I have used Gauss and railgun fighters successfully in a point defense role, and more successfully in warp point CAP, even with the reduced size versions of Gauss. I generally never go below half-sized Gauss, but they are still very very effective used right.
First off, a fully trained fighter squadron is CHEAP vs. a set of patrol frigates. A squadron of 10 60BP fighters and a 1593 BP fighter station is 2193 BP vs. 3 patrol frigates at 3033 BP. It also means your not tying up mobile units to system defense!
Fighters are attrition units. They are dead cheap to build, and even a small planet can crank out a respectable number of them with a chunk of fighter factories.
My usual method is to build em, drop em on a "station" carrier that only has 1 engine and a stupidly low speed. Once that fighters are on board, put em on training. The fuel bunker on the station, plus the high supplies, mean that I can usually train the squadron(s) up to 100% in short order, with no breaks for shore leave.
100% training means they, generally, react quickly, and thats really important, especially for CAP.
Here is the killer for beam armed fighters. You NEED officers with a high Fighter Combat Bonus, and a high initiative rating. With both of those, you have the basis for some pretty killer fighters.
For example here is an mid Ion tech gauss fighter from an inactive game I have:
F-2 Ironsides class Fighter 335 tons 10 Crew 60.8 BP TCS 6.7 TH 18 EM 0
5373 km/s Armour 2-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 3
Maint Life 4.59 Years MSP 11 AFR 8% IFR 0.1% 1YR 1 5YR 13 Max Repair 18 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Spare Berths 0
Bonner Aeronautical 18 EP Ion Drive (2) Power 18 Fuel Use 163.69% Signature 9 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 1.6 billion km (3 days at full power)
Sughroue Aerospace Gauss Cannon R3-50 (1x3) Range 30,000km TS: 5373 km/s Accuracy Modifier 50% RM 3 ROF 5 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mancil-Franchi Fighter Beam Control (1) Max Range: 32,000 km TS: 4000 km/s 69 37 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Its slow, the Gauss cannon only have three shots, and they need something to target for them. Their range and endurance are nothing special. BUT they have been very effective none the less. It also armed with a half sized Gauss, due to weight restrictions. The fighter HAD to be fast enough to catch the enemy fleet (4000ish km) hence the smaller Gauss.
How so? First, with a good Fighter Combat bonus, the chance to hit goes from a not so great 34.5% (50% of 69%) to 70% or more. Since movement is done in ascending order of initiative, a squadron commander with a high init, will go AFTER the targets move. Meaning you can stay on top of them if your fighters are faster.
100% to hit +10 fighters x ROF of 3 = 30 points of damage EVERY 5 seconds. At Ion tech, your average AMM is rolling every 10 seconds. Ditto with larger Rail and Lasers.
That means, on average, you get 60 points of damage in for ever time they fire.
Now, don't get me wrong, these fighters are VERY vulnerable. Lasers and mesons eat them for lunch. But with 2pts (2-4) of armor, AMM's dont instakill them. Railguns suffer (usually at this tech) a degraded to hit due to tracking speed, and dont instakill them. Gauss cannon have to sandpaper them, but usually have the tracking speed to hit easily.
Since I run these squadrons in pairs (2x10 fighters) I am putting out 60pts per 5 seconds, and 120 pts per exchange of fire. Thats a lot of concentrated fire on any singular target.
Now, assuming you are running to railgun tech, the ratio is even better early on. The same basic fighter with a railgun:
F-3 Hammer class Fighter 355 tons 14 Crew 62.8 BP TCS 7.1 TH 18 EM 0
5070 km/s Armour 2-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 3
Maint Life 5.36 Years MSP 11 AFR 10% IFR 0.1% 1YR 1 5YR 10 Max Repair 13.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Spare Berths 1
Bonner Aeronautical 18 EP Ion Drive (2) Power 18 Fuel Use 163.69% Signature 9 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 1.5 billion km (3 days at full power)
Iorio Incorporated 10cm Railgun V2/C3 (1x4) Range 20,000km TS: 5070 km/s Power 3-3 RM 2 ROF 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mancil-Franchi Fighter Beam Control (1) Max Range: 32,000 km TS: 4000 km/s 69 37 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cavallo-Rao MCF P-3 (1) Total Power Output 3 Armour 0 Exp 5%
The railgun is putting out 40 points per 5 seconds, assuming similar pilot quality, which means 80 points per 10 second fire cycle.
Finally, the laser fighter. Once again, same tech level (mid Ion):
F-5 Tiger class Fighter 355 tons 14 Crew 57.8 BP TCS 7.1 TH 18 EM 0
5070 km/s Armour 2-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 3
Maint Life 5.81 Years MSP 10 AFR 10% IFR 0.1% 1YR 1 5YR 8 Max Repair 13.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Spare Berths 1
Bonner Aeronautical 18 EP Ion Drive (2) Power 18 Fuel Use 163.69% Signature 9 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 1.5 billion km (3 days at full power)
Rake-Clinkscale 10cm C3 Infrared Laser (1) Range 30,000km TS: 5070 km/s Power 3-3 RM 1 ROF 5 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mancil-Franchi Fighter Beam Control (1) Max Range: 32,000 km TS: 4000 km/s 69 37 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cavallo-Rao MCF P-3 (1) Total Power Output 3 Armour 0 Exp 5%
The laser fighter is comparable directly to the railgun fighter in terms of effectiveness. It is a bit better in Maint life, and HITS harder, with three points of concentrated damage. It benefits from better hit chances, and with a similar high skill pilot, 100% hits are achievable. Overall damage still goes to the railgun, as in terms of total output, the laser is going to tie with the Gauss for overall damage output, but concentrates damage better.
On top of that the Gauss cost is almost identical as the railgun, and the laser fighter is cheaper! The other fighters maintenance endurance are much better than the Gauss, by almost a year for the railgun, and better than a year for the laser.
And before everyone mentions it, yes, in the case of all of these fighters, they need an upgraded fire control to take advantage of the speed they offer, especially the Gauss fighter, if you want to use them for PD roles.
Why would you build the Gauss over the Railgun, which is clearly superior at this tech? Only for PD fighters, marginally. The winner early on, is railguns, followed by lasers for the damage profile. I go railgun if I start with the tech. Lasers otherwise. Gauss only if I get something with it early.
Now, later in tech levels, the Gauss starts to catch up in effectiveness, from a volume of damage perspective, once it hits 4 rounds per impulse. Gauss also gets faster (proportionally) with tech increases as they carry less mass (no power plant) than rail or laser armed fighters.
Where Gauss REALLY shines is when you get very skilled fighter pilots later in the game. The very highly reduced Gauss guns become beasts when you can get the hit percentage up to something normal with high XP pilots. A fighter with two Gauss 4x25 throw out eight rounds per fighter. Coupled with a bunch of high skill pilots and things get really nasty, and fast.
I have shredded single and small groups of NPR ships with there fighters on the warp point. They are meat in open space, usually, but thats not what they are used for.
