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Post by Son Of A King on Aug 29, 2020 9:16:26 GMT -4
I was looking through some of the older TROs to evaluate fighters by role and ability. But I am puzzled by so called "light aerofighters." They largely have Medium Lasers for primary weaponry and I figure, that a single medium or heavy fighter could outright destroy or crit-out a whole flight of "light" units before they can even get in range to return fire.
Is this right, or does the game play differently? What about space versus ground combat? What criteria do you look for in a close air support (CAS) fighters? "Lights" rarely have enough map space to use their speed advantage, and have too little firepower to justify? Are they scouts, interceptors?
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garyp
Junior Member
Posts: 71
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Post by garyp on Aug 29, 2020 9:43:13 GMT -4
The older light aerospace fighters were designed to take advantage of the Aerotech 1st Edition rules for bomb carrying and firing weapons at ground targets. Those rules didn't have the one bomb per five tons limit, only a velocity penalty based on the total weight of bombs carried. So those early light fighters were able to carry huge bomb loads, more than the heavy fighters. The rules for firing weapons at ground targets advantaged energy weapons over ballistic or missile, so those medium lasers allowed those light fighters to make very effective strafing runs after they had dropped those massive bomb loads. I don't have enough experience with the current fighter rules, so I won't give any particular thoughts about how they might be used today. There might be something in this list on the main BT forum ( bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=1963.0 ) that is able to help. |
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Post by Son Of A King on Sept 3, 2020 8:14:14 GMT -4
Thanks for that, I wasn't aware of the big difference as I never looked at 1st Edition. That does seem to be the explanation, at least at first glance. I just feel like many of the lighter models seem to be a waste as they can't output much damage and have lackluster range as dogfighters. The heaviest units though are too expensive as just a couple of lucky hits can force piloting skill rolls that land you a new lawn ornament.
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