Anybody using carrier/drone cruisers?

i don't bother with the carrier cruisers, i also agree they need 2 squads of fighters/bombers or one of each...

I use them all the time. I play Advent though and they are more 'fighter' oriented since they get upgrades to the number of planes per squad etc.

They may seem not that useful til you get a huge fleet of them. A fleet of bombers/fighters mauls stuff.

I use the carrier cruisers plenty... when I'm going with a carrier heavy approach. I tend to prefer the capitol versions because they don't require babysitting, though.

I don't bother, the AI does it quite frequently but a few defensive/flak frigates will just rip them apart and they take forever to build. The only time where it is acceptable is when you have over fourty squadrons but chances are if you're using that you're facing a rather large fleet with plenty of flak waiting for you.

However, that being said you may be able to take out a cap ship or two first before your bombers all get nuked to oblivion by flak the real question is can your carriers do anything afterwards to prevent themselves from being destroyed? Chances are no.

I personally rely heavily on carriers in my fleets, and typically bombers.  Once you have your bombers upgraded with the best missiles, they're a very formidable attack force. 

I love the Percheron so far, and the capital carriers are great too. I enjoy watching a swarm of bombers just go hairy ape**** in a big fight.

I agree it'd be cool if they had two squadrons, even if they did some cost/supply re-balancing it would make them much more effective.

They are useful now, just a bit on the weak side.

So it seems like some people are using the carriers. Are you doing anything to counter flak/defense frigates. Like maybe attacking them first or bringing a couple missile frigs to take them out? Also have you noticed the AI building a lot of flak frigates? Does the AI actually adapt to your style if you start using a lot of carriers?

I agree that the capitol carriers are much better, but was wondering more about the cruiser versions.

My biggest issue with carriers is that you have to manually assign every carrier you build to select a squadron type. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I would really like to set carriers to default to bomber squadrons, without having to pick every single one.

Avoiding them :D

Select them as a group and you can set the groups squadrons -- you can re-allocate an entire fleets setup within seconds using this and shift click. Note: Its impossible to controll which squads are on which ship this way, so choosing your capitols one by one might make sense, especially for your carriers who have strike-craft boosting abilities.

The thing with carrier cruisers is you shouldn't group them. Let them just hang out at the edge of the gravity well. If you group them in a fleet they'll fly around the center of the battle and get shot.

And one squadron is enough, just build more.

Carriers are quite nice, but when an enemy brings in a flak frigate (or equivalent) the drones get wiped out. So you'll need other ships around to deal with the flak frigates.

Of course, the major advantage to using carriers is that they can sit at the edge of gravity well all ready to jump while they fight. Carriers are awesome for hit-and-run strategies.

I use them all the time, they're a perfect defensive reaction force. Just get about 20 of them in a group and if an enemy fleet comes to take down one of your planets phase them in quickly as possible and launch your bombers to take down the capships/planet killers doesnt matter if they get eaten up just as long as they've done their job, you can always spawn more bombers from the carriers anyway. Taking down those ships leaves the rest of the enemy fleet milling around in the sytem unable to do more than destroy a few of the things you have in orbit, most of the time they just give up and go home anyway.

I generally play Advent as I like the carrier and broadcast benefits the race gets.

To deal with flak frigates I stick 4 planetary bomber frigates and a shield repair cruiser in between the carriers and the fleet. planetary bombers always get targeted first, and the shield healer keeps them up long enough for the flak frigates to be destroyed.

My issue as a carrier fleet is with swarms of light frigates, as they keep getting reinforced by more of themselves by the AI, or they quickly jump to another planet for a quick raid and then return again.

How are you using them? Are you ordering all your ships to head to the center of the gravity well? If you order your ships to jump to a planet and then give the group attack orders (not move) then the carriers will hang out at the edge of the gravity well just fine even while grouped.

Carriers are the bread and butter of my fleet as TEC and Advent, moreso as Advent. Flak Frigates are good against my ships but since I don't actually lose anything to them (losing a squadron or two costs me nothing in the long run, just a couple seconds of rebuilding time). Very, very nice ships if you use them right.

I like the vasari carriers and the cruiser that can act as one too. a mixture of both fighter types is usually a good idea. Besides Vasari Carrier can repair hull damage so it's generally a very good idea.

Carrier cruisers are a must. You can augment Hanger defenses, and give a huge boost in attack power to your fleet. Also they rock in Stars grav well. Just build a lot of them.
Flak is a pain, but thats why I don't rely only on carriers. 2 per unit would be way too powerful.

Light carriers with 2 squadrons would be too much. as it is already a swarm of Light Carriers can usually kill/severely dmg your Main capital ship before your Flak frigs even begin to scratch them. If you are prone to heavy carriers then take the Sova carrier, Embargo is a good early game skill for boosting your credits and choking your enemies as TEC, and at level 6 it gets an ability that instantly replaces all it's own fighters/bombers and boosts the build speed of everything in the gravity well.

I play Advent, I love my carriers. Of course I don't use only carriers, and I team them up with my cap ships for the buffs and shield regen.

Think of it this way. Last night I was launching 39 bomber squadrons that had a 60% damage boost. They were 2 volleying cap ships and single volleying structures. Enemy gets close? Ok, Guardians and beam frigates go! Combined with the Cap Carriers ability to increase the RoF of beam weapons and the Guardians defensive abilities I was taking out enemy fleets of equal size and losing 1-2 frigates.

If you're not moving your fleet around the gravity well, you're not using it correctly.

Also with carriers in your fleet you should goto tactics and set them to tight formation so other ships stay within range of the repair/buff.

In large groups, especially in conjunction with a main battlefleet, drone cruisers will make your enemies tear their hair out. They have to choose between your heavy hitters and that group of carriers fleeing around the edge of the gravity well. Good times.

Of course, I play Advent, might be less effective with other factions.

even a few light carriers with bombers left unchecked will vastly change the tide of battle. the things are REALLY powerful if your enemy doesnt 1-up you on fighters, but currently they are also spammable, making them too powerful late game. (able to assassinate cap ships in 3 or 4 fly bys! thats INSANE!)

I find them great for harassment. A few in a gravity well can raid in perfect safety, ready to jump out at a moments notice.

They seem underpowered in fleet battles, though. *shrug*

I think giving them an actual ability would be good, heh.

Bombers are about the only unit in the game where you can realistically mass enough to murder a ship in a single pass. And unless you want to blow your entire cap count on carriers, you can't do that with the cap carriers.