Morek

The trick to using carriers effectively is that you really should keep them in a separate fleet from your main fleet, so they don't keep at range with your capitals and stay tightly in engagement range. Have them sit near the edge of the gravity well or close to your structures, and kite anything that tries to attack them (you won't outrun them but most frigates stop to shoot, so keeping them moving cuts down on the damage you receive). Carrier swarms get very scary when they get considerably la

What bothers me is that it can feel like your victory is assured by the 1.5-2h mark, yet it takes you another 2h-3h of crushing the opposing fleets repeatedly to get to the victory screen. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but it feels like it takes a very long time for victory to crystallize unless the opponent concedes defeat.

When your opponent makes nothing but massed LRM, make carrier cruisers and crush him with 3:1 ratio of fighters:bombers. have the cruisers kite his fleet while his frigates are completely destroyed by your drones. LRM are anti-frigate ships, dealing huge damage with good range, yet no tank. Fighters will shred them like crazy, and LRMs will not be able to catch up to your cruisers easily, or do damage as easily (damage penalty against support cruisers, vs damage bonus against light frigates).