Cheapie carriers

In stock they are realy useful in hunting down dificult to catch but otherwise soft targets like empty carriers and transports. All of which seem to be able to outrun warships. This is a particular problem with stock but I have used them in the Balance Mod and with Maran's AI's

I put a few figther bays on my DD and it helped.

Thanks for the advice.

.> And this is why I support the limiting of fighter bays to carrier ships and space stations only.

But nice idea anyway and I must try it myself in stock

i like to put 1 fighter bay (and 1 satellite bay) on a freigter.

In all but warp-point seiges, the slow launch time is irrelevent. The capacity is just... impressive.

ast time i checked, the game didn't care HOW the cargo capacity was generated.

If 1 bay supported 1 fighter, it would be different...

Troll? No, Sir, I am a BADGER!

Interesting. I thought I was the only one doing the Destroyer = Escort Carrier bit.

Good to know there are highly inventive people out there.

Nevyn, you clearly don't get the concept of the "ships" in the game simply being several differently sized boxes.
It's the crap one places in them that determines their role.

For example, take a US navy Battleship.
Replace all the cannon with cruise missiles.
Suddenly, you have a super heavy Missileboat instead of a Battleship.

With high enough Shields/Armor and Weapons technology, my "destroyer" hull could in fact be a Battleship.

Allso, think of it this way.
Two empires start in the same system, and make war.
Their "Battleships" are infact, "Frigates", but filled to the brim with Guns and armor. (unless it's an AI, in which case they're Battlecruisers because of all the engines.)
Their Destroyers are merely Point-Defence equipped "Frigates"
And their Frigates, well, they're the Cheapo Battleship. (under-gunned, under-armored, made by the dozen etc. etc.)
Then they gain "Destroyer" hulls, and suddenly have bigger Battleships, and the Frigates remain the same. The old Battleships are re-designated as Cruisers. Etc Etc.

I actually like the capacity to have my Freighters and Colonyships defend themselves with a fighter wing. (I think of them as having a 'false' cargo pod that's really a fighter bay instead, much like Klingons with their Battleship Freighters)

Now, I'm all for restricting myself in what sizes or model of fighters I put in anything other than a BattleCarrier or "Carrier" hull, but not to making it so fighterbays can only be used on "Carriers".

Hmmm, I feel something is wrong with my post, but I don't want to re-write it.
____________________
I'll make one later.

I commonly make escort carriers from transports.

I have one game at the moment just started where I use fighters and use an escort carrier just to move the fighters through wp's.

I just use fighers for defense of my systems, in my eyes they are perfect for that. if im going to be hauling something around with my fleet, its going to be drones. i like to place a drone launcher or two on all attack DD, LC, CC ships, if ever there was a possibility of me getting overwhelming, i would just go balls to the wall and launch all drones immediately.

Just note: my similarly armed carrier will take out your carrier in a similar fashion.

And good luck killing off my carrier: Because of the cost of even a light carrier, I run escorts. I'm still working on the ideal mix, but something like:

2 Guardians: Frigates/Light Cruisers armed with as many PD weapons as I can afford (For taking out fighters/missiles)
1 Warship: Largest hull I have equipped with a mix of mid-range weapons and maximum armor (Support)
1 Siege Tank: Largest hull I have equipped with the longest range weapons I have (For taking out Bases)
1 Troopship: Troops, satellites, and weapons platforms to take over planets.
1 Supply ship: Transport ship with every available space going to supply/ordinance storage and generation (Bio-engineering for ordinance Vats, if I have it). Also a repair bay.

For 1 light carrier. I find carriers work best against enemy ships, and with the warship, I don't lose much against ships. The Siege Tank minimizes risk against whatever Space Stations the opponents have up (they can't move to engage me, and I can sit out of their range), and troopship takes the planet.

The main escorts, however, are the Guardians. I have found that a Frigate loaded down with PD weapons can do more than it's worth to a fully loaded carrier, and 3-5 Frigates can usually beat a Light Carrier armed only with fighters, assuming similar levels of technology. As such, I keep the Guardians along to block out enemy fighters (and, more often, missiles).