Fighter design guide

parameters

Item prices: Prices are determined by a demand-and-offer mechanism. "High price" does not necessarily mean "good item"!

Thrust: A fighter's thrust is determined by its mass, drives power (which is the powerplant power minus the power used by the other components) and drive type. A light fighter with great drives power is faster. This number is rounded down. Fighters have a thrust of 5, on average. Thrusting forward costs 1 pulse.

g-max: This is the maximum acceleration your pilot can withstand: in game terms, it limits the maximum number of forward pulses you can make every round.

Turn cost: This is given by the spinners, and represents the cost of turning one hex-side: it is 1 or 2 pulses. It is a good idea to take into account the cost of making a full 180° turn: it is 3 pulses with power spinners and 6 pulses with light spinners.

Autonomy: This is the amount of propellent a fighter has at its disposal, and is determined by the fuel tank and drives. If your fighter has a rounds-based autonomy, it will use one unit of propellent in every round in which you make at least one movement. If your fighter has a pulses-based autonomy, it will use one unit of propellent for every unit of thrust used in the round.

Movement-related items

Powerplant: This is the most important item: it produces the energy to operate the ship's weapons, shields, computer and so on. All the energy that is not used by other items goes into the drives.

Drives: These have a smaller (but still important) effect on your thrust than the powerplant: the power generated by the plant (minus the amount consumed by the various fighter components) goes into the drives. IMT drives are more efficient when the power available is low (try these with a light powerplant, lasers, strong shields); if you choose these, you will have a rounds-based autonomy. IVT drives are more efficient when the power available is high (a good idea with a heavy powerplant, OFC guns, heavy armour) if you choose these, you will have a pulses-based autonomy.

Spinners: These determine the turn cost. If you buy power spinners your turn cost will be one pulse, with light spinners it will be two pulses.

Thrusters: In advanced games, you can take dual thrusters, which allow you to thrust 60° to the right or left instead of stragiht ahead.

Cockpit: This contains your pilot, and determines your g-max: it is 3 for humans and 4 for aliens. It also determines how good the helmet-mounted sights are, this gives a bonus on to-hit rolls and damage.

Defense-related items

Armour: This gives the total damage your fighter can absorb before being destroyed.

Shields: Constant shields absorb a percentage of the damage received equal to their value.

Weapons

The number before the slash indicates tha maximum range (in hexes) at which the weapon can hit, the one after the slash gives the theoretical maximum damage at the optimal distance. In advanced games, some weapons can fire only straight ahead. This is indicated by a 0, placed before the other two, like in laser 0/8/150

OFC's are the weapons of reference. Their accuracy gradually decreases with distance, the damage inflicted is constant. They are optimal at short to medium range. They are heavy, but consume little power.

Lasers are very accurate, but inflict less and less damage as distance is increased. Overall, they are good at average to large distances. They consume a lot of power, but are rather light.

QGP guns are devastating at large distances, but ineffective at short distances. They deal an extra 100% damage to the enemy fighter's shields.

LB are deadly at short distances. They deal an extra 50% damage to the shields.

Prices Prices are determined by a demand-and-offer mechanism, so the more expensive items are not necessarily the better items. If many players insist on buying the same item over and over again, that item's price will rise. Accordingly, the 'best' fighter design will slowly change with time.

Typical fighters Each different allegiance has its own qualities and drawbacks, and knowing them can be quite useful in designing your "ideal" fighter. The typical fighter from each allegiance will be equipped more often with some items than with others:

allegiance	powerplant	thrusters	spinners	weapon classes	weapon types (4/6/8/one-use)	armour	shields
imperian	+	single	light	OFC, QGP	− / − / − / +	+	+
alien	+	dual	light	QGP, LB	= / = / + / −	−	+
terran	=	single	power	laser, OFC	+ / = / = / −	=	−
comcon	−	dual	power	laser, LB	− / + / + / =	−	−

This means that, often, a fighter built along the above guidelines will be cheaper than the other ones. Also, the differences among some of the above items are more marked than others.

allegiance	estimate	costs	defence		offence				manoeuvrability				autonomy
allegiance	AV DV MV BV	mass power	sh ar st	pil	gun	weapons		(one-use)	thrust	thrusters	spin	gmax	tank
alien	108 111 96 105	210 152	59 91 222	2	3.8	76 t+p laser: 25% OFC: 25% QGP: 85% LB: 85%	range 4: 80% range 6: 80% range 8: 60%	5 t+p missile: 40% thrust 7: 40% thrust 9: 0% grenade: 100% rocket: 40%	5.06	1.8	1.8	(4)	0.5
imperian	119 119 88 107	207 174	59 107 261	1.2	5.6	60 t+p laser: 25% OFC: 50% QGP: 45% LB: 30%	range 4: 60% range 6: 60% range 8: 30%	11 t+p missile: 120% thrust 7: 60% thrust 9: 60% grenade: 100% rocket: 100%	5.71	1.2	1.8	(4)	0.5
comcon	121 105 140 121	223 144	52 91 189	3	4	82 t+p laser: 75% OFC: 35% QGP: 35% LB: 75%	range 4: 60% range 6: 100% range 8: 60%	8 t+p missile: 100% thrust 7: 100% thrust 9: 0% grenade: 50% rocket: 80%	4.61	1.85	1.15	(4)	0.5
terran	127 99 118 114	219 160	52 101 209	2	4.8	74 t+p laser: 85% OFC: 85% QGP: 25% LB: 25%	range 4: 100% range 6: 80% range 8: 40%	7 t+p missile: 130% thrust 7: 130% thrust 9: 0% grenade: 30% rocket: 70%	5.06	1.3	1.15	(3)	0.5

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