Making a thread to explain starfighter variants and types since they are probably the biggest addition this mod has on top of the base mod.

Currently there are 3 starfighter variants in the mod: Fighters, Interceptors, and Bombers.

All 3 variants can be considered direct upgrades from Vanilla, but unlike Vanilla each starfighter type has their own niche and role so it's good to keep a mix of all 3. I am making this post to explain the intended role of all 3 types.

Fighters are basically your jack of all trades strike craft. They are a direct upgrade from vanilla strike craft in terms of damage and are unlocked with Basic Strike Craft and use the fighter strike craft model (depending on shipset).

Starfighters have good accuracy and tracking. They also have moderate speed, health, and evasion. Swarms of them can be a menace to unprotected capital ships and they also are decent at countering other strike craft.

Starfighters are versatile and therefore should be the backbone of your strike craft forces. Starfighters are most effectively countered by point defense/AA turbolasers/flak as well as Interceptors. Starfighters also fire green laser bolts.

Interceptors basically act as mobile point defense and are unlocked with Improved Strike Craft and use the fighter strike craft model (depending on shipset).

Interceptors have perfect accuracy and tracking as well as high speed and evasion. However interceptors have low health and deal low damage. Interceptors also come with the special ability to shoot down missiles and they project an aura known as "Ace Pilots" which reduces the effectiveness of enemy strike craft.

Interceptors are a defensive measure geared heavily towards countering enemy strike craft and missiles and distracting enemy point defense. Because of their low health and damage output they typically die in one or two hits and should make up the smallest portion of an offensive starfighter force, however their utility should not be neglected so it's always wise to carry one or two Interceptor wings in your fleet. Likewise, swarms of Interceptors can be used to make up for lack of point defense on artillery-focused fleets.

Interceptors also fire red laser bolts.

Bombers exist for the sole purpose of dealing heavy damage to capital ships and starbases. They are unlocked with Advanced Strike Craft and use the bomber model (depending on shipset).

Bombers are basically the opposite of interceptors, they have low speed and poor evasion and tracking so they will be winning few dogfights against starfighters and are easily countered by interceptors and point defense, however they have high health and deal an incredible amount of damage making them effective against unprotected capital ships.

Bombers are an offensive tool designed for taking out capital ships and starbases. They should make up the second majority of your starfighter forces after regular starfighters themselves. It's unwise to send them into battle without a starfighter escort or interceptor support so you always want to keep your forces mixed to keep your bombers from being shot down. The AI likes to use exclusively bombers, so interceptors and/or point defense on your end will make the ideal counter for them.

Bombers also fire blue laser bolts.

A ship utility purpose-built for countering strike craft swarms of all types. Self-explanatory.

How to structure your starfighter corps depends on what enemy you are facing, but generally I'm lazy and like to keep a generic makeup with a ratio that looks like this:

1 Interceptor wing and 2 bomber wings to every 3 starfighter wings.

This structure works for most tasks, but lets talk specialization. When structuring a defensive force you generally want to make your loadout look more like this:

3 interceptor wings and 1 bomber wing to every 4 starfighter wings.

If your fleet is focused heavily on battleships and artillery and you feel like skimping point defense then I would use fighters in a way that is exclusively for defense. In this loadout you wouldn't use bombers so you'd focus on fighters and interceptors, perhaps like this:

4 or 5 interceptor wings to every 3 or 2 starfighter wings.

An offensively-tuned starfighter force will likely focus more on bombers, but still do not skimp interceptors as their utility is still useful. For this purpose the ratio will likely look more like:

1 interceptor wing to every 3 or 4 bomber wings to every 2 or 1 starfighter wings.

These ratios are not an exact science and will depend heavily on the enemy you are facing, but generally the first ratio listed is a good jack-of-all-trades loadout, but always feel free to experiment.

Just some basic info on how starfighters are intended to work. It's not perfect and I am always making tweaks and re-balances, but it's my attempt to make combat more strike craft-focused and strike craft more interesting to reflect what we see in the Star Wars universe.

Also note, the strike craft in the mod being "OP" compared to vanilla is on purpose as to reflect the starfighter-centric nature of Star Wars combat. Skimp out on anti-fighter defenses or fighter forces of your own you're in for a bad time.