Why this is SFC not SFB is it not?
My thoughts exactly! This is SFC,
not SFB, and it never will quite be same as SFB even with a completely balanced shiplist and fighterlist. You'd need to redesign the game mechanics and probably even more...
I have issues with ANY fighter that requires more than a single plasma F to kill! One S torp to take out a single fighter is to much. 3 standard drones to take out a single fighter is to much. Even 4 esgs used at radius three will only kill 1 of those fighters... In stock SFC I remember them taking out entire squads at a time.
SFC and it's ships were not designed with these types of fighters in mind, even with a SFB-like shiplist. All of these SFB things that I have no clue about that were mentioned that SFC doesn't have is an example of this.
For every SFB thing you add, something will be unbalanced elsewhere to some degree. Almost no ship, with the exception of Battleships, few droners, or a handful of plasma ships would be able to deal with 16 fighters that would require 416 points of damage to kill, particularly without getting in close to knife fight them.
Especially since they can be recalled to repair as needed. Please keep in mind 416 points of damage is enough to kill just about any dreadnaught and even some battleships. 104 per fighter squad is more then most ships could hope to achieve, especially outside range 5. It would take 9 drones, or 8 plasma Fs, or 5 esgs set at overload range and a couple extra phasers to take out just one full squad.
You might as well give the Roms fighters that move 20 speed, that can also take 26 points of damage, that can fire an R torp apiece for all the balance I see right now. Or maybe some Hydran fighters with multiple phG2s? Or ISC fighters with PPD...
Fighters with souped up firepower are one thing, but fighters that require much more damage beyond the standard levels unbalance this game to much. Especially under human control on ships that carry more than 8 or 12 of them. Not everyone flys a X-ship or battleship or even a dreadnaught... If someone in a heavy cruiser or smaller can take on a CVD with 16 A10ms that is controlled by a SFC veteran, such as FireSoul, and manage to win it without spending 5 hours running around tossing plasma over their shoulder then I'd love to see the film.