I've never actually seen a game with advanced fighters because of the steep tech requirements. The tech requirement is a tad less steep in the base game, but still greater than war suns plus the much easier to get defense turrets makes it seem pointless.
I don't think I can remember seeing Advanced Fighters in play due to their depth in the tech tree. (But while they require six prerequisites in the standard tech tree, they're a tier-4 tech in the alternate tree; only War Suns has a steeper depth as the only tier-5 tech in the alternate tree.) It's still a good tech if Cybernetics can also be grabbed to increase the Fighters' attack power, but it definitely requires a lot of commitment to technology to the detriment of production - it's much more reasonable to go for in the alternate tree.
I'd say it's actually less reasonable in the alternate tree. Both have 6 prerequisites, but in the standard tree they're all super useful techs. In fact they're the best techs in the game!
Anti-Mass deflectors, XRD, Type IV drive, Enviro Compensator, Stasis Capsules, Neural Motivators
Compare that to the 6 in the alternate tree:
Cybernetics, the least useful tier 3 red path, Anti-mass deflectors, Maneuvering jets.
Boosted somewhat in the alternate tree by making defense turrets much harder to get, but still I can't see ever getting them over something else. Maaaaybe Jol-Nar....
I misunderstood you when you said "steep tech requirements", I thought you were talking about technology costs and not technology utility. But I think you're still misreading the alternate technology tree: you only need Graviton Negator OR Maneuvering Jets (in addition to Cybernetics), not both. So you could grab Advanced Fighters with just Cybernetics, Anti-Mass Deflectors, and Maneuvering Jets, ignoring the red tree completely.
If you were going to host a Battlestar Galactica game next, make it the Mentak fleeing their destroyed homeworld in their last surviving ship, pursued by the Winnu in their basestar.
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Anyone ever see them in action?
Anti-Mass deflectors, XRD, Type IV drive, Enviro Compensator, Stasis Capsules, Neural Motivators
Compare that to the 6 in the alternate tree:
Cybernetics, the least useful tier 3 red path, Anti-mass deflectors, Maneuvering jets.
Boosted somewhat in the alternate tree by making defense turrets much harder to get, but still I can't see ever getting them over something else. Maaaaybe Jol-Nar....