Jupiter Squadron size/amount increase?

[Panzer_Spaniard]

Hey there,

I have been playing BSG Deadlock for a few months on Xbox and am going to be getting it on Steam, it's a fantastic game and I am loving it so far!

I did have a question, based on lore and such: Why does the Jupiter only carry two wings of vipers, and one support craft? From what we see, even in the show where the fighter compliment is diminished, Galactica is capable of carrying and launching more fighters than this. I realize it might be a minor balance mechanic, though I hold the opinion that I should not have to pack my fleet out with Jupiter, Artemis, and Atlas ships just to be able to launch 6 squadrons or more at one time, especially with the consideration of some Cylon ships having such a massive fighter capacity.

Could this potentially be added as an optional setting along with fleet repair, almost as a risk/reward payoff? Yes, you have to repair the fleet after each engagement to recoup losses and get damage undone, but you'll also be able to carry a more realistic amount of fighters per ship that has them?

Overall, I would like to see Colonial ships be able to carry more fighters in general, but if it were a conditional, I would be happy with that as well.

Hoping to hear back from the devs on this one!

[BossDos]

Its a balance decision. Squadrons can be the mightiest tool you've got, and the Colonical Agenda is not quantity but quality.
Cerberus carry 3 Squads of Cylon Fighters, but got no actual combat capabilities.
Argos and Basestars (? unsure about that one) also, but only with missiles.
Battlestars are quite powerful, even without fighters, they've got heavy armor, huge amounts of hull points and the deadliest artillery you have ever witnessed.
So you trade a Squad against heavy guns and armor plating, which is a decent tradeoff, especially with the power vipers bear.

The difference is that vipers, without their mass, make more damage individually and are more sturdy because they will not get shoot down so lightly.
As a Tipp from someone with like 500 Hours into that game, while having a decent amount of battlestars for more fighter capability, it's mostly not worth it.
Battlestars are quite expensive, and the enemy fighter complements can be drained fast via flak coverage.
The standard tactic would be, let the enemy launch their crafts and wait for the first salvo of ordnance, with you both will counterplay with flak, then launch your fighters in counter.
Also, Berzerks and Adamants are quite cost efficient, specially adamants, with 750(?) points for a fighter squad and missiles, so you can also add one or two of these to get a few extra fighters.

But after all the hours I think more than a Battlestar and an Atlas are quite overkill most of the time. That are 4 Viper squads which are powerful if you want to round it out put a Minerva or two adamants into it. 2 More fighter squads and 2 more missiles.
But the greatest strength of Colonials are not their masses of fighters, but their individual strength paired with big guns.

[Panzer_Spaniard]

I really appreciate the response, and the insight.

Since you've got so many hours logged in CIC, would you mind giving me some hints on enemy detection? I am on my second play through, and save for Manticores that tend to get picked on a bit, I don't have a good DRADIS option in game that _isn't_ fighters. I will generally send in my Mk 2's to rece the area so I can start bringing guided munitions to bear, but unless I am committing all of my wings to the attack to cover each other from Cylon numbers, my rece wing will tend to get picked apart before the sortie is finished, OR when I do the recall back to it's base ship, it will be pursued and knocked out, leaving me down a squadron.

I figure that is part of why I would want to see more options in the Colonial fleet for squadrons, especially in a dedicated fighter carrier like the Atlas; two wings and a support squadrons seems lacking. The option to have anything you wanted in the three slots would be nice, or ideally having four slots evenly divided for coverage.

But I digress.....

DRADIS! How do I get things on my scopes faster without sending in my Vipers or jumping in right on top of the enemy?

[BossDos]

For reconnaissance I would recommend either a normal raptor squad in a support place, then you could go towards assault raptors on your other ships or a manticore dedicated toward scouting.

Also boosting your defence enhances your dradis range quite a lot.
Normally you want the manticore only to run in at dradis range, get the markers and then pull it out, with higher dradis due to defence tactics it should live long enough to make it threw it.
Otherwise, a manticore is only a manticore, it's not a huge loss.
But I would recommend a raptor squad for scouting.
Also, I don't recommend guides missiles. While they got nerfed a lot, torpedos have higher damage and higher volley size and a ranger with two torpedo salvos on full attack mode can obliterate quite any ship the cylons got.
The downside is, you need to get quite near, so you want something like a Jupiter to take the punch and then rush your destroyers in.

But at some point you need to trade, trading either a manticore as a scout or a for free raptor squad which slot is utterly useless otherwise? I would trade the raptors, they don't cost as much and for a manticore you could either get a adamant, with another viper and missile slot.

Also engaging right at the enemy often doesn't seems right, while in Campaign, where the enemies are not that strong even on admiral, it is quite oke.
But almost every time you want to get the maximum range between you and the enemy so you can prepare and fight to your conditions.
The AI will always come after you, so get maximum range and deploy a raptor squad on a waiting position as a scout.
In the meantime, your fleet can optimize their positioning, most of your battlestars have quite a lot firepower on the topside, so you ideally want them to be slightly under the enemy.
When you press "^" it shows you the weapon arcs and ranges, from the turret menu, in the normal turn menu, which helps a lot for positioning.

[Panzer_Spaniard]

That is helpful!

Do Raptors have a lower profile for scouting, or a better evasion/damage reduction potential? Until I can get a support craft on deck without sacrificing a fighter squadron (save for maybe keeping a raptor handy on Daidalos), I thing I'm going to get a Manticore in range and then boogy out ASAP.

I have avoided using torpedoes due to the potential for missing the target and then having a few tuns for cooldown only to potentially do that again; what is the risk of splash damage is I say, got right up in the grill of a Nemesis with a Manticore and let it know exactly where it could get hacked and frakked with a full rack or torpedoes? (that rhyming was not intended, but I'm leaning into it) .

So far I am enjoying it more on PC, the controls are a bit wonky to get used to with the keys, but the UI is so much more streamlines with a mouse, Lords Of Kobol.