Cost is relative.
We have already had discussions of 8,000 point fleets, and one of my friends wants to do a huge battle with 20,000 points to a side. He is envisioning a major fleet action on par with the Battle of Endor in Star Wars (what would the Death Star's final cost be, anyways?) or like the Battle of Wolf 359 in Star Trek.... (where the Federation Fleet was decimated by the Borg). I am not sure I am up to a battle this huge, but the possibility exists for it. At that point, CSP wings are a really small amount of the total points.

Personally, we are still experimenting with a house rule that states that fighters cannot do Hull Damage. They are still deadly, in that they can cripple a ship..... but you don't see swarms of fighters mowing down capital ships every turn.

I do have a question, though...... If I was to stack 3 wings of fighters in one hex (another house rule....) how would you handle dogfighting (which, by the way, is the only way to use the CSP.... as long as the opponent is in 6 hexes, you can go for the intercept, and as long as enter the hex, you can call a dogfight... no reason to roll the d6 to intercept.) 

As I understand it, only one flight from each side can dogfight, so either the other two wings can continue on, or as this is the fighter phase, move to either side, in adjacent hexes,  and attack the CSP wing. With the exception of dog-fighting, no unit can fire on another unit in the same hex. I see this limiting the CSP, because if your opponent uses it, his fighters are then tied to his capital ships, and you can swarm, and if he doesn't then you should declare all of your wings as CSP and go for as many intercepts as possible...... pushing for dogfights.

I am not sure if I am seeing it correctly... but it seems to take away some of the use of the fighters and limits your fighters that are flying CAP over a ship from "breaking to attack" if an enemy ship was to jump in and start an attack.....

It would also appear to let a cloaked ship just sort of waltz up to your ship, decloak and attack, as the CSP ships wouldn't be able to do much to it.

John

I agree.  This whole system stinks if how all of you are saying it works is the way it will be, IMO.  It stinks of "magic".  Fighters should be able to break off from escort duty to take another action in a following turn.  Doing so means that they possible lost one turn of action.  They would also not be escorting any more and lose a turn of action if their escorted ship went faster than the fighters can move on their own (have to also account for slow fighters), or is destroyed.

Rearm?  What different armament would they have?  Normal fighters intercept fighters as is, even if they were originally sent out to attack ships.

You're over complicating a simple ability for fighters.  Let them use their action in the fighter phase  to say they're escorting, it gives them a bonus (interrupting the fighter sequence of play as they can intercept during the enemy's fighter action), and a slight detriment if they break off from the escort duty (turn loss).

I do like it, but I want to make sure we have most of the scenarios covered so that we aren't scrambling all at once.

What if you have a capital ship with one wing of CSP, and it encounters a cloaked enemy ship at 3 hexes. Can the fighters be used to help, or are they just sort of there?  That's the current issue that came up in discussions with our group. I want to preserve the flexibility of the system, without a batch of "special" rules. That, and I want to know how this will stack in large battles.........

John

Nope. The fighters, while on CSP, are by definition patrolling to prevent enemy fighter attacks. The appearance of a capital ship, cloaked or otherwise, means nothing to them.

I like it Dan! 

  Keeps things simple and, by appearances, fair.

guess that's why he gets the big dice, eh? *L*

Hello everyone!
     
     It is great to watch the CSP rules evolve; facinating. 
My fighter defense?  I usually bring along an AA cruiser to shoot down hostile fighters with weapons such as "Terrier Missiles".  These are:
{expendable, range=18, 3+ to hit, 3/1/1, with Rerolls-to-hit, Repeating, Range-based-ROF}
They are expendable to make their cost lower, and once they have fired and cleared space of hostile fighters, their are no longer needed.  My  Virginia class has all of "B&C Battery" filled with  these.  A Battery is two "5 inch gun" mounts.   
     
     My other AA Cruiser design, USS Atlanta has six mounts of  "5 Inch Guns",  three are abcd arcs, three are cdef arcs  The details on the 5 Inch Guns are as follows:
{range=18, 3+ to hit, 3/1/1, with Range-based ROF.   I have Used the Atlanta and it was devastating to hostile attacking fighters.  My Capital Ships have 4 of these, or 4 similar mounts with {rerolls to hit} instead of {RgROF}, as a secondary weapons.  My ships won't need CSP...

     If no one has fighters, these AA weapons can launch a barrage against other ships...  Each AA cruiser also has Long Range Sensors to enhance weapon fire @ range 13-18 fire, & an Anime-style Spinal Mount for some serious long-range Anti-fighter shooting, as well.  Finally all my ships have 0verthrusters to help bring weapons to bear !

     Just thought I would throw my two cents worth in.  Having weapons that can devastate fighters is excellent.  Make sure they fire 18.   AA weapons that only have a range of 6 or 9 are semi-useless.  They usually won't get to fire b4 fighters arrive.

     Fighters are not over-priced.  The -1 to hit them is more than compensated for, because you need to make No penetration roll; you hit 'em and they go away.  Heavy fighters are more resistant to AA fire, but they do cost more.    I have to maneuver carefully to be able to shoot at incoming hostile fighters...  It is not always easy!

Steven Gilchrist; former US Navy Gunners Mate, Jacksonville, Fla, USA

Since ships move before fighters move, this is not a problem.