Post by garyp on Nov 26, 2020 10:52:47 GMT -4
I've been enjoying the aerospace and conventional fighters in my force. They have been very useful in battles and learning the modern aerospace rules has given me a new aspect of the game to explore.
The only difficulty I am having with them is trying to find an efficient way to repair and rearm them. Of the combat capable conventional fighters I have purchased their current status is only 30% undamaged, with 50% damaged and 20% having been destroyed. All of my aerospace fighters have at least some minor armour damage. Flying to an airfield to repair and rearms is of course an option, but with the large strategic maps we are using it wouldn't be uncommon for it to take around eight campaign turns for a fighter to make the round trip to the airfield then back to the frontlines. MFB vehicles like the Wayland and the Paramour are working well to keep my ground forces repaired without needing to pull them too far back from the frontlines, however since aircraft can only land at airfields it doesn't seem like there is a way to support them with MFBs.
I guess it might be possible for VSTOL capable conventional aircraft to land in areas with clear or urban terrain and be supported by MFBs, but that would require an addition to the campaign rules. The idea brings to mind pictures of cold war era exercises with RAF Harriers operating from clearings in West German forests while being supported by mobile refueling/rearming teams. Such rule would of course add another little detail to keep in mind, so it would only be worthwhile if it adds something of enough value to the campaign. (While I only mentioned conventional VSTOL aircraft technically all proper aerospace fighters also have VSTOL capability but for them it seems more like an option for emergencies than something for everyday usage since aerospace fighters have a +2 modifier to the VSTOL landing check while conventional VSTOL aircraft have +0. Too great a chance of a typical aerospace pilot botching a VSTOL landing even with good landing conditions.)
The most ideal solution I can think of would be to do an inflight recovery of fighters into the fighter bays of a dropship to repair and rearm using the transport bays. The obvious problem is that would require a player to both possess a spaceport and have the many millions of c-bills available that even a basic dropship with the capability would cost.
With dropships not a realistic option I'm leaning towards the best practical solution for me being the purchase of twice as many fighters as I would expect to need and accept that at any particular point of time 50% of my fighters are likely to be unavailable as they travel to/from their airfields. Has anyone developed a better solution for keeping enough fighters on the frontlines?
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Ideas that I have considered but are not possible -
1) It is possible (just) to fit an aerospace bay in a 200 ton conventional support aircraft and still have sufficient engines for it to be able to fly. However it wouldn't be able to support other aircraft since the rules require units with fighter bays to be larger than 200 tons to make a midair recovery.
2) The greater than 200 ton rule would also prevent a small craft from being used in the role (not that it even seems possible to fit a fighter bay into a small craft and still have enough remaining tonnage for engines and crew quarters).
3) Airships would be a good solution since even a medium airship can be as large as 300 tons and the arrestor hook trapeze system in the Tech Manual is there to give the option for this type of support airship. Unfortunately Megamek doesn't yet have the Airship unit type (I have seen a screenshot of some airships testing posted to the Battletech forum by a developer, but since it hasn't yet made it into any publicly released development builds I can't see airships being in the next major release). Mobile structures with flight decks are similarly ruled out by not yet being implemented, so no giant landcrawler aircraft carriers.
4) The rules prevent launching from or recovering into a fighter bay when the carrying unit is on the ground, so despite the ability to fit a fighter bay into a ground or naval support unit it won't be useful.
The only difficulty I am having with them is trying to find an efficient way to repair and rearm them. Of the combat capable conventional fighters I have purchased their current status is only 30% undamaged, with 50% damaged and 20% having been destroyed. All of my aerospace fighters have at least some minor armour damage. Flying to an airfield to repair and rearms is of course an option, but with the large strategic maps we are using it wouldn't be uncommon for it to take around eight campaign turns for a fighter to make the round trip to the airfield then back to the frontlines. MFB vehicles like the Wayland and the Paramour are working well to keep my ground forces repaired without needing to pull them too far back from the frontlines, however since aircraft can only land at airfields it doesn't seem like there is a way to support them with MFBs.
I guess it might be possible for VSTOL capable conventional aircraft to land in areas with clear or urban terrain and be supported by MFBs, but that would require an addition to the campaign rules. The idea brings to mind pictures of cold war era exercises with RAF Harriers operating from clearings in West German forests while being supported by mobile refueling/rearming teams. Such rule would of course add another little detail to keep in mind, so it would only be worthwhile if it adds something of enough value to the campaign. (While I only mentioned conventional VSTOL aircraft technically all proper aerospace fighters also have VSTOL capability but for them it seems more like an option for emergencies than something for everyday usage since aerospace fighters have a +2 modifier to the VSTOL landing check while conventional VSTOL aircraft have +0. Too great a chance of a typical aerospace pilot botching a VSTOL landing even with good landing conditions.)
The most ideal solution I can think of would be to do an inflight recovery of fighters into the fighter bays of a dropship to repair and rearm using the transport bays. The obvious problem is that would require a player to both possess a spaceport and have the many millions of c-bills available that even a basic dropship with the capability would cost.
With dropships not a realistic option I'm leaning towards the best practical solution for me being the purchase of twice as many fighters as I would expect to need and accept that at any particular point of time 50% of my fighters are likely to be unavailable as they travel to/from their airfields. Has anyone developed a better solution for keeping enough fighters on the frontlines?
------------------------------------------------------------
Ideas that I have considered but are not possible -
1) It is possible (just) to fit an aerospace bay in a 200 ton conventional support aircraft and still have sufficient engines for it to be able to fly. However it wouldn't be able to support other aircraft since the rules require units with fighter bays to be larger than 200 tons to make a midair recovery.
2) The greater than 200 ton rule would also prevent a small craft from being used in the role (not that it even seems possible to fit a fighter bay into a small craft and still have enough remaining tonnage for engines and crew quarters).
3) Airships would be a good solution since even a medium airship can be as large as 300 tons and the arrestor hook trapeze system in the Tech Manual is there to give the option for this type of support airship. Unfortunately Megamek doesn't yet have the Airship unit type (I have seen a screenshot of some airships testing posted to the Battletech forum by a developer, but since it hasn't yet made it into any publicly released development builds I can't see airships being in the next major release). Mobile structures with flight decks are similarly ruled out by not yet being implemented, so no giant landcrawler aircraft carriers.
4) The rules prevent launching from or recovering into a fighter bay when the carrying unit is on the ground, so despite the ability to fit a fighter bay into a ground or naval support unit it won't be useful.
