I'm still learning the ropes--as in restarting a bunch of times to figure out how best to start. I have a serious addiction. I need to play longer.
. . . . but HOLY smeg. Size 1k survey (grav or geo) fighters are AMAZING. I had been building giant ships, struggling to find a balance between speed, engine efficiency, number of engines, and fuel capacity. . . . .
Then I saw (somewhere, forget who to credit) someone saying they were using fighters to survey new systems (IIRC he had a tanker, a fighter jump tender, a fighter geo, a fighter grav, and at least one other). I looked at that, and went "hmmmmm. . . . . "
So I rolled up a new game, dinked around with the fighters, and ended up with a pair of fighters with a range of 30-40b, a single geo or grav, enough maintenance/engineering to handle any problems (and a low YFR), and ~3-4k speed. I threw in a pair of hangar PDCs (1 for geo, 1 for grav), and tore my hair out figuring out how to make it work.
But eventually I figured it out. Assign all fighters to their respective (geo/grav) PDC, land them in the PDC, set their respective geo/grav orders, then you launch the fighters and IIRC it's Split the Fleet, not Divide, and everything gets its own TG. it's a bit mess on the TG selection screen, but boom. beginning pre-tanker geo/grav survey teams.
If you want to recall them, simply go to the PDC, tell them to recall parasites, and they will all return to the PDC (and join its task force again). If you want to go again, simply launch the fighters, resplit the TG, and they will automatically return to their respective TGs.
THIS IS AMAZING.
I don't need 5-10k grav ships, and 20+k geo ships. Throw in a PDC with AMM capabilities to finish off the PDC points, maybe some Republic of Haven (single-shot, massive missile burst) or Manticorran Navy (multiple but fewer missile FAC, CIWS FAC)-esque FACs eventually. . . . .
Still trying to figure out my initial Industry build order.
I'm htinking something like:
10+% Construction Factories (Perpetual)
10+% Infrastructure (Perpetual)
10+% Auto Mines (Perpetual)
~30% Sector Command
~20% Research Lab
~20% Military Academy
Throw in some Mass Drivers every once in a while, and send out infrastructure to Luna/Mars/Mercury to get the population growing.
Still REALLY new.
Any advice is appreciated. I'm seriously tempted to just make a bunch of navy shipyards with 1k capacity but tons of slipways for Fighters/FACs, backed up by a carrier or three, and a couple AMM boats.
Also as an Honor Harrington fan I plan on placing defensive forts at strategic jump points.
. . . . . . I have to admit, the Honor Harrington almost reads as Aurora fanfic in some ways. Maybe David Weber played Starfire or Aurora. . . . . ?
EDIT: he literally has a series called "Starfire. " dunno how it lines up with the Starfire game, but. . . . lol
. . . . . yup.
David Weber was literally an author of Starfire v3. no wonder this is all so familiar and striking Honor Harrington mmories all over the place.