New Fleet Carrier for Hiigarans •• PurpleKalamar, Odie

What the Hiigaran fleet really needs is a "fleet carrier", a ship that has only minimal production capability (fighters and corvettes), however is able to house a great deal of ships, from fighters to frigates. It should also have two available module slots and one modular weapon.
The task here is to design a new carrier that is larger in size than the standard one, similarly to the current Battle Carrier (or Supercarrier, as it's called in REARM).

If there are any details we can help modellers with ,please don't hesitate to provide those.

Model update by PurpleKalamar:

At around the 0:20 mark you can see a crew pod being installed on the Bishop Transport. Cut Scene 2. Having seen that, I put together the following with a hanger bay in place of the crew pod.

Are you proposing we use the shuttle as fleet carrier? A modified one, that is.
You got the task I suppose.

@naka 1 slot One modest gun please; this isn't a full combat ship.

@ odie great job, I'd tweak the hull so that the carrier nodules fit.

Are we done already?

Remember that this would require a complete redesigning of the perfectly working shuttle. I don't think we should fix what isn't broken.

I know it's probably a lot to ask, but could the current fleet carrier be modified instead? You can say no, of course.

Sadly, this was not an active project when my computer crashed and so was not backed up.  But I can easily recreate it if necessary.

Nakamura wrote:I know it's probably a lot to ask, but could the current fleet carrier be modified instead? You can say no, of course.

What about the current fleet carrier are you thinking you want changed?

Size. It needs to be like 20% bigger. We need to lose the defense field and it needs to have fighter and corvette production, as well as two module slots and 1 modular gun.

I would want the launch area changed too.

I thought we removed the shuttle with the juggs.

This is a good idea, IMO.
I propose we make it somewhat modular. Say, 13 hardpoints that can be used for a variety of specific add-ons - two for production subsystems, three for modules, two for larger gun emplacements (selectable from cruiser secondary armament), four for lighter anti-fighter defence (selectable from the standard range of defensive turrets), and two sensors slots.

Font = 100000: NOOOO

THIS IS NOT A COMBAT SHIP. IT IS A SUPPORT SHIP.

A Fleet Carrier is by definition a combat ship. A non-combat carrier isn't a fleet carrier.

alc we've already defined its role. It is a flying hanger ship. It shoulnt be able to hold its own in a firefight against caps or bigger. It ha one module slot so you can fit jump engines OR production. and it has one modest slot, for moderate firepower.

Module slots aren't equal with production modules. There is no way to make a choice between the two. That would be completely against the game design.
Two modules, like on every carrier, fighter and corvette production and one modest gun should be just fine considering this would be an engineering division ship (or commander rank)

@Naka
The hardpoints are the same regardless of what is scripted to be constructed on each hardpoint, whether it be defined as a module slot, weapon slot or whatever. I wasn't suggesting allowing a choice between them to the player.

@IGBC: Imo, a large asset like a fleetcarrier ought to be able to hold off a cruiser sized opponent or a couple of DDs.

@alc, but it shouldn't be able to be a line-breaker ship, and it should be able to hold up against a CC or DD only while the smaller craft are undocking, then you wanna get it outa there, or have the smaller craft fight it's battles for it. It is after all supposed to be a reasonably inexpensive ship (3500 imo)

Why would it be an inexpensive ship? We already have the light carrier and the standard carrier to perform in the early and midgame. A fleet carrier ought to be the top tier carrier, as that is the area we are trying to clean up currently.

On the contrary, I would regard the CVF as an expensive ship, 5000-8000 for the hull, similar research costs to the BC.
It's main armament is its air wing, but it also has a command function, thus needs to have the option to build Fire control and defence control towers. It's role is to provide robust cover for the BC, BB fleet, and behind the lines strikes in support of the fleet. As you say, it needs to be able to drop off its air wing and jump out and therefore needs enough firepower to defend itself in a light firefight.

This debate was knocking around on the complex forum for years (carrier, lost legacy thread)!

But... But.... It's not meant to be fighty, so it shoudnt cost much. Regardlessvof its true its meant to be a flying hanger nothing much more.

Note that ALC said light firefights. It doesn't need more than 1 modest gun or two heavy kinetic pre-built guns.

CVF is not a flying hangar - this describes the standard carrier, LC (though it is actually quite a tough ship), current vessel labelled fleetcarrier. Three is enough, imho!

CVF is a command ship as well as a hangar vessel. It needs to be able to survive in a moderate combat zone and not have to worry about being caught and destroyed by a few frigates, or a DD. it also needs to be able to provide air defence for itself and its aircraft against enemy fighters whilst it is launching or recovering its fighter wing. It's a serious ship.

ALC wrote:CVF is a command ship as well as a hangar vessel. It needs to be able to survive in a moderate combat zone and not have to worry about being caught and destroyed by a few frigates, or a DD. it also needs to be able to provide air defence for itself and its aircraft against enemy fighters whilst it is launching or recovering its fighter wing. It's a serious ship.

My thoughts exactly. The CVF should be extremely well armored, which makes sense considering its role. It carries ships into the middle of a combat zone (or the edge of larger zones) while also being an intimidating presence on it's own. It should be capable of close-range defense of its own craft (I suggest short-range (1500m?) heavy-anti-missile systems), rapid deployment of said craft, and support.

Interestingly enough, I was testing a new map yesterday and found I had my CVF loaded, so I took it out for a spin.
With an air wing of 30 Shiries I took out several enemy formations, attacking from different directions. 5 DDs, 3DDs and a few frigates, 1BC with Cruiser escort. The BC bounced me when I wasn't paying attention, nearly lost the carrier!
This CVF is a very well armoured lightly armed ship — 2 Rapid sweepers, 1 Kinetic turret, 1 ion cannon (from the vanilla HW2 version) which it didn't use in this instance. Air wing did all the work. The Vaygr BC got off a few shots at it before I jumped away.
I think this proves the concept of the CVF with a large airwing.

With all this debate going on: Do you guys actually use these in your games? XD

Also, is there any way of speeding up docking/launching? O.o

Carriers? They are absolutely crucial to multiplayer games, yes.

Nakamura wrote:Carriers? They are absolutely crucial to multiplayer games, yes.

Was looking for more than just, "Carrier is good" XD