Problem building fighters

[Meridian (OP)]

The fighter I have designed is classified as a fighter but I cannot build it in fighter factories. I have 80 fighter factories and I have created one fighter through a shipyard. What have I done wrong?

[Erik L]

Post the design.

[Meridian (OP)]

Code: [Select]

Nigeria class Fighter    700 tons     88 Crew     95 BP      TCS 14  TH 15  EM 0
1071 km/s     Armour 1-7     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 6
Annual Failure Rate: 140%    IFR: 1.9%    Maint Capacity 0 MSP    Max Repair 43 MSP    Est Time: 0 Years

FTR Nuclear Thermal Engine E1000 (1)    Power 15    Fuel Use 10000%    Signature 15    Armour 0    Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 1.3 billion km   (13 days at full power)

10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (2)    Range 48,000km     TS: 5000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 3    ROF 5        3 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S04 24-12000 (1)    Max Range: 48,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0

This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes


[DatAlien]

Your vessel is 200 tons too heavy to be a figther

[Brian Neumann]

A couple of other problems with this design.  You have 2 lasers, but no power plants.  The lasers need a power source to be able to fire the lasers.  A second point is that your fire control is a standard fire control and not a fighter specific one.  At the bottom of the beam fire control design screen there is a pull down menu saying restrictions.  Change it to fighter only and you will get the effect of x4 fire control speed without the cost/mass that normally comes with it.

I would drop one of the lasers for the power plant.  If you can not get a power plant that produces 3 points of power and still have this qualify as a fighter then I would go for one that produces at least 1.5 points of power.  This will give your fighter a cycle time of 10 seconds which is not bad.  Personally I would go with a 10cm meson instead of the laser as it will start to do damage internally on the first hit.  Your choice however, and I don't know if you have the reasearch points to get the meson or not.

Brian

[Meridian (OP)]

Code: [Select]

Nigeria class Fighter    235 tons     20 Crew     44.5 BP      TCS 4.7  TH 15  EM 0
3191 km/s     Armour 1-3     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 47%    IFR: 0.7%    Maint Capacity 0 MSP    Max Repair 18 MSP    Est Time: 0 Years

FTR Nuclear Thermal Engine E1000 (1)    Power 15    Fuel Use 10000%    Signature 15    Armour 0    Exp 25%

Fire Control S01 12-10000 (FTR) (1)    Max Range: 24,000 km   TS: 40000 km/s     58 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pebble Bed Reactor Technology PB-1 AR-0 (1)     Total Power Output 6    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a fighter for production and combat purposes

When I try to create a fighter I get this. I presume this is too big without the Laser added on top which is another 100 or so tonnes. How do I make it lighter?

[Erik L]

Fighters mass 500 tons or less. If your laser is only 100 tons, then adding it to your design will result in a 335 ton fighter.

[UnLimiTeD]

That design lacks any fuel.

Well, to put it in a nutshell:
Don't build fighters until you got the tech to back it up.

Get an additional Engine level, the jumps are faster early on and your fighter would be obsolete within a year. (I would personally wait for Ion)
Get atleast the first 2 levels of fuel efficiency, they are cheap, and it pays off.

Theres Miniaturization tech;
A command module will hold 20 crew for just 0.1 size.
Fighter Engineering spaces are equally small, and can keep a fighter running for years without maintenance.
A small fuel tank, holding 10k liters, will be sufficient for combat fighters, and saves some space.
And always keep in mind that a Bridge is not needed for Ships below 1000 tons.

Also, Beam fighters are more difficult, their weapons tend to be rather heavy, making them slower, while their range puts them in danger.
Go for Mesons or Reduced Size Gauss cannons, though Lasers become interesting when your able to reduce their size and still have a 5 second fire rate.

If you have some reasonable tech in that respect, try to go Missiles first, you'll be able to fire them from outside the enemies Beam range.