Hangar Module
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- Hangar Bay Module
Hangar Bays are equipment modules that allow a ship to carry, deploy, and recall **fighter craft** — small combat ships that act as autonomous wingmen. Unlike Drones, fighters are fully-fledged ships with their own equipment, hull, and crew requirements.
The individual setup of fighters is entirely up to the Player. It's quite common to use fighters for anti-fighter screening while your main ship focuses on capital ships, or to assign them as priority interceptors against specific threats.
ECHO can use Hangar Bays, and will actively deploy fighters when entering combat and recall them when leaving a POI. The Player can also deploy or recall manually by clicking the **Deploy** / **Recall** buttons at the bottom of the screen.
Fighters can be destroyed by enemy activity. When destroyed, the Hangar Bay will manufacture a replacement after a short delay. Launching an Emergency Jump with fighters deployed is not an issue — the bay automatically despawns them and they'll be rebuilt when re-deployed.
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- Hangar Bay Slots
Hangar Bays exist in all rarities and sizes. The number of fighter slots depends on the bay's base capacity and your Engineering skill unlocks.
- Slot Count
| Size | Base Slots | Skill Bonus | Total Slots | |------|-----------|-------------|-------------| | Small | 1 | — | 1 | | Medium | 1 | — | 1 | | Large | 2 | T3HangarBayStella: +1 | **3** |
There is 1 Engineering skill that increases the maximum amount of Fighters that can be stored and controlled — **T3HangarBayStella**, a Tier 3 unique skill unlocked via a specific captain (Stella).
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- Assigning Fighters
Unlike Drones which are configured per-slot from the Drone Bay UI, fighters are assigned from your **Personal Hangar** (accessible at any Space Station with a hangar facility).
To assign a fighter:
1. Dock at a Space Station 2. Open the **Personal Hangar** screen 3. Select the ship you want to act as carrier 4. Click on an empty Hangar Slot 5. Choose one of your owned ships from the list
Any ship in your fleet can be assigned as a fighter — including captured ships, mission rewards, or vessels you've built. The fighter keeps all its equipment, custom name, paint, and configuration.
Slots are stored in your save as `HangarBaySlotData` — each slot records the fighter's GUID and a rebuild timer if the fighter was destroyed. Empty slots auto-sync as capacity changes, so you never have to manually clean up.
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- Fighter Behavior
Once deployed, fighters act on their own for most combat activities. They can be re-focused on a single target by clicking it.
In combat, all fighters will focus on the target you click or the target that attacks the player first — unless you specifically order them elsewhere by clicking a different target.
Fighters will not follow you into a Space Station interior or through a Jump Gate. They will return to the Hangar Bay automatically when you leave the POI.
If a fighter is damaged, it can be ordered back to the bay for repairs using the **Auto-Repair Recall** feature — the fighter will fly back, dock, repair, and re-deploy automatically once its hull and armor are restored.
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- Resupply
Fighters accumulate cargo — mostly salvage and loot from combat kills. When a fighter returns to the bay for repairs or recall, its cargo is automatically transferred to the carrier ship. This makes fighters excellent as mobile cargo mules in combat-heavy areas.
If cargo transfer fails or finds nothing to move, the slot goes on a **15-second cooldown** before it can request resupply again.
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- Fighter Power & Stats
Fighters do **not** draw from the ship's weapon power pool. Each fighter is an independent ship with its own:
- **Hull HP** and **Armor HP** — fully independent from the carrier - **Equipment** — all modules, turrets, and systems function independently - **Crew** — Fighters require **Pilot** crew (from your carrier's crew pool)
- Pilot Requirement
Each deployed fighter consumes **1 Pilot** from the carrier's crew. If you don't have enough Pilots, the bay will show a warning:
> *"No Pilots available"*
Deployment simply won't happen until you assign more Pilots. Off-duty fighters in the bay don't consume crew.
