Any one else think strikecraft should have to be LAUNCHED?

It would make for a pretty sweet scene if strike craft were whot out of launching tubes too. Just a spray of small ships flying out of launching tubes like a machine gun.

I like it.

If you don't mind, i am going to tack on an idea for strikecraft of my own. I think that we should be able to leave SC and bombers in a GW without the carriers/transports/dron hosts. They dont replenish and the carrier unit has to re build them from scratch whereever they are. Or the carrier could come back and reclaim what ever is left. This would allow for faster and meaner raids.

pop in with 10 carriers, launch, leave. no chance to take out the carriers. it would certainly bring a point back to flak as a defense if you had to worry about getting hit at any point. just another "im bored on my way to work" idea.

Flak already do alot of damage as it is. if you think your gonna leave 20 squadrons in a gravity well and then come back to collect whatever is left over i can guarantee your in for a big surprise. SC dont last very long especially against other SC and Flak...............as well as hangerbays with the flak upgrade......Only reason your SC continue to go to blows in a slugfest is because your Carriers and Capitals are constantly churning out replacements for those that are lost. 

As for a penalty for SC remaining outside of a ship, I feel like it makes sense that at some point (in real life) SC have to return to refuel/rearm but this is a video game. And somethings need to be left out for the sake of keeping the game from coming to a crawl. Its exactly why the Ships like LRM and HC's or the Capitals seem to never run out of ordinance or SC. And atleast from what I can tell SC engines are smaller versions of Capitals and other units. Just too small and weak to Phase Jump. They wouldnt run out of fuel as its generated within the Antimatter core.

I dont disagree. I certainly dont feel that leaving your SC would be much of an issue at any point past very early. But I do think it could be useful, or certainly interesting. It would be more like launching adn then retreating to produce more. You could pop back and forth without risking your carriers. Especially if you are jumping in next to/on top of a fleet or a starbase.

As for flak doing a lot of damage... meh, sorta.. maybe. But they dont really have much of a role past a certain point imo. certainly the vasari's serve no point at all... just build more transports. and all im doing is posing possibilities. we all know it isnt real.

if your building more transports, your opponent is going to build more flak. flak here and there arent a challenge to 20 bombers/fighters but a good sized cluster of flak will break your SC's back.

That isnt the point i am makin though. I am posing the thought that you could make SC operate without a transport, or to make the squadrons launch all at once, rebuild all at once from scratch and keep the transports out of the way. If your opponent doesnt have flak, this could be devastating. just adding another bit of versatility to somethingl.

like you could keep your SC in the transport as you jump past a havily defended planet and get to one with little to no defense and just launch everything. then jump back to the heavily defended one and start rebuilding your SC to fight there. now you are attacking two planets... one is just a harrassing attack (unless you are fighting a terrible player) and the other is a supporting role.

yes i recognize that in SINS this is a limited usability tactic, but it does add a little independence and depth to the SC.

you just claimed you wanted to keep your Carriers out of the fray, yet you then say you want to jump them to a GW with little to no Defenses let the SC loose and then jump your Carriers (with no SC) back to a HEAVILY fortified GW........why? youll have no SC and not only will your fleet be undefended but your carriers will have to rebuild ALL of their SC right off the bat in the middle of an assault...while a the enemy will have ALL of his SC from the getgo and simply tear your Carriers apart while you wait for them to launch enough SC to even the odds.

you know allegiance, i dont think our conversations translate well onto a forum.

fine: launch your fighters in the undefended, rebuild a new set, dont luanch, jump to heavily fortified GW with your fleet, launch SC. done, now you have a harassing force in on, and a fighting force in the other, please note that the harassing force is going to die. or something.

DAMMIT, I know that this is a viable tactic, BRAIN WHY WILL YOU NOT LET ME EXPLAIN?!

I agree, Im not saying the idea isnt interesting...Im just worried it wont play out as good as youd want it to. I know if you jumped SC in and left them there in my GW Id spam flak and eat your SC for breakfest. I know SC can chew up Flak when Flak arent able to stay clustered and a good number of them. But With enough about 27 or more from my math will eat 20 SC squadrons alive.

Homeworld made it work.

The devs always talked about how they were trying to find the right balance of micro and macro in this game. I think this was a judgement call on their parts to have the strikecraft in space permanently and have to be manually docked if desired.

At the very least, I'd like to see docked strike craft repair faster. Seems a little strange that they don't (At least, from my experience, they don't).

I've always felt that if a SC squad's parent carrier is destroyed and you build another carrier, then that new carrier should be able to dock those SC even though they originally belonged to a different carrier.

Thats a great idea. For those who think this is too much micro manage, this is a STRATEGY game and anything that adds to the strategic element of this game can only make it better.

What if carriers had a slight speed increase if all SC are docked? That would be a mini incentive to manually launch/dock sc.

i think SC should not be manually launchable/dockable outside of battle but should remain docked until an enemy unit/units enter a grav well.

so, on one of your planets, SC stay docked, but once an enemy ship enters a grav well, the sc are launched. once the enemy ship is destroyed or leaves the grav well, SC should dock automatically

i do believe SC need some sorta ammo/fuel limit, after which they should return to their host. but alot of people will disagree, so...

only reason i would disagree, is because if the SC is gonna do it, the Capitals, Cruisers and Frigates should as well. I do like the idea of automatic docking and launching though, Be nice not to have to worry too much about your defenses while your planet comes under attack. Just worry about getting your fleet or backup fleet to the GW to help repel the enemy.