Hiigaran Fighters
 Hiigaran
Fighters usually come in squadrons of fives. You can only produce
them if one of your factory vessels has built a Fighter
Facility. Each type of Fighter class enjoys two Engine upgrades,
but no Armour improvements. They wear Light Armour
worth only 30 points per ship, which means that
everything in the field will score no penalties if they score a hit -
and most of the time kill the unit with one shot. However, nearly all
weapon systems have difficulty hitting Fighters thanks to Fighter Accuracy
hardwired into the game engine.
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Scout
High Speed Reconnaissance |
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Scouts are specialised spotters, and the
versatile high speed eyes and ears for your fleet. They're great for
chasing down those pesky Probes but their
minimal weaponry is simply a token gesture. However, they can generally
outrun most shipping shipping but are susceptible to upgraded Interceptors
and Assault Craft. Unfortunately,
apart from their special techs, Scouts get no Armour or Engine upgrades.
Even so, they're still the fastest units in the game outside of Probes.
If upgraded with the EMP capability,
they can even freeze other shipping for about half a minute. While
EMP is short ranged, don't underestimate its capacity to paralyse
and completely nobble enemy shipping. Its a great battle turner,
but it does require some practice and fiddly micromanagement, and
there's a 70 second recharge time.
The Hiigaran Scout also gets the Ping
command (keyboard shortcut: X), a unique
Hiigaran "spell" that can reveal vast areas of the map
for short periods of time. Firing off a ping costs you 1000 RU's,
but its significance in a multiplayer game can often annoy Vaygr
players, who have no such perk. Being able to see all your enemies,
their positions and the strengths of their fleets in one button
press is NOT to be underestimated.
Other than that significant difference, Hiigaran and Vaygr
Survey Scouts are basically the same, and always comes in trios.
You can build these immediately without any prerequisites in the
game.
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Prerequisites:
none |
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Perks
Enhanced Sensors
EMP weapon upgrade |
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Pros
Excellent speed and visual range
Usually outruns most threats
Excellent Probe repellant
EMP spell temporarily freeze
all shipping with range.
Has its own unique Ping command. |
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Cons
Hopeless at combat - steer clear of all action!
Massacred by any serious anti-Fighter systems
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Interceptor
Anti-Fighter Fighter |
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One of the icons of the game, the Hiigaran Interceptor
does exactly as the name implies: it intercepts other Fighters. This
is the Hiigaran's bare basic fighter, not requiring anything other
than its Facility, and thus ideal for fielding any early rushes in
a netgame, capable of pursuing and bringing down fast moving targets.
In a chase they'll be left behind by Scouts,
although I've usually found after a long chase, the Interceptor eventually
triumphs because at some point, its quarry has to stop and turn or
else run out of map.
Interceptors fire 37 point bursts of
rapid fire, missing most of the time. Since they come in squads
of five, and fire pretty frequently, its rare that a full squadron
will fail to kill another fighter or two with every attack run.
Like their Vaygr equivalent, the Assault
Craft, they have very short range, although they can shoot faster,
harder, further, and more accurately than the Assault Craft. Its
just that Assault Craft come in squads of seven. Unfortunately,
the Interceptor's effectiveness starts to diminish rapidly once
it starts tackling anything bigger than itself. Corvette armour
seriously challenge it and against Frigates and Capital Craft they're
all but useless - except as distractions for point defences. Interceptors
only inflict 70% damage against anything
wearing Medium Armour: that is, a Frigate.
But Interceptors are indispensable for quickly countering enemy
Strikecraft swarms that large ships have trouble fielding. In most
battles you will suffer high attrition rates - so keep a sizeable
force on standby at all times and don't leave home without them.
They have difficulties coping with Gun Turrets
- being unable to really damage them before the Platform can seriously
harm them.
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Prerequisites
Fighter Facility only |
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Perks
2 Interceptor Engine upgrades |
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Pros
Excellent against Fighters - routs Bombers
Can chase down Scouts |
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Cons
Starts to lose it against Corvettes and Gun Platforms
Hopeless against anything else
Massacred by any serious anti-Fighter systems and units
like the Flak Frigate or the Gunship.
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Bomber
Anti-Capital Fighter |
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The Hiigaran Bomber is a classified as a
Capital ship killer, but its real virtue is its ability to destroy
Subsystems. No other unit in the game seems
to clip those modules quite as effectively. Being a Fighter, its highly
agile - although not by other Fighter standards - and in numbers Bombers
can pose serious threats to any Capital shipping that aren't covered
by any anti-Fighter escorts. Half a dozen Bomber squadrons easily
strip Subsystems and comfortably blow away Frigates.
Hiigaran and Vaygr Bombers are
very similar, with identical build times, speed, armour and range.
Weight for weight, the Hiigaran Bomber
is slightly more powerful, fires a bit faster and is slightly more
accurate than its rival, but this is offset by a Vaygr Bomber squadron
having six members instead of five. With the
Plasma Bomb upgrade they can unleash astonishing amounts
of firepower that wouldn't look out of place on a Frigate. The Hiigaran
Bomber delivers 135 points of damage;
with the upgrade it jumps to 190. They
score a 250% bonus against Subsystems,
but only inflict 45% damage against Turrets.
When it comes to dog fighting and looking after itself, the Bomber
fail badly, especially when concentrating on their targets and not
defending against counter attacks. Their powerful bombs can serious
hurt a Corvette, but they are terribly inaccurate against Strikecraft,
and given their slow firing rates, are quickly swept from the skies
by Interceptors and Assault
Craft and every other type of anti-Strikecraft system in
the game. Even point defences can seriously take their toll. But
this is more than offset but their incredible usefulness. They're
real strength is against Subsystems, and while they also deal out
tremendous damage to the rest of a large target, you'll find their
horrendous attrition rates forcing you into frequent retreats or
furious rebuilding.
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Prerequisites
Research Module
Fighter Facility |
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Perks
2 Bomber Engine upgrades
Plasma Bomb upgrade |
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Pros
Utterly brilliant against Subsystems - 250% attack bonus!
Excellent against Frigates
Very good against Capital craft |
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Cons
Utterly wiped out by anything with anti-Fighter potential:
Interceptors, Assault Craft, Gunships, Flak Frigates, etc... its
a tough old world out there.
Have trouble overcoming Gun Platforms: only inflict
45% damage per shot!
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The
Hiigarans
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