- Passive Bay Repair
The bay has a built-in repair rate of roughly **1/90th of max hull per second**. Fighters sitting in the bay slowly regenerate health and armor over time — no action required. The formula is:
``` repair_per_second = (1/90) * max_hp * (1 + HangarBayRepairRate_bonus) ```
The `HangarBayRepairRate` stat comes from equipment, aspects, skills, or hull bonuses and applies to both repair speed and rebuild time.
- Key Constants
| Constant | Value | |----------|-------| | Rebuild time (base) | 120 seconds | | Launch clearance distance | 4 units | | Launch impulse speed | 6 units/sec | | Bay repair rate | 1/90th max HP/sec | | Dock snap distance | 0.3 units | | Hide radius fraction | 1.0x ship size | | Resupply cooldown (empty) | 15 seconds | | Docking capture radius | 2 units | | Path sample count | 16 points | | Carrier lead time | 0.5 seconds |
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- Docking Path
When a fighter returns to the bay, it doesn't just snap back. It flies a **cubic Bezier curve** calculated in real-time:
1. The fighter's current position and velocity are sampled 2. The carrier's future position is predicted (0.5s lead time) 3. A 16-point curved path is generated with control arms clamped between 2 and 12 units 4. The fighter follows the path at its natural speed, adjusting heading at up to 300°/sec 5. At 2 units from the dock point, the fighter enters the bay mask and the sprite hides 6. At 0.3 units from dock, the fighter is considered docked
This means fighters can chase a moving carrier and still land cleanly — even if the carrier is turning or accelerating.
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- Fighter Rebuilding
When a fighter is destroyed:
1. The slot enters **Rebuild** mode 2. A **120-second timer** starts 3. The timer is modified by the carrier's `HangarBayRepairRate` stat 4. Once the timer finishes, the fighter is fully restored (full hull, armor, and shields) 5. If the carrier is still in combat with fighters set to auto-deploy, the fighter launches immediately
If the carrier performs an Emergency Jump while a fighter is being rebuilt, the rebuild timer pauses and resumes when you're cleared for deployment again.
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- Launch Effects
Fighters launch from visually marked **Launch Points** on the carrier ship model. During launch:
- A smoke puff effect spawns at the launch point (size 3.2, 22 particles, 3.5s lifetime) - The fighter accelerates to 6 units/sec away from the bay - A sprite mask hides the fighter while inside the bay, then reveals it as it exits - A smoke trail follows the fighter (0.35 size, 1.2s duration, 35 particles/sec spawn rate) - The fighter is marked `isLaunching = true` until it clears 4 units from the bay
The docking animation mirrors all of this in reverse — the fighter enters the mask, hides, and despawns.
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- Known Limitations
- **Combat only** — fighters cannot mine, salvage, or use utility beams. They are pure combat vessels. - **Pilot requirement** — each active fighter needs 1 Pilot crew. Running out means no deployment. - **Station docking** — fighters cannot dock at Space Stations independently. They follow the carrier. - **Flat rebuild time** — rebuilding takes 120 seconds regardless of the fighter's cost, rarity, or equipment value. - **Despawn on travel** — if the carrier enters warp, uses a Jump Gate, or Emergency Jumps, all fighters are despawned immediately and must be rebuilt. - **Slot cap** — Large bays can hold at most 3 fighters (2 base + 1 skill). There are no Aspect upgrades for hangar slots (unlike Drone Bays which can stack up to 18).
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- Tips
- Assign your **best-equipped spare ship** as a fighter — it keeps all its modules, turrets, and weapons - Fighters are excellent for drawing aggro away from your main ship in tough fights - Use the **Recall** button before looting to collect fighter cargo without manually transferring - The **T3HangarBayStella** skill is a massive power spike — 3 fighters instead of 2 is a 50% increase in firepower - If you're running low on Pilots, check your crew assignments — you may have Pilots assigned to other roles or not enough trained - Fighters with long-range weapons (missiles, beams) are more survivable than close-range brawlers since they stay at distance - If your carrier has strong shields, fighters benefit indirectly by having fewer enemies targeting them