I've received some very helpful advice regarding carrier AI with regards to the fighters / bombers they carry, and I've read through other threads discussing this topic.
Here is what I gather:
- Specialize your carrier into like fighters/bombers.
- The reason you don't mix fighters with bombers assuming you have a ship with at least two bays is because the current version of the carrier AI will recall the fighters (unlimited ammo) at the same time the bombers are coming back having used their ammo on a bombing run. This leads to your fighters being out of action for an unnecessary amount of time.
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While its true that specializing can be helpful, the reason is incorrect. The AI does not switch to recall right away when a bomber launches right away, and sometimes does not switch at all (if it is high on replacement, at high aggression, or if the fighters outnumber the bombers). In 50/50 cases the carrier often will recall the fighters a little bit after the bombers have launched, but thats more often than not the right call: a single wing is going to get chewed up and accomplish little in most cases other than not be ready for the next bomber strike.
When there are multiple bombers in a carrier, they will consistently all fire their weapons, and they will maintain a staggered wing deployment depending on their type (value are in the fighter CSV file) that attempts to have them hit the enemy in a smart way. This staggering also works when there are fighters mixed in, usually with the fighters hitting the target ship first to try and drive up shield flux and distract point defense. The staggered wings of a flight group
move at the speed of the slowest wing until they are within engagement distance of an enemy, in order to maintain formation, so mixing in a slow fighter can be very bad for overall flight group performance.
In terms of fighters, there are 3 main types:
1) Interceptors. They have high speed (>275, up to 450 for Thunders) and decent firepower, making them excellent at killing frigates and responding quickly. They have lower defenses that make them vulnerable to the gunfire of large concentrations of enemies. Suggested use: Bind 2 or more carriers into one action group (using the ctr-#'s) and use them to assassinate lone enemies with fighter strikes, OR to support a "duel" between 2 ships that you want your ship to win faster (accompany with an order for the ship to eliminate as well). I like 2+ condors with Thunders for these tasks. Interceptors should almost never be mixed with other groups: the other groups drag down their travel speed and expose them to more fire.
In my opinion interceptors are the most useful fighter type, but they
require a player watching the battlefield and directing them to where the concentration of force they bring will do good, rather than just letting them do their thing.
2) Assault Fighters. These have lower speeds (200 or less), but tend to have strong defenses and many flares. They can better survive enemy gunfire than interceptors, but aren't fast enough to catch frigates or SO destroyers. Massed wings of assault fighters can grind down cruisers and normal destroyers mercilessly and can be very effective in providing support to your own ships. Assault fighters provide pressure to confuse and grind down the enemy. Warthogs are quite slow, but with their HE, toughness, and flares, can orbit slower ships and kill quick. Broadswords are the anti-shield assault fighter and have tons of flares so mix well with Warthogs, EMP ships (one of the few times to mix in an interceptor is Claw + Broadsword, though I like Claw + Gladius a little better usually), or bomber wings.
When broadswords are included in a mixed fighter/bomber wing, they will lead the way, fire anti-shield weapons (lmgs), and launch flares that stop the incoming bombs from being targeted.
3) Bombers. Even lower speeds and do single attack runs. Bombers are best used either in massed strikes of multiple carriers (again use ctr-# to attempt coordination) or against enemies that are high flux to start with. Most bombing runs will do no damage to their targets, but a successful one can very quickly deal heavy anti-armor/hull damage. For bombers, flight speed is
extremely important, as it both determines their duty cycle and how long they are exposed to enemy fire: mixing bombers of different types is usually fine, but beware the slow bomber making the whole group bad. Special mention goes to Longbows, because they fire anti-shield sabot missiles instead of anti-armor rockets/torpedoes: great for antishield, and they try to hit before the HE (currently rather unreliable, I think the distance in the file is set incorrectly), so mixing a Longbow + HE can be very good.
For 2 deck carriers I don't like mixing assault fighters and bombers because it leaves the bomber strike itself anemic - just have to try and direct the bombers to a vulnerable enemy. For 3 deck carriers with bombers, I like putting either 1 Broadsword or 1 Longbow and 2 Bombers, to give flare/kinetic support to the bomber strike while still having good 'punch'.
One thing that boosts carriers that might not be obvious at first glance: CR. High CR not only makes the flight decks more efficient, but it
does apply its bonuses to the fighters! A 100% CR carrier has +10% offense, defense, speed for the fighters and better autoaim accuracy (very important for all of them!). Crew training for 15% CR is a MUST for carrier fleets (even though it also applies to warships, its a better carrier skill than the reduction in rebuild time alone!). Officers with the +15% CR industry skill are a big help for large carriers too (and the more obvious skills as well for those officers, but I wanted to highlight CR).
Wow that turned into a text wall! Happy starsectoring!