With the development of science and technology and the enhancement of interception accuracy, fighters are increasingly used as reconnaissance eyes and against enemy fighters in the battle of large and medium-sized warships, rather than direct combat tools.

However, there are absolutely very few people who really put fighters outside for reconnaissance all the time, and the reason is money.

For example, a conventional frigate that has been in service for 30 years, assuming that it is out on the road, makes an average of three to four hyperspace jumps per month, and encounters a moderate-intensity battle every three months. The fuel consumption during its service life will reach more than 40,000 Star Coins, which is about three times the value of the frigate itself at the average level of a medium-sized frigate.

It's a different story when it comes to the planes, which don't have the fuel burden of hyperspace jumping and shield systems, but the small engines they use are much less efficient at using quantum fuel rods. Limited by the structural complexity that can be accommodated by the volume, the smaller the engine, the lower the energy utilization rate of the fuel, the current standard of quantum fuel rods on the market is 10 per (ten kilograms) containing 10 to the power of 13 joules of energy, the highest direct utilization rate recorded for frigates is 79%, and the highest direct utilization rate for patrol ships is only 62%.

Unlike ancient fuels, quantum fuels are not used to refer to the ratio of energy extracted from combustion or atomic reactions, but to the portion of energy that can be extracted at the most efficient time when the engine is running. The meaning is similar to absorbing water from a water-filled sponge, the direct utilization rate of the engine determines how much water can be pumped from the sponge in a very short time, and the rest can be pumped out a little more slowly, and if you want to pump it clean, it is impossible on a platform like a battleship anyway. Fighting waits for no one, and once the engine is not supplied with firepower and shield systems, all that remains is tragedy.

As for the fighters......

The energy efficiency of the fighter is an important indicator at the time of delivery, and there are only two measures for this indicator, namely the direct utilization rate of fuel rods and the maximum utilization rate. For example, the energy efficiency of the Alai III is 8/26, that is, after extracting 8% of the quantum energy of the fuel rods, it can continue to extract to 26%, and in the 8% to 26% stage, the power that the engine can exert will gradually decrease, which is still a medium preference in the fighter!

This kind of energy utilization makes it like a fighter to consume tens or hundreds of times its own price of fuel during its service. Moreover, because the fuel rod left over from the fighter's play is broken by the seal, the Dongdong inside will gradually lose its quantum activity characteristics, and it can no longer be reused when sent back to the battleship, and it is not surprising that the fuel that is hundreds of times its own price will be consumed during the service period if it is not careful.

So even if Pan Wen doesn't care much about small money, he has never bought any more fighters after giving away 10 planes when he bought the Heavy Hammer, and he basically didn't use them outside of combat time. The guy on the other side, who doesn't know who it is, actually uses a fighter plane to do routine reconnaissance, which is enough to see that he is a big tyrant! Otherwise, he is a person who can "change" money.

After the three more fighters went up, a five-on-three situation was formed, and the three fighters on the opposite side were scared away.

Pan Wen issued another order: "The fighter unit maintains a low-density formation. ”

Following his command, the fighters spread out in an arc while chasing, keeping the detection range as possible while supporting each other, so as to avoid any stationary fighters from slipping through the net.

Originally, Pan Wen also wanted to stay in the mining area and turn on the active enemy seeking mode to further cause the enemy's riots so that he could get more effective information here. But thinking about it, he was worried about seducing possible enemies in other directions, so forget it.

"BOSS, we found it, the distance is 880,000, seven ships, the opponent's thrusters have a low response, and we can't accurately judge the model."

Seven red dots appeared on the star map, but unfortunately there was no clear picture, and it was not known what kind of ship it was.

After thinking about it for a while, Pan Wen felt that he could lean over and take a look. The reason is that if all seven ships are frigates, or even as long as three or four of them are frigates, then it is simply useless to send fighters to do routine reconnaissance, so this should be a fleet dominated by patrol ships.

The fighters over there are still chasing each other, and the number of fighters fleeing on the other side has increased to four, but the fighters on Pan Wen's side can't chase for long.

"There is a metallic reaction in the opposing fleet, most likely caused by opening the hangar."

"Oh? That is, this is a bunch of patrol ships. ”

"At least this one is." The leader of the tactical team did not fully agree with Pan Wen's judgment.

The structure of various combat ships is different, and in terms of hangars, it is also large ships that are more advantageous. Large and medium-sized ships have an isolation area similar to the function of a lift, and there is no need to drop objects of more than 1,000 tons...... That is, in the case of gunboats and above-sub-ships, the large hatches of the hangar of large and medium-sized ships will not be opened, and only the isolation area with the same stealth structure can be stretched out to both sides. The isolation structure was not originally born for anti-stealth, its earliest function was only to reduce the loss of air and water vapor generated by opening and closing the hangar, and it had the anti-radar capability when it was turned on after generation after generation.

Hangars for small ships are generally transparent. It's not that factories don't know the benefits of the quarantine zone, but small ships are limited by their size, and the hangar has to do away with additional structures in order to accommodate more types of fighters of different sizes. Even if this structure is painted with anti-radar, it will not have any effect, and it is not possible to make any equipment, material boxes, and tools in it anti-radar.

"Inform the Kuroshio, let's start to speed up and see what reaction the other side has."

The nebula environment is not conducive to pursuit, and what can be done depends on the reaction of the other side.

