Seeking professional help: How do I use fighter craft?

from Stardock Forums
Greetings.

I'm currently on my first serious game of GC and am having a blast. I've had a few restarts so far due to recieving some 'educating' at the hands of the AI. It has been a long time since a game set on 'normal' has encouraged me to bend over and grab my ankles. :)

Lessons learned so far: Despise the Drengins. Scheme like a Byzantine landholder. Don't hold back -- at all.

One thing I am not clear on is the usefulness of fighter craft. There is an entire build list of fighter-type vessels in the game but even the best of them is clearly inferior to an average capital ship. While this is logical, in a way, it does make strike craft seem rather cosmetic. Am I missing something about these units? Is there some property of stacked combat that makes them a valid threat to large targets?

Any information is greatly appreciated. I can't help but think that I am fighting with one hand tied behind my back. Lord knows fighting those flesh-eating, monkey barbarians is hard enough at present.

Cheers.
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Fighter craft are almost useless against capital ships under normal circumstances, ie they will at best inflict a few points of damage. There is no advantage in stacks. Fighers are however quite fast and can chase down and destroy a badly damaged retreating capital ship where your own capital ships might be unable to catch up.

Also, it's worth to note that it takes 1 movement point to destroy any ship and fighters are dirt cheap. In the early game ships often have only 2 movement points, which means that you can delay an enemy by throwing large numbers of fighters into an area.

Finally, they are useful to keep around even later on for destroying transports and constructors. Stack a fighter with a dreadnought and a drone, as they move through the galaxy use the fighter to destroy trivial targets while the dreadnought continues towards its objective.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
personaly ive never had an extended war with an enimy and therefore use little military.however when i do use fighters i usualy send out 3 FGs(fighter groups) of about 10-15 ships and maybe if i have the tech a capital ship and have the 3 FGs attack the same target i usualy send out fighters that have a high number on both ATT and DEF. sooner or later the targets gonna die i mean think about it 45 fighters atacking one capitalship c'mon. "stay on target... stay on target...ITS AWAY!!" :)
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