I was thinking something else... If they're going to re-code the fighters/pilots to have squad bonuses... The repair/reload/scanner abilities could be put into different "droid heads" sticking up out of the back of the X- and Y-wings (unsure of what to do for TIEs ).

You choose which kind of droid you want as pilot, then spawn in a fighter and get that one behind the cockpit of your fighter. The 'Blue' (R2) could repair, the 'Red' (R5) could scan, and the 'Black' or 'Grey' (R4?) could reload. It'd probably be a mess to code, but maybe something to consider for the future...?

Sadly, the beacons have smaller circles the larger the map. Space maps are so big, you'd probably not even see the circle. It might be effective if you used the standard Officer-class UAV scanner radius... but that's debatable.

cant the devs make them bigger

Flying in formation takes skill and should give an advantage. Obviously there would be a maximum repair speed but it should increase slightly with every fighter added (up to 6?)

This would encourage people to form up and head into a fight as a squadron Something that is serverely lacking right now. Ideally, two squadrons would fly at each other in formation before breaking up into dogfights. Also imagine formation bombing runs. The capship gets the advantage of aiming at a whole formation rather than one fighter, and the fighters can take hits and keep on bombing.

For this idea to work the repair radius must be kept pretty low. You would also need voice commands like "form on me" and "break formation"

With regards to the radar idea, that would be a useful addition to the squad elader, encoruaging the squad to stay together even after breaking up into dogfights.

great idea Canadiens1160, but instead of repair, how about a permanent radar effect around the team leader? He and his squad would be able to see on the mini-map all enemy spacecraft, but only if he had x number of squad members.

Good idea, altough I wouldn't agree with 'all' enemy spacecrafts but those in a close radious, I agree.

Would it not also be an idea to give those who are flying with the squadron leader Attack bonus?

Well, a gameplay reason could be that since the force is in all living things, that when a team leader is able to focus his team into a single objective, that collective force power can influence machines to enhance repair time or perhaps increase damage done by team weapon systems.

That sounds pretty far fetched, I doubt many people would buy into that.

Other neat stuff would be the ability for a Squadron Leader to have shielding simulating extra armour, a visual indicator for friendly and enemy craft that he's a squadron leader, the ability to set waypoints, etc.

Though, most of the neat stuff depends on a squad leader being outside a vehicle a la the ground map unlocks.

Canadiens, Ty, I don't dislike the idea at all. As a matter of fact I like it very much. All I'm saying is that if some better alternative to repairs was found, that'd be really nice in my eyes. If the devs end up giving squadron leaders the ability to repair friendlies, so it is. No problem here.

Well, the DS Radar effect would certainly help with the enemy fighters. Besides, being able to tell which turrets are active would be a nice advantage...

yeah that would be. i think this is a really good idea. maybe the capital ships radar should be made smaller