All The Tropes

Space Fighter: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Space Fighter (view source)

Revision as of 14:49, 7 July 2017

1,519 bytes added ,  6 years ago
→‎Video Games
VisualWikitext
Line 106:
== Video Games ==
* [[Simulation Game]]s set in space very, ''very'' frequently cast the player in the role of a Space Fighter pilot. Space fighter simulations are a genre of their own, and a fairly well-populated one.
** ''[[Elite]]'', from 1984, was perhaps the earliest example of this type of game, and one of the earliest home computer games to feature 3-D graphics. In this [[Wide Open Sandbox]], the player starts with a lightly-armed trader, and can (amongst other things) make enough money to outfit a proper Space Fighter for engaging [[Exclusively Evil|Thargoids]] and [[Space Pirates]] in some [[Old School Dogfighting]]. The game is named after the highest rank the player can reach in [[Ace Pilot|combat proficiency]]. However, there are no clear-cut borders between the categories from small craft to capital ships - agility and protection are complementary sliding scales.
*** ''[[Oolite]]'' is a modern open-source remake.
* ''[[Vega Strike]]'' does have a whole scale of combat vessel classes ranging from the lightest Interceptors to heaviest Capital types. But they also explicitly (supported by AI target priorities) form a [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors]] scheme - Interceptors hunt missiles and harass Bombers if there's nothing else to do; Bombers are the heaviest sub-capital ships capable of killing larger clumsier capships and stations, but not agile enough to deal with small craft, nor large enough to carry powerful turrets; Fighters hunt both of those, but generally can't do much against anything else, etc.
** The ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]]'' series is all about starfighter combat, with some of the fighters also being [[Space Plane|atmospheric capable]]. The first game came out in 1990, and heavily influenced how the genre developed.
** ''[[Star Wars: X-Wing]]'' is a classic from the early [[The Nineties|90s]], set in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' universe. It was later followed by the popular ''[[TIE Fighter]]'', ''[[Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter]]'' and ''[[Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance]]''.
*** The ''X-Wing'' series of games is also noteworthy for making the names of Rebel and Imperial craft popularly known among gamers, even those who were not interested in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]] details.
Line 126 ⟶ 127:
* ''[[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 + 2x best bomb + best targetting computer</ref> carried by ships, orbital stations and planetary bases (except bombers) - they all hit the target's weakest shield sector at range 0 and can be shot at anything their weapons can be (- i.e. interceptorsPD canweapons takevs. out missile swarmsmissiles and bombers destroyvs. planetary installations, in addition to anti-ship use. The latter two also can use bombs (that deal more damage than missiles of a comparable [[Tech Level]]) against ships, butwhich becomenormally is impossible AI-controlled ifmaking them better against ships; they killalso ithave greater hitpoints, but take more space as well. BeingAs [[Attack Drones]], they don't take ''much'' more space than their weapons and are reasonably fast, but still unpopular: you have the samePD weapons (that actually are given more damage than normal) thrown outside the ship's armor and shield, wheretaking disadvantage of delivery time and attrition, since they can be shot by medium and PD weapons - or wiped out in droves by [[Splash Damage]] (often drive explosion of the first targetship they killed often does it), which makes them somewhat underwhelming compared to an equal volume of common weapons. Also, the player may only select the primary target; if it's killed, they become AI-controlled until returned. Fighter Garrison on a planet, however, is far more useful - it does not take place of something else, replenishes in a few turns even if all interceptors (or heavy fighters) are killed and launches a swarmwaves big enough that with good weapons and some luck itthey may take out a battleship with one salvo.
* 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]] - AI [[Artificial Brilliance|won't even try]] launching fighters against an opponent with point-defence systems. Also, they can skirt the planets, but are destroyed on contact with asteroids, [[Artificial Stupidity|which they don't avoid]], thus faster ships may easily kill most of Dreadnought's crew without a single shot, by evading long enough.
** {{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]].
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/1531590"