Conventional Fighter bays?

[mbear]

Do conventional fighters use aerospace fighter bays, small craft bays, or conventional vehicle bays?

[Kovax]

Do conventional fighters use aerospace fighter bays, small craft bays, or conventional vehicle bays?

Probably not.  You can't land a fighter of any sort directly into a grounded dropship's bays because of the fighter's high minimum stall speed and the lack of a landing strip, and an aerospace fighter [I meant to say "conventional fighter"] can't operate in space to use the ASF bays which are designed for zero-G operation.  You would most likely mothball the fighters, carry them as cargo, and then deploy them to the airfield/spaceport where you land.

[Cryhavok101]

You can launch them from Fighter Bays though.

Airships with fighter bays can have aircraft land in them if they also have arresting lift hoists to catch them and pull them in. Dropships can do it without arresting hoists. However the fighter needs to be going the same heading and velocity as the dropship/airship, which may be more difficult for spheroid dropships, since they mostly just hover and go up and down, rather than forward, and your fighter is gonna kinda fall outta the sky at that speed. Aerodyne carriers and airships that pick up some speed can manage it fine however.

The rules for it are on TW pg 86. Note that when it says 'fighters' it is talking about both conventional and aerospace.

[mbear]

You can launch them from Fighter Bays though.

Airships with fighter bays can have aircraft land in them if they also have arresting lift hoists to catch them and pull them in. Dropships can do it without arresting hoists. However the fighter needs to be going the same heading and velocity as the dropship/airship, which may be more difficult for spheroid dropships, since they mostly just hover and go up and down, rather than forward, and your fighter is gonna kinda fall outta the sky at that speed. Aerodyne carriers and airships that pick up some speed can manage it fine however.

The rules for it are on TW pg 86. Note that when it says 'fighters' it is talking about both conventional and aerospace.

So basically fighter bays. OK. Thanks!

[Colt Ward]

I would say they would be unique to use all 3 . . . Small Craft (which can launch ASF so . . . ) and ASF bays would be able to launch in atmo though not recover them when the DS land.  Can they be recovered as the DS is flying?  Well . . . we say they can on the mentioned Airship ASF bays so . . .

They could be carried in light (or waste the space for heavy) vehicle bays to make them ready to use on landing provided they were unloaded and had VSTOL equipment as part of the design.  Or if the DS carrying them in veh bays put down on a captured spaceport, which is typically a first wave objective, they can then fly off the runways.  Carrying them in light veh bays at least allow them to be serviced in flight and once the DS lands they could be fueled before being deployed off the DS.

[Cryhavok101]

I would say they would be unique to use all 3 . . . Small Craft (which can launch ASF so . . . ) and ASF bays would be able to launch in atmo though not recover them when the DS land.  Can they be recovered as the DS is flying?  Well . . . we say they can on the mentioned Airship ASF bays so . . .

They could be carried in light (or waste the space for heavy) vehicle bays to make them ready to use on landing provided they were unloaded and had VSTOL equipment as part of the design.  Or if the DS carrying them in veh bays put down on a captured spaceport, which is typically a first wave objective, they can then fly off the runways.  Carrying them in light veh bays at least allow them to be serviced in flight and once the DS lands they could be fueled before being deployed off the DS.

Just a note: While you can run it like that if you want, the only bays that the rules state conventional fighters can use are fighter bays. Rules-wise, light and heavy vehicle bays can only carry vehicles, while superheavy vehicle bays can carry vehicles and small craft (no mention of fighters here). Small craft bays can carry small craft, fixed wing support vehicles and specifically 'aerospace craft', with no mention of conventional fighters at all there (even though it would make sense, they aren't 'aerospace craft' because they don't go in space). None of the bays mention conventional fighters or the generic 'fighters' that would include both aerospace and conventional, except the fighter bays.

You can find the descriptions of what can go in each bay on page 240 of the Techmanual.

I mention this because if you are playing with a stickler for the rules you might not be allowed to put them in anything other than a fighter bay. Even if you aren't, I'd recommend you discuss it with your group before playing with it, so that you don't interrupt a game with the discussion when it comes up in play, and no one is surprised by how your group ends up ruling it.

[glitterboy2098]

to be honest, unless your using a support vehicle limited to planetary operations (like the aforementioned airships), don't even bother. if you are carting around conventional for your force between worlds, store them as cargo, put actual aerospace fighters into any fighter bays, and deploy the conventional fighters after you land. conventionals can't do enough in air superiority to make it worth launching them the moment you hit atmo, better to stick aerospace fighters (even light cheap ones) in those bays so you have CAP in space if you need it, and get the performance boost aerospace fighters have to help secure the air.
i'd only stick conventional fighters into the bays on a dropship if you don't have ASF's and don't have the cargo space to spare.

[Cryhavok101]

That's how I would probably do it too. Best place to store conventionals is in hangars on the ground, ready to take off and meet an attack.