How to bring down Vipers?

[Laie]

My current technique for dealing with tough opponents is to bring together four attackers, then pull out one after the other as they take damage.
This works reasonably well; I can "defeat" even Gunships or Destroyers that way; however, I rarely manage a kill. When they break off the battle, they usually get away. I can only catch them if they're kind enough to slow down again later. I also hear that some vessels (Vipers among them) have regenerating shields, so I guess I shouldn't let them escape at all.

The only vessel fast enough to stay in touch is the Nightmare, 1LT / 3MS -- if I want a shield, I have to surrender the sole light weapon slot.

The task (as I imagine it) is to bring one Nightmare into the battle, somehow make sure that it's NOT going to be attacked while the others do most of the work, so that it can deal the final blow at the end the battle. Or maybe it's mere presence will prevent the enemy from escaping, idk; either way, it needs to stay in the fight until the end. I have no idea how to achieve this.

Is this the only way? How do you do it?

--
My main weapons are Lascannon (LT) and these Double Reticulan Thingies ("Heavy" in name only). Two Plasma Spitters(Lt) and one Gat Lascannon(Hv).
Basilisks are a recent discovery and might bring down a vessel as it tries to get away, or they may not. Haven't tried that yet.

[Delian]

You can put items that increase speed on certain craft.

[Laie]

I don't think that's going to help in my case. What eludes me, for now, are Heavy Gunships and Vipers, 4800 and 5200 knots.
The ships I have are either fast enough but fragile, or so much slower that even two speed buffs won't be enough.

[John___Doe]

Vipers are about the highest tier of small enemy craft, they are not easy to down safely. Still, four nightmares with missiles should be enough. What are you using, if not that?

As for speeding up tougher craft, the crab can reach 5000 speed with an augmented engine and supercell. There is also the ethyr drive if you happen to have ethyr orbs.

[Laie]

Vipers are about the highest tier of small enemy craft, they are not easy to down safely. Still, four nightmares with missiles should be enough. What are you using, if not that?

Currently my interceptor fleet consists of 2x Swordfish, 2x Crab. The hope is that the Crabs have enough firepower to down a Viper on the first try. I'll know the next time they show up. l also have one Nightmare and will certainly try to use it in some way; but it's the most fragile vessel and I'm afraid it's also going to be the first one to be targeted.

I want all of my ships to have shields and tell them to back off as soon as the shields are down. Which often means "after the first hit". I feel like I can't afford lengthy repairs. Maybe I have too little hangar space: with enough fighters I wouldn't need to worry about several of them being in the workshop at any given time. If I had started restructuring one of my outposts the first time I thought this, I could now have twice as many birds in the air.

Augmented Engines? (checks Xpedia) that depends on several technologies I haven't even heard about yet, so I guess it's a least a couple of months in the future. I have recently found my first Shadow Orb of Something and fount that it can be turned into a very powerful shadowtech... not anytime soon, however. What I have are these swiveling jets, and Supercells are being researched as I type this.

Anything that requires Higher Studies is out. The main reason I'm looking for Vipers is to get the last missing pre-requisite for Higher Studies.

[John___Doe]

Nightmares arent that fragile, but you will need more than one. 8 bases is more than enough to afford the space for a second interceptor squadron, so do it.

[Laie]

....aaaand it has happened. In the event, it even was quite easy.

The key was a) guns with sufficient range to throw a few rounds after the escaping enemy, and b) enough boom to take them down before they're away. That's not exactly a new strategy; it's just that last time around, I lacked the firepower. Two crabs with basilisks were plenty enough, though; I guess even one would have sufficed. Or some missiles, which I haven't used much so far.