1. The Fighter Builder scrolls off the screen when I run it? How do I fix it?
2. Saving files is really confusing. How do I save and where are they written?
3. When playing with Fighter Builder and the ship designs from the Fighter Briefings, I am getting different values for tonnage and cost than published. Your program isn't working right.
4. Where did you get the specs for the 5/3 laser from?
5. The TOG Onagri comes out of Fighter Builder wrong! Your program is messed up!

1. Start the Fighter Builder normally by double-clicking on it as per the README.
2. Click the top left corner to bring down the program window menu.
3. Click on Properties.
4. Click the Layout tab.
5. Change the value of Window Height from 25 to 50.
6. Click Ok.
7. Close the Fighter Builder window and restart the program. It will now start in 50 column mode and all of the program will be visible.

2) Files are saved in the directory you specify or if you just give a filename, the files are saved in the directory the program is started from. On Linux/UNIX, this will probably be your home directory. On Windows, this will be c:\python24\lib\site-packages.

When saving Work-in-Progress, just give the name of the file with no extension (i.e. myfighter, c:\fighters\newfighter, /home/myhome/thefighter). Fighter Builder will automatically add an .fml extension to the file. Same applies when loading designs from the start of the program. Just specify the path to the file without an extension.

When saving HTML or PDF files, put an extension on the file (.html, .htm, .pdf). Otherwise, the same rules about where the file will be written apply as described.

3) Actually, it is. Fighter Builder produces results that exactly match the majority of the published TOG and Renegade Legion/Commonwealth designs. In the remaining cases, the differences are very slight (a ton here or there and costing differences between 100-10000 talents). In building the program, I had to get in the minds of the original designers so to speak and discovered a number of omissions or errors (i.e. life support mass and costing, turrets weight 10 percent of weapon mass) and incorporated those changes into the design program.

The minor differences are due to fractional rounding in the various calculations the program performs. I am working to make the program produce exact results for as many designs as possible. Most of the differences occur on anti-grav equipped designs. Fighter Builder probably produces more accurate results than the original game designers did.

The designs that shipped with Interceptor are much more in error than the Briefings. Performance-wise, they appear to be fine but there are obvious differences between the original designs and the briefings. I would recommend using the costs and masses from Fighter Builder.

4) The TOG Idis medium fighter lists the 5/3 laser as one of its weapons. It is not listed in the Interceptor construction rules. A little tinkering with the data files produced a set of values of for the 5/3 laser that match for the Idis. Basically, trial and error.

5) The published specifications for the TOG Onagri are incorrect. Either the designers took some "special liberties" with it or it is a misprint.

The Onagri should have two 3/4 lasers, not four. Reduce the laser count and the design comes out exactly in mass and cost in Fighter Builder compared to the values in the Briefing. Sorry for the loss of firepower everyone!