Tip: when you are losing carriers vs. carriers case.....

Bring along some anti-fighter frigates?  That would help keep your fighters alive.

Yep thats right and alot of them, also bring some other frigates an cruisers to attack the carriers, if some of your carriers are capital ships attack the enemy with them.

You would lose AM retreating....

This is why you would want to have some non-carrier ships in your fleet (balanced fleet!!!) - you can still fight on without air cover (though run the risk of fighters killing the LRMs)

genrally a combat cap - Kol, Radiance, Kortul - is the best kind to bring, along with light frigates and maybe a few HCs

what I was going for really was a certain firepower spread.  the combat caps are meant to jump right into a group of smaller ships and "spread the pain".  but I didn't know the Radiance didn't have anti-strikecraft, tho.

Does anyone know if Animosity affects strike craft? If so, you could use it to divert the attention of fighters (bombers not such a good idea).

How much does the TEC capital carrier Sova's Rapid Manufacturing ability speed up replacement fighters?

This is one of the reasons I tell people that if they force a raiding carrier fleet to withdraw, pursue them mercilessly if you are able and don't let them recover.

If you wanted to split your fleet in a situation such as this, about how many light frigates (or whatever other ship you choose) per carrier would you send after?  Considering they're virtually empty of strikecraft, I can't imagine the answer would be a ton.

depending on the situation though, it might also help if you ordered your carriers to keep strike craft docked as long as they are still in construction. that way they don't get shit down one by one and when you have them like 80% or so complete you can release a new, big swarm to attack anew. though I have my doubts that battles last long enough for a full rebuild of that kind, but if you have enough other forces it could work.

else, retreat is probably a good idea. no need to lose the territorial battle and your fleet.

That is impossible to say, what race are you playing what race's carriers are you chasing, where on the map is it, are you just chasing him home or do you want to kill him before he gets there, what is your and your oponents reshearch level, etc etc

But as has been stated, a well balanced fleet is past this problem of loosing the air war and it is possible to make fleets that greatly reduce the power of strikecraft(say hallo to 2x heyclon carrier caps with lvl3 telepush etc)

It seems the counter to everything is -->1' make a *balanced fleet* 2'argument your fleet with ->2a' counters to the enemys 1unit spam or 2b' powerenhancment if he uses a balanced fleet

Another item that will help your carriers out is researching better AM regen rates and storage capacity.  Not only will it help your carrier fleet, but it will help your anti-SC cap ships (especially jam weapons, flak burst, tele push) as well as every other cap ship.  Also, researching the anti-AM abilities for LFs are a MUST now.

As Vasari, I supplement my carrier fleet with MARZA!

O wait this isn't the marzabaiting thread....

But yeah, if you spammed carriers only and still lost the strikecraft battle maybe you should consider at least a minimal diversity of 2 light frigates for every carrier you build for your next fleet. 

Unless he's got a huge number of bombers or light frigates and as long as I have other ships I'll keep the carriers in the gravwell - better than the AM hit... 

If your opponent is just letting his strikecraft auto-target (which a bunch of people do:/) you can keep one or two squadrons out and just kite the enemy fighters all over the gravwell while the rest of your cover regenerates. 

Hmmm well id advise IF you were vasari to build pure bomber and take out carrier by carrier vasari bomber can live for A LONG TIME plus with that phaze missle stuff OWWWWW. Oblvisly if your any other race just run rebuild and mix your fleet then rape.

Unless you are purpacely leaving them there to draw all of the enemies bombers and fighters while you do soemthign else. Their is more then one way to nutralise a carrier force, monopolising their strike craft is one of those ways.

Personally, I keep my Perchions in a differant group and as soon as the main fleet gets the attack orders, I send the carriers on a mad run around the outside of the gravity well.  On big battles they sometimes make the full loop.  I have noticed that the enemy bombers that try to go after them do catch up to them but their attack is so strung out that the carriers shrug off the hits. And since they are regenerating on the run. there is always a few fighters that intercept the bombers on their way to the main fleet target.  Against the AI, I have been able to wear the AI's 40 carriers down with as little as 10 perchions in support of the main fleet.

bring in 3 or so kol's with flak cannon and mow down all the strike craft in seconds!

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never relied heavily on carriers before. I don't play Sins all that often (I'm at college, and I have a mac here, so I can't play it), but in the TEC game I have saved at home, I recently started using percherons. How important should those be to my fleet? The focus for me has been on capital ships, and my frigates (other than Hoshikos) have been treated as little more than a screen to preserve my capital ships. The more I read here, the more I realize how weak my tactics have been.

Mind you, I haven't been playing online either, so I haven't been able to hone my skills against humans. So as I'm shifting more towards mixed unit tactics (protecting my LRMs, using carriers, adding more Marzas to my fleets), I'm beginning to wonder about carrier tactics.

What's more important: capital carriers or light carriers? Should I bother with Sovas and the like, or no? What's a decent amount of carriers for an large fleet? Should I try to micro my fighters, or let them do their own thing (is this ever wise)? What about bombers?

Sorry for the bombardment of questions haha, I appreciate the help in advance.

Capital carriers generally suck. Only useful for their abilities. Sovas are particularly bad.

tho' i agree it must be said that a highlvl capcarrier with 7 squards + whatever abillities it has is a pretty good deal considering fleet supply

Carriers are very important. Air superority is something you really want to have in this game. Hoshinkos are also very important. As TEC, I would want any available unit that can help my fragile ships stay alive longer.

you guys are all saying the same thing.Build a balnced fleet and you will be fine. retreat if you need to.if you really want to get rid  of his strike craft go on a TEMPORARY anti-fighter spam.just enough to tip the odds in your favor.

Better to dock them before they get killed, and launch them when they are high on health or are really needed. I've done many battles where I went through 2-3 cycles of this - comes naturally from the very first Sins game if you have played a lot of Vaygr

what have i done...

I created a sins meme