Basic Fighter Training(very rough draft)

[Nhaima]

Fighter Pilot Responsibilities
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As a member of the TSN crew, a Fighter Pilot has a number of responsibilities beyond any other station they may occupy. These are detailed below:

* Navigate to nearby ships or stations to deliver supplies or personnel
* Maintain a general awareness of the fighter’s position relative to their ship.
* Report the visual distortions from cloaked enemies
* Intercept incoming drones if able
* Avoid entering combat range of enemy ships(particularly enemy fighters) without orders to do so.
* Remembering their current fighter designation
* Keep track of fighter conditions and stores

Although information available to fighters is limited with respect to most other stations, a fighter pilot should still be ready to communicate their position and status to their captain as well as any enemies they may spot including cloaked enemies.

Communication
It is important that a Fighter Pilot communicates what they are doing frequently to keep their mother ship apprised of their situation. When carrying out an action, such as transferring a platoon of marines to occupy a captured freighter, engaging a target, or noting inbound drones and cloaked enemies, a Fighter Pilot must verbalise this action. Communications should also include your fighter designation in case your vessel is capable of launching more than one. Below are examples of how a fighter pilot might communicate during operations:

* TSN 10, launching
* Holding station near RS-509 to transfer medical supplies
* There is a drone inbound near my position
* Cloaked enemy spotted
* There are enemy fighters inbound on my position, requesting further orders.
* We have one shuttle remaining, Captain.
* TSN 10, aboard

The Fighter Console
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The fighter console has two modes, Fighter Bay and Flight Mode. Fighter Pilots start out in the Fighter Bay. Here, you are able to see a listing of the current fighters or shuttles docked and available and their readiness status. When a fighter is destroyed, it can be replaced if a nearby Starbase has spares on hand. If a fighter is ready for launch, the Launch button will be available and active. If a fighter or shuttle has recently returned to dock, it will require 30 seconds to be repaired, refueled, and rearmed before it is ready to launch again. While on duty, Pilots are discouraged from gambling but many TSN commanders overlook this protocol when out of combat. When a pilot launches, the console enters Flight mode.

When in Flight mode, the pilot will see the area from the cockpit of their fighter. Along the top is a compass with which pilots may use to help navigate towards targets or request bearings to return to dock. On the left side of the console is an elevation marker that fighters can use to judge their relative position to the normal (0) plane. Capital ships usually fly along the normal plane for purposes of navigation, but if your maneuvering takes you outside that then the elevation marker can help get you home again. Friendlies will display with a green target marker and hostiles with a red target marker. Any ships that surrender will have their marker switched to yellow, and any biological targets will be marked purple. The mothership will always have a unique marker labelled with ‘HOME’ to help identify your ship in a fleet or to help give you a bearing at longer ranges. Since fighters shift planes more readily than capital ships, you may need to look above or below you even if you appear to be next to them.

The default layout for controlling a fighter is as follows:
W/S: Pitching up and down.
A/D: Turning left and right.
Q/E: Rolling left and right.
R: Redock with your mother ship when within range(300m).
Insert: Activates the boosters, accelerating your ship as long as you hold it.
Delete: Activates the brakes, keeping you from moving unless collided with while you hold it.
Space: Fires the primary beam weapon aboard your fighter.
Return: Fires a homing missile if available.

==Combat
In combat, your fighter will attempt to lock on to the target directly in front of it. Due to size restrictions, the fire control system is far more primitive than those aboard TSN vessels. This means that your target lock may shift if another vessel comes near the line between you and your target, even if they are behind your intended target. Fighters also have no lockout for friendly ships, so be careful if they are operating nearby. To make sure that your target lock remains on your intended target, or if you lose your target lock, then move up or down quickly to break the plane and you should be able to re-acquire your target lock unimpeded.

Fighters use a diamond in the middle of the square target marker to represent the target indicator. If a target is within missile range, the indicator will turn grey. Missiles fired without a target lock will pursue any target they are able to acquire, hostile or otherwise. The number of missiles you have remaining is displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen next to the button for manual missile launching. When the target lock turns red, you are within beam range. Enemies will take damage based on whether you are on the fore or rear sides of their hulls. You are also able to target drones or cloaked enemy vessels in this fashion.

The integrity of your shielding is displayed on the right side of the screen. Unlike capital ships, fighters do not have shield generators capable of recharging without docking for repairs. Keep the status of your shields in mind, especially when engaging enemy ships, since it will need to last until you are able to re-dock. If you are unable to destroy the hostiles that can currently threaten you, then you will need to break contact before your shields buckle and your fighter is destroyed. Also keep in mind that an EMP will halve your shields like they do everything else so avoid ordinance per normal.

[Matthew Vaj]

Very good.

[Author]

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