Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock/Squadrons

Certain vessels also carry their own strike craft, which can be used to eliminate other strike craft, support and shield their teammates, and hinder the capabilities of enemy warships.

If the situation for a squadron deteriorates, it is possible to send them back to their mothership for repair. Each capital ship repairs at a different rate, and can often take several turns to replace lost members. As long as at least one member of the group makes it home, however, the squadron will eventually be returned to full strength.

In the campaign, a squadron that is fully shot down must be replaced by Tylium after the battle.

Viper Mk I
Vipers are the standard space superiority fighter employed by the Colonial forces. As with the Cylon Raiders and the Viper Mk II, these craft are used for three main purposes: to harass enemy capital ships, to intercept missiles and unarmed mines, and to defeat other enemy fighters.

While Viper Mk Is have no cost and are the default fighter, they are often replaced in multiplayer by the Viper Mk II.

Viper Mk II
Vipers are the standard space superiority fighter employed by the Colonial forces. They are notably more effective than normal Vipers, though they sacrifice defensive attributes for greater speed and damage. Mark II Vipers are notably better at intercepting enemy missiles than their Mk I counterparts, with a notable increase in speed.

Unlike Viper Mk Is, the Viper Mk II will count against a fleet's fleet point score.

Raptor
While Raptors can defend ships, perform missile interception, and dogfight, they are very poor at it. Instead, Raptors are tasked to perform four important tasks for the Colonials.

Firstly, the Disarm command is used to disarm mines within a certain range of the Raptor. Multiple Raptors cannot disarm a mine faster, so send multiple Raptor squadrons to different mines to disarm multiples simultaneously. The process takes less than a turn.

Raptors are used to board enemy vessels. As soon as the Raptor docks with the target, it puts 50 Marines on the target ship (for a total of 100 if both Raptors make it to the target). The target ship receives a -15% accuracy and -25% subsystem repair penalty. Cylon ships also receive a -25 system energy penalty, meaning they have less power to redirect to their subsystems. The ship's defenders and the boarding party will start taking losses.

If the boarding party defeats all the ship's defenders, the boarding penalties will simply remain until the Raptors undock, or if the target ship is destroyed. If the boarded ship is destroyed with the Raptors still attached, the Raptors are lost in the ensuing explosion.

Raptors also bolster the firewalls of either their mothership (when docked) or another ship. Each Raptor boosts the firewall of the ship by 40 points (80 points in total for both Raptors). This gives the ship a bit more time to withdraw to a safe location or fly out of range of the Cylon hacking attack.

Finally, Raptors have four light rockets they can use against enemy warships. The rockets do not cause a lot of damage. They are launched as soon as the order is given, so Raptors need to be close to the target to guarantee a hit. If you intend to use Raptors in a boarding capacity, you may as well launch these rockets to deal minor damage to the target.

Vulnerable to enemy fighters and point defence weapons, Raptors must be protected by Vipers. Additionally, use the Move order to get Raptors to attack targets from odd angles, like directly above. Raptors are an excellent balance between the offensively-minded Assault Raptor and the defensively-minded Sweeper.

With a DRADIS range double that of the Viper, Raptors can also be used as a scout. Remember that DRADIS is a cylinder around the Raptor with infinite vertical range; take advantage of this by flying your Raptors extremely high above or below the enemy fleet.

Assault Raptor
Assault Raptors require the Broken Alliance DLC.

The Assault Raptor is an offense oriented Raptor variant. Like Raptors, they are poor dogfighters and missile interceptors, but will try to if ordered.

Assault Raptors have no boarding party, mine disarming ability, or firewall boosting.

Instead, Assault Raptors have access to short range missiles. These missiles do light damage, but are far more numerous than the standard Raptor's rockets and are guided. The missiles have a range of 4 km - the same range as the Assault Raptor's DRADIS range. Depending on the target's movements, however, the missiles may be lost if the target is moving away from the Raptors.

The missiles are launched immediately when the order is given, so fly the Assault Raptors close to ensure a hit.

Assault Raptors also have a Paint Target ability which increases a friendly ship's accuracy against the painted target. The target painter will remain in effect so long as the Assault Raptor is in range. The target painter does not improve the damage done to the target, only the accuracy, so it is less effective against larger ships like Basestars and Battlestars.

Assault Raptors have the same 4 km DRADIS range of the standard Raptor, so they can also act as scouts in the same manner.

Sweeper
The Sweeper is very similar to the Raptor in terms of flight characteristics, but is extremely defensive in its purpose. While it can try to intercept missiles and dogfight, Sweepers are bad at this and should not be ordered to do so.

The Sweeper is instead used as a chaff dispenser. Each Sweeper comes with 10 units of chaff. Chaff clouds deployed by the Sweeper are impregnable missile walls that also allow your own munitions through. The clouds last roughly two turns and grow in size until finally dissipating by turn 3. Players who want a continuous shield against missile attack will require at least two Sweeper squadrons.

Unlike the Raptor's rockets, chaff is either toggled on or off. To create a wall, use the Movement order to get the Sweepers to fly in a straight line, dispensing chaff as it goes. Ensure the chaff covers your ships effectively vertically as well, as chaff protection has a limited vertical range. When turned on, Sweepers use three units of chaff per turn.

Taipan
The Taipan is available only to players with the Resurrection DLC.

The Taipan is a heavy fighter with a light cannon. Designed to target larger enemy ships, the guns are extremely powerful. Taipans are very fast but rather poor defensively, so ensure they are protected by Vipers. Taipans are decent at missile interception.

Taipans are best used in conjunction with Assault Raptors to whittle down the armour of a target.