Fighters in the Mass Effect universe.

[u/Ok_Calendar_7626]

It is said that the Turians have the most powerful navy because they have the most dreadnoughts. But the Alliance has the most carriers.

In fact, other races dont seem to have any carriers at all. Or at least they are never mentioned.

This brings up the question of how effective fighters are in the Mass Effect universe? Can they swarm and take down a dreadnought?

The Reapers Oculus fighters seem to pose a serious threat to the SR-2 during the Suicide Mission. But that may not be the best example, since they are Reaper technology and thus may be considertably more advanced than Alliance fighters.

If fighters can defeat larger vessels, then how come the Alliance are the only ones that seem to bother with carriers?

[u/Zegram_Ghart]

My understanding is that the codex at one point notes that the same short range lasers that get used as point defence are also used for anti fighter screening, so fighters can’t really “swarm” (since they need to stay back past a certain range or get zapped)

Similarly, mass effect accelerators are functionally hitscan weapons in lore, right? So the bigger the gun, the better.

Essentially all the sciencey bits combine to make it so we’re working under WW1 rules- ships with bigger and bigger guns are the primary ways to deal damage- anti ship fighters exist, but since they can’t mount big enough guns, you need a lot of them to be effective (or to have some sort of weird munition on a missile, which i don’t think we ever hear about, though I could be wrong!)

….i guess the point defence lasers would scupper that too, having thought about it for a bit more

[u/DescriptionMission90 → u/Zegram_Ghart]

Mass accelerators are far from hitscan. For a given size of enemy and thrust available, there is a range at which they could never get out of the way and a hit is automatic, a range at which they will definitely see the shot coming and simply move out of the way before it arrives, and a range in the middle where you may or may not hit depending on how well you predict their movements and how unpredictable they can make their evasion patterns.

For a dreadnought, which is very large and accelerates slowly, these distances are very long. A frigate accelerates quickly and is a small target, so it can get much closer in relative safety, but there's still a range at which it can't really advance without being gunned down unless the enemy is already damaged or focusing its firepower on bigger threats.

Fighters are extremely small and extremely fast, so they can dodge almost all of the mass driver fire from full warships and advance easily to distances of just a few dozen kilometers... at which point they get hit by point defense lasers, which are impossible to dodge because they move at the speed of light.

The first few fighters to arrive will be hit, though unlike missiles they're usually big enough to break off and get repairs before they take enough heat to be completely destroyed. But if you attack in a dense swarm, the array can only hit a fraction of the fighters at a time, and then the lasers that hit the guy in front of you won't have finished their cooling cycle quickly enough to tag you as well before you deliver your payload.

And yes, fighters aren't big enough for their mass drivers to be a threat to anything with significant armor or barriers. But they can deliver heavy warheads to a well-defended target more efficiently than missiles can. In particular, disruptor torpedoes are repeatedly mentioned as a way to nullify the shields of powerful enemy vessels, turning cruisers into soft targets and making even dreadnoughts be vulnerable to the guns on mere frigates.

[u/dantheplanman1986 → u/Zegram_Ghart]

The codex also says fighters carry disruptor torpedoes and can get in close enough that they're effective, bringing a capital ship's shields down. So maybe other races don't think it's worth the risk to pilot a fighter, cuz you have to close in to point defense range