Kilrathi suicidal tendencies

K

KillerWave

Spaceman
Thats something i been thinking:

If the kilrathi in war used a suicidal cloacked fighter, that would have nothing but engines, life support and all torpedoes that the fighter could carry, would charge at full speed and hit confed capships? They had might succed in the war then. They would kill thousand humans for one kilrathi pilot.

Any ideas what that would do for confed? What could be done against it?
 
Considering that there was less than a 100 Kilrathi stealth fighters altogether, I don't think we really need to worry about that scenario
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. Cloaking devices (or perhaps the crystal they use) are far too expensive.

Besides, they were already winning the war. Why would they need to resort to such drastic measures?
 
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Hmm, before somebody asks me where I got the "less than 100" figure from, I should probably explain that I made it up
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. It seems like a reasonable guess, given the number that we faced in WC2 and 3.
 
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We *engage* more than 100 stealth fighters, Quarto...
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That said, as is noted in Fleet Action, a stealth fighter is precious.

We *do* see a Strakha launch a kamikaze attack once... however, I doubt that a cloaking device would be wasted on a ship that could definately only be used *once*.

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Long live the Confederation,
Ben "Bandit" Lesnick
( loaf@wcnews.com - 302228)

The Wing Commander CIC

"You go, LOAF! Get some!" -JPG

Bombardez les Ptitard!
 
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Maybe... but I don't think so. There was only about 30-40 in WC2, and probably as many in WC3. But of course, while I'm quite certain about the number in WC2 (if anything, it should be lower), I most definitely don't remember WC3 as well. So, I'm probably wrong
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.
At any rate, I guess 200 would be a better estimate. But certainly no more.
 
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Did could just use any fighter for the job. A squadron attacking with just one "suicidal" fighter. But I think the Kilrathis did use this tactic at some point of the war.

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"Hasta la victoria siempre."
-El Che
 
I can see the kilrathi using a tactic like that. they do have a ritualistic form of suicide for preserving their honor. Although i have to think it would be more of a last-ditch type of tactic. the kilrathi do have a warrior code, and it is hardly what you could consider honorable combat. but if they were losing a battle, i could see sending one lone hero to sacrifice himself for the good of the empire.

and i'm not sure about the number of cloaked fighters. it seemed like they weren't too concerned about protecting strakhas, they were always pretty poorly armored, but then again, it seems that it is neccesarry for a good cloak (i know in wc4 they put one on an avenger, but also notice that it burned through the crystals after one or two uses). i would have to assume that they probably have several squadrans of them. sort of an elite group that moves about where they are needed, with some more important capital ships having their own squadran.
 
A weapon like this might fit Kilrathi tendancies, but it isn't practical, even for them. A stealth fighter has two torpedoes, more than enough for most capitol ships opperated in WC2. The Strakha 2 acts more like a special ops ship used with...ah I forget the name they gave for cloaking bio missiles, or concealing valuble assets. Perhaps the Kilrathi stripped all excess armor and shielding to save as much in expenses as possible so the fighter could be used more against Confed fighters.

Remember the captured transports that ferried Strakhas into Blackmane? That was clever of the cats, too bad they didn't have full comm equipment to pass themselves off, if they did, Blackmane Base would almost surely have fallen.
 
Why waste valueable pilots when you can launch a cloaked torpedo or an unmanned fighter full of explosives.
Pilots are too much overrated these days.
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I`d say, as valueable as a normal pilot.
If you want to fly through enemy fire in order to ram into their ship, you must have some piloting skills, no?
 
Didn't we argue this before? I think we decided that torps and missles (esp. Skippers) launched from a cloaking ship would do the same thing and be cheaper.

TC

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CAG of the Blacklance HQ
"Canadian and proud of it"-TC
 
My point is that a suicide pilot wouldn't be trained nearly as much as a normal pilot.
It's alot easier to just ram into another ship than it is to launch a torpedo at it.

[This message has been edited by Redtic (edited May 19, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Redtic (edited May 19, 2000).]
 
Yeah, it'd take a damn big ship to make a cap ship explode... A small ship with a few dumbfires can take one out a hell of a lot easier... It's not like it's hard to hit a ship that big.

TC

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CAG of the Blacklance HQ
"Canadian and proud of it"-TC
 
I see people talking about the speed of the fighter, the flying skills...dont forget that the ship would be cloacked, so it wouldnt matter much.
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And talking about numbers and money, if 100, 200 or wathever number of ships where destroyed in WC2/WC3, it would be cheaper to use a suicidal fighter...they would lost just one ship and one pilot.
And that would be worse to confed than the skipper missiles because the missiles need to skip in and out of cloack to mantain contact with the target and can be destroyed, a cloacked fighter with a pilot wouldnt need to do that and would act virtually indetected.

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Only a complete fool is absolutely sure about what he says
Are you absolutely sure about this?
Yes, i am...i mean...do'h
 
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Except that if a ship had that many torpedo hardpoints it could just salvo them off, return the carrier that spat it out and do it all over again. Torpedoes are a valuable weapon, BTW, as are cloaks. Pilot training is costly and takes time. No, this suicide fighter isn't practical. Now if it were a Dralthi screened by Strakhas and had a single cheap bomb to drop inside a carrier...that would fit the Kilrathi mannerisms and tactics very well indeed.
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Oh yes, and the numbers of Strakhas we saw attacked fighters in WC2, not capships. Even Strakha IIs were far more prone to ambush fighters and fighters alone. If they had torpedoes they would ignore the fighters until the capship is gone-then come back for the flunkies. In WC2, the only ships that used torps were Grikhaths even though the Straka had two and the Gothri six.
 
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