Your fighter/bomber ratio...

from Sins Forums

I was wondering what people's general thoughts were for the ratio in which they deploy fighters and bombers.  I've been using certain strategies myself, and I was interested in whether my rationale was solid.

Basically, on offense, I favour bombers over fighters (in increasingly greater ratios as the game progresses).  I might start 3:2 bombers/fighters, but by the end of the game I might be at 4:1 as countering caps, titans, and structures become more and more important.

On defense, I favour fighters, as the prime targets are anti-structure ships and siege frigates.  Fleet takes care of the hard targets.  Usually the ratio is 2:1 fighers/bombers or something.

What do other people do?

10,982 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Depends.  For defenses(hanger bays & starbases) it's typically fighter biased as the greatest threats to defenses are bombers & anti-module frigates(both of which fighters counter).

 

As a rule though late game, the standard play is to just mass bombers as they are one of the only frigate based damage sources that can be effectively be used against caps/titans once titans roll out.  Fighter could be massed too if you know for sure the opponent is planning to mass bombers and you're fairly certain your titan can beat their titan with minimal damage contributed by it's fleet of frigates(though to be fair once the enemy bombers are out of the air, even a swarm of fighters will contribute more damage to capitals/titans then the enemy's swarm of dead bombers).

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

I generally go either all fighters or all bombers...fighters to deal with bomber spam or mixed fighter/bomber combos....fighters also are best late game counter to corvettes (flak are too slow and get raped by titans)...

When I know the other guy doesn't have fighter spam, I'll go with bomber spam...this is most often during the mid-game when you want firepower to deal with an SB or an early lvl 3 or so titan....to be honest though, using fighters to damage SBs and the like works when time isn't an issue and you have enough of them...

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Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ARESIV, reply 3
Under most circumstances you are better of by bomber spamming yourself:

 

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/438860

 

 
End of ARESIV's quote

 

Yes, true, fighters are too slow to kill bombers before killing your titan and capitalships (when researched armor and hull even more true :D ), especially when facing Vasari... But still I like to have fighters mixed in my strikecraft fleet, my ratio is somewhat like 1 fighter 3-4 bomber squadron greatly depending on enemy fleet composition, if corvettes and some bombers then maybe even pure fighters, if heavy cruisers capital ships titan starbases-> pure bombers. Starting with a Halcyon full of bombers is very strong opening, even with fighters it can be good against corvettes. Squadrons can be scuttled without penalty for TEC in own culture if researched antimatter regeneration extra, so they can be swift in changing composition.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ARESIV, reply 3
Under most circumstances you are better of by bomber spamming yourself:
End of ARESIV's quote

I'm aware of that thread....but what it didn't address at all is corvettes, which 1) aren't bad at shooting down bombers and 2) are countered quite well by fighters...

Excluding VL, titan/cap fleets are generally pretty vulnerable to corvette spam....early and maybe mid game you can use flak, but late game those flak frigates will get eaten by titan AoEs, caps, and SBs (it's mainly the titan AoEs)...fighters are your best way to deal with all those corvettes....

Assuming the next balance patch fixes desperation, I think it will become quite apparent that late game fleets have to be able to counter corvette spam, and flak simply won't be good enough...unless you pull off some MB magic, fighters will be the counter to corvette spam....