One of the most enjoyable sci-fi elements is when the heroes strap into small fighters and fly out to perform dangerous missions and combat. This aspect of the sci-fi hero seems to have been almost entirely overlooked in Star Frontiers-until now.

In order to make space fighters useable and more unique, one from the other, and to make space combat possible for these small vessels, fighter vs. fighter, we must look to the smaller combat scale of the Alpha Dawn vehicle rules system and analyze how fighters can be used.

For this system, the space fighters and shuttles have been reclassified as vehicles, instead of spaceships, as they are little more than cloud flyers with minor modifications for space travel. A fighter has very few gauges that can be found on most space ships.

The Knight Hawks rules prove particularly ineffective for space units of size 1 and 2. The smaller the craft, the less relevant the spaceship stats prove to be. As it is, they are just relevant enough for the Assault Scout, but for nothing smaller.

To remedy this, these vehicle rules are being extended in this article to units of hull size 2 or less. A whole different scale of damage applies that is not as extreme as large spaceship damage.

The vehicles, weapons, defenses, and equipment in this article are by no means exhaustive, but contain all the items this author feels worth use from previous articles and new creations. Most items from other materials are not included here, but are useable with this system.

Aerospace Fighter Types

Besides the vehicles in the Alpha Dawn rules, more flying vehicles may now be available. These types are defined below. As you read them, enjoy the various fighter types that are graphically represented above each description.

Little more than an air-bubble with a jet engine attached, the mini-flyer is able to reach high altitude space stations from a planet's surface, but does not have the capability to escape a planet's gravity without breaking apart. Mini-flyers cannot have any defenses and will only fit laser pods.

Personal Fighter. Personal fighters are often better armed than Cloud Flyers, but can only carry up to 2 people. Personal fighters no bombing capability or armor to speak of, but their teeth can be nasty. Able to carry small assignments of piston and pod weapons, assault rockets, or missiles, personal fighters are the vehicle of choice for the more discriminating adventurer. They do cannot carry bombs. Careful, though, these aren't meant for war. Pirates often take on such vehicles and their pilots for a split of the booty, as a private air force is invaluable to commandeering civilian ships. They also prove invaluable for defending civilian ships.

Military Fighter. You won't find these for private sale, as they contain armor and advanced defenses for large scale skirmishes. Even black market traders know that private citizens can't be trusted with these weapons of mass destruction. No, they want them sold to the highest bidder in the largest quantity. The military fighter is heavy duty in both fire power and defenses and are built with armor standard. Even though military fighters have limited bombing payload capacity, if any, military fighters are ten times more effective than personal fighters. These are often granted under special permission to Privateers.

Military Bomber. Often 2-4 times the size of most military fighters, military bombers carry many times more the payload of any fighter and are also armored. These are highly specialized killing machines capable of toppling large building complexes, flattening settlements, sinking sea carriers, and crippling or even destroying large space vessels when grouped with other bombers.

Weapons Combat and Cost
Fighter Type*	Size (KH)	PN	ADF/ MR	ADM	VM	MM	Cargo Limit	SP	Cost***
Mini-flyer	3 (1)	1	6	-1	+1	+1	400kg/ 4 m3	10 +1d10	40,000 Cr
Personal	4-5 (1)	1-2	6	0	0	0	8,000kg/ 12 m3	20 +1d10	55,000+ Cr
Light Military	6-7 (1)	1-2	5	+1	0	0	16,000kg/ 18 m3	40 +1d10	65,000+ Cr
Heavy Military	7-8 (1)	2-4	5	+1	0	-1	22,000kg/ 26 m3	45 +1d10	80,000+ Cr
Light Bomber	8-9 (2)	2-8	5	+2	-1	-1	55,000kg/ 38 m3	45 +1d10	105,000+ Cr
Heavy Bomber	10-11 (2)	2-12	5	+2	-1	-1	100,000kg/50 m3	50 +1d10	120,000+ Cr
* = Ordered according to size ** = Number of passengers. *** = Costs do not include equipment and are at the purview of the Referee or seller.

(Delta Dawn Sourcebook)