……

When a certain fleet was approaching, a ship on the other side.

"Boss, this method doesn't seem to be so reliable, everyone has chased it in the face, and the boat hasn't been found yet." A burly, rugged man said.

The man was standing in the control room, and judging from the distribution of personnel, it seemed that there was no seat for him.

The one who answered him was President Yin, a handsome half-race man with blue eyes and black hair from the Golden Eagle Guild: "But at least we already know that there is an enemy not far away, which means that the direction is right." ”

"Report! The target fighter has invaded the preset warning range! "The radarman suddenly reported loudly.

The preset warning range and the warning range are not the same thing, the warning range generally refers to the maximum range of the main gun or slightly larger, and the preset is to adjust the range of the alarm area according to the need. Here, the default warning range is 400,000 kilometers, which is calculated by counting the average main gun range of the frigate in the MR241 nebula.

"Tell the fighter to speed up as much as possible!" Chairman Yin is a person who has suffered losses, which also makes him more decisive, "The warships also began to speed up, and they evacuated after recovering the mining machines. ”

In the end, it is not considered whether the fighter can come back or not.

"Don't you even know what kind of ship the other party is?" The burly man asked, scratching his scalp with his fingers.

"Since the income from mining is not low, I don't want to take risks for the time being, and wait for the fleet to be larger and the tactics are more perfect, and then come to trouble these NPCs."

"It's just a few fighters jumping around outside, why don't I see any tactics?"

Chairman Yin secretly rolled his eyes, but still replied: "Because we are not only small in our fleet, but also because the types of warships are too simple, you can't see it. Xiaosha, you can explain it to Captain Gu. ”

Xiao Sha is a woman sitting in the first mate's seat, like many women in the second world, not to mention her beauty, her body is a little smaller, and she is also black hair and brown eyes like most people on the ship.

Xiaosha's name and body shape seem to be cute, but she is a cold beauty with a straight face and few expressions.

"According to the President's plan, our fleet will be close to the official patrol fleet standard. Next, a large sum of money will be scraped together to purchase several types of ships, including reconnaissance ships, dock ships, and heavy firepower ships. Reconnaissance ships can reduce or even flatten the gap between our detection capabilities and frigates, heavy firepower ships can greatly narrow the gap with the frigates' main gun range, and dockyard ships are responsible for post-combat maintenance and reduce the number of port returns. Once the planned custom fighters are in place, our fleet will be able to fight against at least two or three frigates without them, a standard that will be able to deal with most of the NPCs in the MR241 system. ”

"So the official patrol fleet can really deal with frigates?" The burly Captain Gu was also in the team last time, and he knew how big the gap between the indicators of the patrol ship and the frigate was.

Chairman Yin nodded: "There is no real battle case after the opening of the Great Galaxy Era, but some time ago, I found several teams to analyze the data and tactical changes, and the results are very consistent. A fleet of two medium heavy fireships, a reconnaissance ship, three conventional patrol ships, and more than a dozen warplanes has a seventy percent victory rate against a corvette, and the cost of a patrol fleet is only comparable to that of a corvette. I think it would be very useful to expand this configuration and add a small number of special ship types against medium frigates, and if possible, our guild could be reorganized into two battle groups, which would be very beneficial for development. ”

"Sounds like it." Captain Gu pretended to nod, and then asked a question that made people laugh and cry, "What kind of ship is the heavy firepower ship?" Missile carriers? ”

President Yin patted his forehead with his fingertips and admitted defeat: "Xiaosha, it's better for you to come." ”

"Hmph." Xiao Sha looked at the man who was blocking her and the fingertips of the main screen and snorted coldly, "You know that the main gun of the frigate has a name called a full-size cannon." ”

Captain Gu smiled and nodded a little flatteringly.

"The full-size cannon came from the fact that the world's first particle cannon that could be used in real combat was so big. After hundreds of years of development, various small and simple models of particle weapons have been developed, but full-size main guns have maintained their unshakable status as the main weapons of war because of their stable structure and no need for miniaturization, and the difficulty of research and development is lower. Xiao Sha paused, stared at Captain Gu, and felt that this rough man seemed to understand before continuing, "The heavy firepower ship is a light ship equipped with a simple version of the full-size gun, this kind of gun is the closest to a full-size gun, the energy consumption is 9 to 10 levels, and the effective range is more than half of the full-size gun. ”

"!" Captain Gu roared, very excited, "There is this thing, and the regular patrol ship is going to do it!" ”

"Listen to me." Xiaosha's tone did not fluctuate.

"Uh...... You speak. ”

"The weight of the full-size gun in the lite version is between 15,000 and 30,000 tons, and the volume is also huge, and there are 9 to 10 levels of energy consumption there, and it will cost a light ship a lot to carry such a weapon. In order to maintain a shield that can barely compete with corvettes, most heavy fireships can only choose to abandon some secondary guns and close defense systems and reduce the energy consumption standards of secondary guns. That is, the interception capabilities of these things against fighters and missiles are quite poor. ”

"Oh, see, keep a larger number of regular patrol ships to guarantee fleet interception capabilities."

"Hmph." Xiao Sha snorted coldly again, which was an answer.

At this time, the operator of the logistics master control position finally spoke: "Report, the recovery of the mining machine is complete." ”

"Excellent! Heading 127, -13, we go. Inform the fighters that they should return to the ship as soon as possible, regardless of the dust damage. ”