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Space Fighter: Difference between revisions
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[[The Battlestar|Battlestars]] will deploy Space Fighters against enemy [[Cool Starship|Cool Starships]] with an appropriate [[Fighter Launching Sequence]]. Fortunately for the [[Ace Pilot]] and his [[Wing Man|Wingman]], large enemy ships will usually turn out to be [[Point Defenseless]]--at least as far as the protagonists' [[Plot Armor]]-equipped Space Fighters are concerned. Thus the enemy will need to scramble [[Mookmobile|Fighters of their own]]. [[Old School Dogfighting]] will ensue. Expect many a [[Red Shirt]] Space Pilot to lose their life, thus underscoring just how risky [[The Hero]]'s profession is, and making him or her seem all the more glamorous and heroic for it.
On the narrative side, Space Fighters are attractive because the stories about brave space pilots are [[Most Writers Are Human|usually more exciting than stories about unmanned robotic drones]], and handling battleship scale combat well is no less tricky.
Quite often the Space Fighter will look just like a [[Cool Plane]], even though it operates in a [[Space Does Not Work That Way|completely different environment]]. At the very least, it's likely to have wings. This goes along with [[Old School Dogfighting]], and is largely [[Rule of Cool]]: Whether a Space Fighter has wings or not [[Wings Do Nothing|doesn't necessarily have any bearing]] on whether it will ever be shown operating in an atmosphere. If it ''can'' fight in the air as well as in space, it's also a [[Space Plane]].
Hard science fiction may instead employ more [[ISO Standard Human Spaceship|utilitarian-looking]] starfighters, with lots of engines and a completely un-aerodynamic shape.
Despite its ubiquity in soft science fiction (where [[Weird Science|Weird]] and [[Hollywood Science|Hollywood]] Science abound), the [[Space Fighter]] concept is vindicable by real physics, which is why it can still show up on [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness|the harder end of the scale]] - at least as a vehicle. Small spacecraft would be less expensive to build and maintain than larger ships; between [[Square-Cube Law]] and leaving behind everything not needed for a single mission, they could be more mass-efficient, thus more nimble and manoeuvrable. The larger a spacecraft is, the harder it would be for it to handle the stress inherent in manoeuvres. See [http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Science/Size.html this article] on [[StarDestroyer.net]] for a more thorough discussion. This leaves the problem of fighting as such, since [[Bigger Is Better]] for weapons (it either carries equivalent of big ship's point defence gun, or a few missiles, making it more of a torpedo bomber), armor (manoeuvrability helps less and less against beam weapons as lightspeed delay decreases, and long ranges generally require big guns) and sensors (small craft is not going to scout much - if it's deployed, the target is clear enough to launch a drone or missile instead). All this requires some [[Applied Phlebotinum]] to resolve. [[Deflector Shields]] may help here - or may not, since for power/heatsink systems, bigger is better too.
In [[Real Life]], [[Truth in Television|actual designs]] for manned orbital spacecraft that could charitably be called space fighters [http://www.astronautix.com/craft/spauiser.htm do exist], and the Soviet Union even launched a [[Space Station]] (the [[wikipedia:Almaz|Almaz]] program, disguised as extra Salyut projects) armed with a cannon similar to those used on atmospheric fighters as a test of the concept (they destroyed some defunct satellites). To date, however, no spacecraft has been built that could fit under a [[Space Fighter]]'s mission profile.
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* ''[[EVE Online]]'': Fighters can be launched by Carriers and Motherships. Unlike other ships, they're too small to fit the capsule system and thus cannot be controlled by players. Instead they are controlled by AI, much like drones.
** But not fluff-wise. Conventional ship-based drones are AI-controlled. Fighters and Fighter-Bombers have fleshy pilots inside, and you can even see them as part of the model.
* ''[[Master of Orion]] II'' has bays with Interceptors<ref>1x best point defence weapon, 4 shots before returning</ref>/Bombers<ref>1x best bomb, 1 shot</ref>/Heavy Fighters<ref>2x best point defence weapon
* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', though rarely seen, they do exist, albeit mostly limited to acting as support craft to keep enemy fire away from larger Frigates, Cruisers and Dreadnoughts. Their main job in combat is to [[Zerg Rush]] enemy ships, cause the point-defense lasers to overheat, and deliver torpedoes to weaken kinetic barriers so bigger ships can use their mass accelerators to take down opposing vessels.
** That being said, their original use was somewhat limited until it was revolutionised by the Alliance who introduced the concept of a Carrier to the Galaxy, allowing for large squadrons of their to be launched at once. The Alliance also appears to have pioneered the use of Interceptors in order to counter-attack enemy dogfighters, [[Divide and Conquer|leaving their Fighter Squadrons free]] to bring down enemy ships.
** They are finally featured in all their glory in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]''.
* ''[[Star Control]]'' focuses on larger ships, and even the smallest of the ships encountered in either the game or its sequel wouldn't really count as a fighter. However, the Ur-Quan Dreadnought, one of the deadliest ships in either game, is a [[The Battlestar|Battlestar]] (it even looks like [[Battlestar Galactica|the original one]]!) that launches small autonomous fighters as its secondary attack. Though they're only a few pixels in size, the way these fighters work in the game makes quite a bit of sense: They deplete the Dreadnought's crew, they have limited fuel and must head back to the Dreadnought after a brief sortie, and they carry only a weak weapon and can be destroyed with a single hit. However, they are able to outmanoeuvre most opponents and so [[Death of a Thousand Cuts|pick apart large ships little by little]]... ''Except'' for the ships that are ''not'' [[Point Defenseless]]
** {{smallcaps| "Launch Fighters!"}}
* ''[[Homeworld]]'' features multiple types of "strikecraft" which fulfilled various duties--scouting, defense, interception, and bombing. They can somewhat be used out of their roles with creativity, but the sequel ''Homeworld 2'' intensifies the presence of [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors]].
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* ''[[Freelancer]]'' has the majority of pilotable spacecraft being fighters. You ''can'' get yourself a bulky freighter, but then you may as well paint a large target on its hull. On the other hand, the high-end space fighters in this game tend to be incredibly overpowered, as throughout the campaign you'll find yourself routinely taking out cruisers and battleships in your one-man fighter.
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Crimson Dark]]'' has fighters carried by warships - in small numbers unless it's a carrier; the first mission on screen was taking a very close look at a damaged vessel that may be a trap, to avoid risking their mothership. Pilots are [[Cyborg Helmsman|cyborgized]]; design of cockpits is rather [[Wing Commander]]-[[Shout Out|esque]].
* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', thanks to gravitics, including [[Deflector Shields]], "fighters" and "tanks" are interchangeable, i.e. the same vehicles are used in long-range missile defence of their mothership and in close air support.
== Web Original ==
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