evade and close anti-missile defense without the fighters having to go to the same extreme defensive measures as the enemy. Also are you using recon M5's? They're not always a good idea, but being able to set them up and take control of an area can help on patrol missions because it expands your sensor sphere and the carrier's sphere of influence to 30km.

I've had my heavy fighters set to 10 tempests for a while now, at 10% fire rate. Lighter fighters are at 20 wasps. They work well together, the wasps seem to scare the hell out of the small fries and get them to bug out, leaving room for the tempests to hit the slower targets. I haven't set up my scout m5's YET, but It is something I'm going to do once the fleet size increases a little bit (for example, I plan on adding two escort Astraeus to my personal fleet) Like you say, patrol missions are a little bit of a pain without it. Do you know if the m5's will engage in combat if attacked? I can't find a lot of documentation on just how fancy the CODEA AI gets

EDIT: Got my memory mixed with AP, astraeus aren't available so i'll probably settle with cerberus

[Triaxx2]

That's actually vanilla behavior. They'll keep firing as fast as the weapon capacitor charges will allow. Waiting for the full-salvo is the AI waiting for a good shot to fire all it's guns.

The recon M5's will intentionally not engage because it's not their job, but I believe they will run away.

Have you setup fleet tenders? If not, I'd suggest picking something like the Elephant, which has it's own large hangar bay, that can be stocked with it's own wing of interceptors and ordered to retreat on enemy engagement.

I tend to actually run my CODEA carriers unsupported, because I tend to faster carriers that most support vessels can't keep up with. Cerberus is a good choice, though against capitals you'll either want something heavier, or to take advantage of Bomber wings.

[moleman122]

That's actually vanilla behavior. They'll keep firing as fast as the weapon capacitor charges will allow. Waiting for the full-salvo is the AI waiting for a good shot to fire all it's guns.

The recon M5's will intentionally not engage because it's not their job, but I believe they will run away.

Have you setup fleet tenders? If not, I'd suggest picking something like the Elephant, which has it's own large hangar bay, that can be stocked with it's own wing of interceptors and ordered to retreat on enemy engagement.

I tend to actually run my CODEA carriers unsupported, because I tend to faster carriers that most support vessels can't keep up with. Cerberus is a good choice, though against capitals you'll either want something heavier, or to take advantage of Bomber wings.

I haven't set up tenders yet, at first I was intimidated but I've been planning on getting it set up soon. Elephant seemed like the OBVIOUS choice for a tender due to being the most..... well..... I won't call it the most survivable because all TLs are blimps waiting to explode, but it's certainly the most military TL, and I expect I shouldn't run into any issues with it. I might just dump all the PAC solanos in there as cheap defense.

I was going unsupported for a a while, but as it stands my lovely skiron ladies can keep up just fine and thwack any M6s that dare to irritate me. They're both set to missile bombardment mode with typhoons as well, so it's nice seeing them take out a Q as soon as I can see it.

I'm scared of bomber wings! I've NEVER experimented with bombers or m7ms, showing how I'm still fresh meat to X3. I also don't know if they'll have enough space for a good bombing run if I keep energy cells in their cargo bay for jumps, and I know that the Military Transport supporting script allows them to dock at my carrier but it looks even more complicated than CODEA for some reason

[Triaxx2]

CODEA docks it's Bomber wings internally, using docking computers so there's no need for jump fuel. Then you issue orders with the Bombard Command. They launch, fire and then redock. It's actually pretty simple.

[moleman122]

CODEA docks it's Bomber wings internally, using docking computers so there's no need for jump fuel. Then you issue orders with the Bombard Command. They launch, fire and then redock. It's actually pretty simple.

But to do that don't I need lucike's Military Transport script, which is meant to work with the MEFOS but also offers CODEA stuff like docking m8s in the hangar? It just seems like an awfully complex script just so I can dock m8s and repair from the hangar

[Terre]

Please return to the OP's original question and away from discussing third party scripts.

[Triaxx2]

Moleman, if you stick a topic about it in Scripts and modding we should be able to talk more about it there.