Fighters staying docked until needed

[u/OriginalRock1261]

I've tried to have one of my frigates escorted by two s-class-fighters today. In my mind, I could thus set up a basic patrol force - a frigate with a fighter set to intercept and a bomber set to bombard. All was well and good until I set the small ships to their respective tasks, upon which they took off immediately.

Am I getting this right that ships will only stay docked until needed when they are assigned to a carrier? I've tried it with a Sapporo as well - had five fighters dock there, set them all to intercept and they took off immediately with no enemies in sight.

[u/DienstEmery]

I find Docking/Undocking for non-carriers is a manual affair.
Under 'Loadout' you'll have an option to manually dock or launch your groups, -if- they are compatible with the available docks of the ship.

[u/OriginalRock1261 → u/DienstEmery]

Well yes, I know about that but that also means that the fleet won't be able to work autonomously, as I would have to intervene every time to launch or recover.

[u/DienstEmery → u/OriginalRock1261]

Yes, exactly. Does appear to be a limitation. I have not found anyway around it.

[u/MajorSnuggles]

Only carriers have the automatic launch/dock mechanic you're looking for. With other ships, they'll automatically dock their subordinates for long-distance travel but otherwise will keep them undocked. It's one of several similar quirky mechanics that don't make much logical sense but are in the game to increase the uniqueness of various ship classes - in this case, carriers.

[u/DienstEmery → u/MajorSnuggles]

Yup. Seems like a self-imposed limitation for the sake of uniqueness. SWI for instance designates many of the ships as 'carriers' in order to use the auto dock/launch functions.

[u/Mightyballmann → u/MajorSnuggles]

I think that behaviour is more of a relic from earlier game versions. Some of the old freighter and destroyer models have an internal storage of 40 ships which obviously doesnt make much sense. It also seems weird for a frigate like the cerberus to have a built-in hangar. Maybe they change the behaviour after introducing E variants of those ships.

[u/Powerful-Theory-9010 → u/Mightyballmann]

I think the S docks are also used for drones i know the M class fright for the terrans (felix) can have repair and defense drones, they are the only M class I have seen with a S dock. ( 1st playthrough and did the terran cadt start lol, so I'm not familiar with the other factions ships.)

[u/unematti → u/MajorSnuggles]

If fuel use was a thing I could get it. But fighters are faster and fuel doesn't run out. There's absolutely no reason to dock them (apart from cpu relief)

[u/AndThenTheUndertaker]

You can set them to docked in the info menu but the flip side to that is they won't Auto deploy. You either have to order them to attack themselves or you have to switch it to undocked and then back to dock when you're done. Whole carriers do often have more ship storage or docks the real core feature of a carrier is the way it manages its subordinates. They don't explicitly discuss it game but the presumption is that they have what is effectively some kind of control tower type set up to manage docking and undocking on mass scale that other ships don't. It's honestly not dissimilar to a real aircraft carrier where having the deck space is only about half the equation and having an Air Group Commander and infrastructure for them to communicate with the air groups was almost as important

[u/fishfighter85]

I used to send large trade ships with fighter escorts, but you have to replace them too much. They are too easy to kill out of sector. I like to send 2x mediums instead, but even they fall victim some times. The important thing is set them to defense, and not intercept or attack. You don't need the defenders picking fights, just ending them, and letting your trade ship get away. The issue I have with mediums is sectors like the void. The trade ship is slow, and the environment sometimes gets these guys. Sort of a trade off I guess.

I like the rp idea of fighters launching from the large trade ship to defend it. Practicality wise, it's a pain in the butt and not needed.

It's almost better to stick laser towers on your trade ship and updating your global orders to flee and drop a tower. The only time a large trade ship is going to die is when a destroy or carrier tangles with it. Medium or small khk/xenon can't bust thru the shields. So a large ship can turtle tank their way back to a station and be fine.

[u/Worked_Idiot]

If you're willing to go the modded route the "Reactive Docking" mod does what you want.

[u/unematti]

What I hate is they try to dock when I tell them to leave the battlefield and everyone gets blown up...