"Full Thrust Question on Fighter Groups" Topic

I'm just getting into Full Thrust and I have been reading through the rules. One thing that I wasn't sure about was generating fighter groups. If a carrier has 10 groups of fighters how readily do they launch them? How likely would it be to have all 10 groups of fighters on the table at once? I used to play Battlefleet Gothic and in that game you generated fighters each turn so although they had X amount of fighters it was rare they would all be on the table at once. Thank you in advance.

I've not played in ages, but seem to recall that light carriers can only launch one group per turn, and fleet carriers two.

[Edit]. Just checked, and I was close – dedicated carriers two groups per turn, other fighter equipped ships one group. (Page 16 of the original rule book.)

Thank you! From your experience should I have the models for the total amount of groups I can generate? I'm worried I'll be over purchasing for fighters.

I always got the full set – in practice it depends on your style of play, but I was always fond of holding back at first and taking the time to get my fighters off before wading in, as they're most effective en masse.

I *think* this might have been overridden in the later Fleet Books though, I'll check when I have the chance.

If it has been it's probably a rule worth re-introducing though….

-Will

Many players I know will only mount one fighter per stand and use a d6 on the base to note the number of fighters remaining.
You can start there and fill out the bases later as you get comfortable with the game.

The new Project Continuum rules allow one squadron per launch tube per turn. It's possible to design ships with larger hangar bays (@6 mass each) to hold the fighters, and not build as many launch tubes.

Example: ESU light carrier normally mounts 4 fighters, and has 4 hangars and 4 launch tubes. There is a variant that carries 5 fighters, has 5 hangars, but only 2 launch tubes. It launches more slowly, and recovers more slowly.

That approach has it's pros in that you can get another fighter squadron, or allocate the extra 6 mass to something else, but the con is slower fighter launch and recovery.

"I used to play Battlefleet Gothic and in that game you generated fighters each turn so although they had X amount of fighters it was rare they would all be on the table at once."

Which changed in the later edition of BF:G … Well, actually, that wasn't how it worked in either edition, but, hey.

But hey, what? How did it work in BFG?

IN BFG if my memory serves me you could launch either fighter, bombers, or assault boats per turn. And you could only create som many per ship so the number was capped if I remember correctly.

Also, at some point in FT, wasn't there a difference in numbers between launch and retrieve?

Then there's the whole handwavium of external launch racks.

Sorry, I've mostly avoided craft. Some people can get pretty silly. And I LOVE Star Wars.

Doug

BF:G first edition: fighter bays told how many squadrons you could launch each turn. Fighter/bomber/assault boat capacity was unlimited. Led to games where fighter-equipped ships would play keep away while building up a tidal wave of squadrons.

BF:G second edition: fighter bays told how many squadrons you could launch each turn. Fighter/bomber/assault boat capacity was unlimited. HOWEVER, you could only have a number of squadrons in play equal to your number of surviving launch bays. You could replace losses forever, but you couldn't build up a tidal wave.

As I recall, it's recover half as many fighter squadrons as you have launch tubes per turn. So if you have 4 launch tubes, you can recover 2 squadrons per turn.

It depends on which generation of the rules ur using. What rules set are asking abt?

I think in first edition BFG you also had to "reload ordnance" to launch fighters again – and if you rolled doubles you "ran out". Or am I hallucinating?

-Tim

Correct for both editions.

Yeah, BFG has so much connection to Full Thrust…

Wander a bit?

That's my schtick!