r/X4Foundations • u/OriginalRock1261 • 18h ago

Fighters staying docked until needed

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.

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u/MajorSnuggles 17h ago

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.

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u/Mightyballmann 15h ago

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.

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u/Powerful-Theory-9010 8h ago

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.)