Fighters are small, single-seat spaceships. They must be based on an assault carrier or a space station. Fighters are fast and maneuverable; yet, because they are small, the only weapons they can carry are three assault rockets. Their small size also makes them easy to destroy.
A fighter that has launched all of its assault rockets can dock at a station or assault carrier to rearm.
To be rearmed, a fighter must spend 10 minutes (that is, one complete game turn) on board its station or carrier. If the fighter's base is attacked, the fighter cannot be rearmed that turn. A fighter that is docked cannot be attacked.
- Hull Points: 8
- Acceleration/Deceleration Factor: 4 to 5
- Maneuver Rating: 5
- Damage Control Rating: 30
- Weapons: 3 assault rockets (or ion torpedoes)
- Defenses: reflective hull
- Hull Size: 1
- Crew Members: 1 (pilot)
Fighters are designed to attack larger ships with assault rockets. A fighter carries enough life support for 20 hours.
Newer fighter classes feature forward-firing lasers, for use against other fighters...and against corvettes, assault scouts, or other small targets. Fighters have no jump capabilities.
Kamikaze Attacks (optional rule)[]
Sathar have been known to crash fully- or partly-armed fighters into enemy warships and space stations...usually as a delaying strategy, or to avoid capture. (By nature, the Core Races seldom resort to such tactics themselves.) Besides having the same effect as ramming, this causes additional hull damage according to the number of assault rockets the fighter was carrying when it crashed.
EXAMPLE: A fully-armed Sathar fighter executes a kamikaze attack on a UPF battleship. In addition to the normal hull damage caused by a ramming fighter (1d10), the battleship takes 2d10+4 points of damage from each of the three assault rockets which the fighter was carrying (2d10+4 X 3 = 6d10+12) -- for a total of 7d10+12 hull damage-points.
Fighter Types[]
A dedicated space fighter is ether built around a set of maneuvering struts, or spherical shell, that houses a gyroscope. With the maneuvering struts, the fighter has a primary thruster for liner movement, and a set of vernier thrusters mounted on the ends of the struts helps the craft to rotate. This system is more robust, but the struts increases the craft's profile. The gyroscope is a well-balanced system allows the fighter to turn in place, without maneuvering thrusters. This system is more delicate, but the craft has a smaller profile.
An aerospace fighter is built like an airborne jet fighter, but with heat-displacing tiles in its underside, serving as a heat shield for re-entry, and vernier thrusters mounted throughout for exo-atmospheric maneuverability. They are highly versatile, but their wings make them a higher profile target than dedicated space-borne fighters. They are also more expensive.
Some Sathar fighters have been given the following code names:
- SAV Fear
- SAV Horror
- SAV Reaver
- SAV Ripper
Fighter Gallery
See also: Bomber