Allied fighters vs. Imperial fighters

[JediTraining]

For the past years I've always played the imperial side but recently I started playing the rebel side. I noticed that the AI, when playing rebels, only builds A-Wings from when they are available on. Is there any reason for this or just because they are the best rebel fighter?

 

I noticed B-Wings are very good against capital ships, maybe even overpowered, but what exactly is the use then of the X and Y-wings? Do they become outdated when the A-wing becomes available? It's still hard to image an X-Wing as the rebel version or the normal TIE-fighter, which really becomes outdated in the game, twice even.

[OldFan]

I always buy X-wings when playing rebels; they are slower than A-wings, but have proton torpedoes which help against capital ships. I believe the AI always buys A-wings (and TIE Defenders for the Empire) because they are the "highest" fighter in the inventory (per the research level); the AI is biased toward those ships that come up later. B-wings are bad against fighters, so the AI won't buy them to fight fighters.

 

If I'm buying dedicated bombers for the Rebels, I like B-wings over Y-wings; they pack a bigger wallop than Y-wings (when unmodded...).

[DarthTex]

The AI is stupid and usually only builds the latest & greatest without regards to mission types and how many have already been produced. Stupid AI

[DarthTofu]

X-wings and A-wings in the game aren't canonical; the proton torps you're going for with X-wings aren't there in the game- it still judges A-wings as being better than of X-wings in all ways. Neither really does too much against a capital ship- that's just Y-wings, Defenders, Bombers, and B-wings.

 

Speaking of those four types of craft- they suck against other fighters. Only use them on capital ships. Disregard the fact that Defenders are the ultimate kick-A fighter out there. They still are used for bombing runs so far as Rebellion is concerned.

[Slocket]

You know, something puzzle me about the fighters in game. If the Rebels fighters have hyperdrives, then why do we need to build an Alliance Escort Carrier to carry them? It seems to me that carrier should be dropped from the game. What do you think?

 

And yeh, the AI is unfourtanely, very narrow minded in its approach to building fighters. The latest and greatest. It does seem to like to build up a mix of fighters and bombers. X and Y wings; then later A-wings and B-wings. As research allows.

[Darth_Rob]

You make a very good point about hyperdrives in Rebel starfighters. My only thought is that it giving the Rebel fighters a hyperdrive in the game would make the Rebels too powerful. You wouldn't have to make capital ships as much, just build a ton of fighters and send them off. It would put the Imperials at a very high disadvantage.

[Slocket]

Maybe make them have to have a carrier to go into battle, but a rebel hyperdrive capable ship can warp away to safety or survive a battle even if its mother escort ship was destroyed. I had that happen winning a fight, but lost since no escort survived.

 

Thus it could be used as a small advantage to rebel fighters, that they do not have to land into escort to leave a battle, or if they are just on planet patrol defense, they can hyerdrive away to the nearest planet. A "limited" hyperdrive jump ability. The imperial fighters would not have that ability. Not a huge deal, but a small advantage. Imperial fighters must have an escort to move between planets, or run away from a fight on planet patrol.

 

As now, you can transport TIE fighters and such with no hyperdrive between planets with no problem. They need to be placed onto a carrier or freighter for transport. I would let the Rebel fighters have more freedom with planet transfer, and hyperspace escape. But a Regular battle, they would need the Alliance escort ships. hmmm...

[DarthTex]

Maybe in one of the Rebellion 2 remakes, hyperdrive capable starfighters could do attack missions within close range of their base (maybe 1 system over and/or a short couple of days distant). Of course should they be victorious they would have to return to base anyway due to lack of supplies and local support. Maybe making it a bit more costly (in terms of damage) than if they had been "delivered" by a capital ship. Just an idea.

[Slocket]

Not bad for an idea. It would be nice to add more capability to the rebel's superior fighters to do limited, hit and run raids on the Empire -similar to the old game "X-Wing". The Rebels would have that hit and run tactic at the beginning to mid game just to keep the Empire off its toes, wondering what planet that came from.

 

The Rebels could have a few escort carriers hiding a system or two away; and send raiding parties to take out their infrastructure (mines and refineries) which the Empire's massive 'low cost' fleet rely heavily on for maintainance. While the rebel fighters are more costly to build, but they have a lower maintainance cost.

[mechdestroyer]

The biggest advantage of having hyperdrive on the rebel starfighters is the fact they start the battle deployed. It is really annoying when you barely have a majority in starfighters as the empire an can never actually fight with a majority because by the time you have deployed a wave of fighters they are hurt and dying by the time your next wave comes out of your carriers. The rebels do not have that problem as they start the battle deployed and at 100% readiness

[Ceorl]

It's a huge advantage all game long until the TIE Defender comes out as even bombing focused Reb fighters can destroy the TIES which slowly exit their hangers. The bigger the ship, like the ISD, the worse the problem.

 

One game I managed to get a Death Star up before I researched the TIE Defender so the fleet had Interceptors. The defending Reb starfleet had enough fighters to top the Deat Star interceptors while the counter ignored the dozens of fighters I had leaving their SD hangars. Long story short, Rebs blew up my Death Star despite a 3 to 1 fighter ratio in my favor (my whole fleet just sat around waiting for the Death Star to go boom).

 

Now you might say "well just build anti-starfighter ships" and you're right its does help outside of the above scenario. Expect for the fact that a Rebel player can then just concentrate on ion capable fighters who will quickly pummel unsupported anti-fighter ships.

[Slocket]

Starting deployed before battle is a good point I overlooked. Maybe I 'll keep it that way.

 

I thought no matter how many fighters you have, the Rebels always get one shot at the Death Star Run for 1/7 chance to blow it. Then it repeats as long as Rebels can maintain superiority of fighters for each fighter group they have left.

 

Do the Rebel's always get one shot with a fighter at the death star??

[Darth_Rob]

They dont always get a shot off. I think the Imp fighters have a chance of chasing after a squad that is performing an attack run and can destroy them before the cut scene comes on.