Fighter 'Classes'

[Corsair]

What makes a heavy fighter?

What makes a light fighter?

What makes a very heavy fighter?

What aspects are important?

What elements do you think are vital to classifying a fighter as a specific class, or are there any?

This is a thread for personal opinions from everyone on the subject.
Hopefully, we can collect some information on how to better classify and develop ships in the future.

I'll tackle these in chunks.

Code:

What makes a light fighter?

A light fighter is just as the name implies, a lightly armored, lightly armed fighter. They fulfill the interceptor role, chasing down larger ships and providing fire support for their heavier siblings. A diminutive hitbox, powercore and DPS output all firmly root it in the SUPPORT category. They are virtually required for fleet battles to stop heavier ships from escaping the battlefield.

Code:

What makes a heavy fighter?

These guys seem to be more of the Space Superiority fighter. I've seen very talented Heavy fighter squads obliterate everything from light fighters to bombers to gunboats. Heavy fighters fill the 'glass cannon' role, referenced earlier in the thread. They are well-armed and reasonably armored, while still having the agility to avoid the brunt of most hostile fire. In fleet battles, they are best suited for hunting down bombers and heavier fighters, but they need to be in larger numbers because of their lighter armor and weaponry compared to Very Heavy Fighters.

Code:

What makes a very heavy fighter?

In my opinion, this is the highest tier of fighter. Heavily armed and armored, but still more agile than bombers. They are the flexible arm of vengeance on the battlefield, tasked with everything from escort to assault. Depending on the role they fill, VHFs will either rely on speed or armor to survive. They are heavier and more powerful than their Heavy Fighter siblings without sacrificing too much agility. Very Heavy fighters don't deserve the prefix because 'Very' gives the impression that they are a great deal heavier than HFs. Removing the 'Very' and re-naming Heavy Fighters to Space Superiority fighters would allow them to be more accurate in terms of function.

Code:

What aspects are important?

Speed, armor, firepower, size. If a ship is small and powerful, it's a heavy fighter. If it's large and weak, then it likely isn't a fighter at all.

Code:

What elements do you think are vital to classifying a fighter as a specific class, or are there any?

It must be compared to its counterparts of the same class. Current agile VHFs like the Eagle could be shifted to the HF category, while many SHFs could simply be absorbed into the Very Heavy Fighter classification.

---