Carrier Battle Groups

I'm one, who uses fighters and bombers as my sword and Battleship(with heavy cruisers supports) as my shield. One time I run with 4 fleets, made up of 2 battleships and two heavy carriers. They are really good for supporting each other when you play as Vasari empire.

Carrier Battle Groups obviously aren't entirely about the carriers.

A Vasari CVBG would consist of 1+ Skirantra Carriers, 1+ Antorak Marauders, and then lots of Lasurak Transporters, some Ravastra Skirmishers and a few Stilakus Subverters.

The Lasuraks, with Fighter and Bomber Squadrons divided evenly, would provide the core firepower of the fleet. The Ravastras with their speed and AntiHeavy weapons could hunt down enemy flak. The Skirantras would put up their own Fighter Squads, provide Repair Clouds for the strike craft, and maybe even put up a Microphasing Aura. The Antoraks would provide a necessary speed boost with Distort Gravity to get the carrier fleet away from direct-firing enemies, and along with Stilakus Subverters, they could make attacks on the enemy fleet with Defeat Shields, Distortion Field and Phase Out Hull to amplify the effectiveness of strike craft attacks.

An Advent CVBG would consist of 1+ Halcyon Carriers, a Rapture Battlecruiser, lots of Aeria Drone Hosts, a group of Iconus Guardians, and some Disciple Vessels.

The Aerias would carry the Fighter/Bomber Squadrons which provide the firepower, the Guardians would use Shield Projection and Repulsion to protect the fleet from direct-fire opponents, the Halcyons would provide some stronger squads with Adept Drone Anima and some bomber defense with Telekinetic Push, the Rapture would obviously use it's Concentration Aura, and the Disciples would hunt flak and provide an antimatter tank for the Guardians and caps.

The TEC would depend on Sova Carriers with Heavy Fighters and Rapid Manufacturing for any degree of air superiority, and their Percherons would thus have to be all-Bombers or with only a few extra Fighters for anti-LRF duties. The Cobalt would be as effective as the others in flak-hunting with it having the same speed. But the TEC support cruisers don't have abilities that really support carrier fleets much. On top of that, their normal(non-Heavy) Fighters and their Bombers are kind of lousy.

With the TEC I usually go for repair ships (HRCs) before carriers.

As it is, I don't plot out my fleet compositions. It's more an organic process.

Early, LRM are the obvious ship to flesh the fleet out with. Backed with HRCs and a Kol or Donuv you can quickly burn down most enemy caps. I research Siege units next, unless the enemy is showing a carrier strat, so then it's Flak. Siege diving to an enemy's planet puts the enemy between a rock and a hard place -- attack the siege and save the planet or fight my main fleet? Even four siege is scare and pretty much any choice the enemy makes is not optimal for them.

Upgrade repair speed/hull points and max repairs per (not sure what the techs are called) -- and almost no one DOES those two upgrades fairly early -- and you're in a good position.

Once I have the rights to build LRMs, Siege, Flak and HRCs it's just a matter of blending to suit my needs. Usually LRMs still make the backbone of my fleet, but flaks get in there in a good number.

Carriers are... not as effective for TEC, I think, as main line ships. TEC is a tanking race, lots of armor and hit points, so I like to upgrade for hits and repair and armor before I up weapons damage and carriers don't benefit from that. I switch over to carriers late game when I can spam 20 or so and have weapon upgrades.

You guys go into this great detail about your fleets... All I do not even worry about adding ships in! With Advent 3 Halcyon Carriers and 15 Aeria Dron Hosts can kill just about anything with waves of fighters, including the Flacks. I clear Pirate bases with ease using the fleet listed above.

Of course my units are all upgraded. I research up pretty quick.

Cool, thanks for all the replies guys, especially you pesky: I went looking for other posts by you and you know a whole lot more than me on how the game mechanics and % boosts work.

Glad to know im not alone out there.

That should (and probably would) lose to an equal fleet of Def Vessels, unless you completely out-tech the opponent.
So given equal grounds you'd be too one-sided.

Ofc, that is assuming the opponent is prepared. If he ain't fat chance you can plow all over him. Then he'll start hastily cranking out flak frigs, and you can meanwhile build HCs to counter those. *grin*

(yes, most people are that predictable, it's sad)

One time (as the Advent) I spammed about 80 Drone Hosts and 5 Halcyon Carriers. Let's just say I completely obliterated the AI. Normally, though, I have about 10 in my fleets, which gives me quite an edge, as you can pick off retreating ememy ships.

As advent i use carriers with bombers to clean up planets.

I just run from planet to asteroid chasing people who run, or after smashing their fleet, to get to their more important spots and along the way ill leave 4-6 carriers with bombers to clean up buildings on those now undefended planets.
They do the best for that as you can retreat them easily and defenses cant shoot them.(except fighters in hanger def)

But you only need 1 flak per 3 carriers to stop them.. Flak are extremely powerful at killing fighters, especially sentinels with their AOE. Flaks counter their counter better than any other unit counters their counters, which is understandable as fighters/bombers are very good.

I honestly love the carriers! I find them just POWER houses. I usually will run something like a carrier, and then a few of the light carrier cruisers with some frigate support. A mix of the long ranges with the basic in your face frigates. I love using fighters they are very very nice.

I haven't really been able to get down exact numbers in fleets and things like that just yet, because i'm still just playing with set ups. I haven't thought about using more then one carrier.... I think i should. sounds like a plan!

That's why a carrier fleet would have to have a compliment of Light/Long-Range Frigates to kill the flaks, and in the case of the Vasari, an Antorak Marauder(or multiple). Since flaks generally don't come around in large numbers, the frigate group should be able to kill them and escape the enemy's actual fleet with their speed.

The Antorak helps in this because it can keep up to 5 of the enemy's heavy cruisers or capital ships out of the battle with Phase Out Hull, or even Phase Out the flak screen just before the Bombers make their attack run. Survivability would be a non-issue for the Marauders and their escort frigates with Distort Gravity allowing them to get away whenever they want.