Carriers frigates cap's or cap carriers?

I'm wondering which is more awesome. It seems to me that bombers are total pwnage... has anybody enough experience to tell me whether a more balanced force is ftw or should i just be spamming carriers...

Are fighters any good? is it plausible to carry a lesser amount of fighters with your strong-arm battleship/frigate force and fare well against a zerg of bomber/carriers?

Is there a paper rock scissors of sorts im interested to know...
8,091 views 9 replies
Reply #1 Top
The idea is not to spam in this game. It's supposed to be designed towards combined arms strategies.
Considering the dedication to their game, IC designed it such that you should probably go with the balanced force.

There isn't supposed to be a paper rock scissors, though there are obvious counters such as the flak frigate against strikecraft.

And don't consider "zerg"ing in a game like this. It's a waste of time and other people's patience. This isn't your usual strategy game.

Otherwise, enjoy!
Reply #2 Top
I could stop carrier spam in Beta quite easily :/ I doubt release is much different.
Reply #3 Top
Carrier spam is easily countered by a handfull of flaks, and a regular fleet.
Reply #4 Top
There isn't supposed to be a paper rock scissors, though there are obvious counters such as the flak frigate against strikecraft.


In fact, this is the only such counter mechanic because fighters/bombers can't be targetted by other ships (other than fighters themselves, that is).

But yes, carrier spam is easily beatable. Bomber swarms lose a lot of momentum after their alpha strike :)
Reply #5 Top
Fighters are quite useful, and if you are really worried about bomber fleets, just use only fighters on your caps... the fighter also gets a big damage bonus against... guess... LRMs

That is very important, as next to the Carrier the LRM is the next best ranged ship.

Notably, Bombers don't do so well against such ships either, they do well against Caps and Buildings, but only averagely against lighter fare; thus the LRM can do a great job at hammering carriers, as they are quick, long ranged, and the carrier is slow and also long ranged.

Bombers are a very effective tool in large quantities, but a good mixed fleet will beat them up; just be prepared to lose a capital ship. Also with fleet mechanics the Flak frigate does a good job now... they just don't stop the initial strike. You may not want to send a capital ship in against such a fleet... at least not right away; send in LRMs and Flak, the bombers will hit them up a bit, and then send in the capitals after the intial pay load is used.

Good luck.
Reply #7 Top
Is there much difference between the fighters/bombers of each race? I think I saw that the big carriers have differing capacities, but what about the squadrons themselves?
Reply #8 Top
fighter swarms are great but should not be relied on to win the battle. back your fighter spam with some heavy hitters ie. kols, LMRs and kodiaks. use them to disrupt and distract.
Reply #9 Top
I've found that fighters tend to distract enemy fleets while your big gunned caps and cruisers grind them down. Can be very useful support. I've not used a carrier based fleet though cause I don't like what happens when something big gets in close to them.

Carriers are also great raiders cause they can stay near the phase lanes and hit the enemy without taking any damage.

For a full fleet battle though they aren't so great. For support in that full fleet battle they're fantastic. Get your ships moving in a line and you can beat even a larger fleet by cutting off and eating small peaces at a time.