While I know there has been a lot of conversation about some serious buffs to carriers and giving them a role, many changes proposed would probably take lots of time to get worked out and balanced in the end. So I would like to suggest 2 small (I would hope) adjustments to hopefully nudge carriers into a better position than they are now bit by bit.
Suggestion 1: Chimera and Archon skill bonuses I like to think of these two carriers as being specialized for defense, with increased shield/armor resistances to allow for better tank on the carrier itself. You don’t really see this be particularly useful though since if a carrier is caught typically:
- It dies due to overwhelming firepower from BLOPs or dreadnaughts
- Being quickly defanged and killed slowly via sub-capitals
- Doesn’t need the extra tank (like for ratting, or gate camps), where its far out of range of enemy fire.
Basically if it gets caught, chances are very high it dies anyway even to small gangs, making its bonuses quite poor compared to the Thanatos and Nidhoggur. As such you almost never see Chimeras and Archons in use. I propose that they get a fighter specific bonus for their racial carrier skill like the Thanatos and Nidhoggur do, specifically for fighter tank (hitpoints or resistances), perhaps like 5 or 7.5% hitpoints per skill level. This would reinforce their position as carriers that specialize in defensive ability over sheer speed and raw damage potential.
Suggestion 2: 4th launch tube for support fighters Pretty straightforward, carriers already are barely able to keep up with marauders in terms of DPS. Because of this if you want to bring support fighters you have to lose a light fighter squadron, which doesn’t seem to be common unless its specifically useful for niche situations. As such, support fighters on carriers hardly ever get used, even though they have slight bonuses to them. To counter this, giving all standard carriers a 4th tube would allow them to take 3 light fighter squadrons and a support squadron without having to compromise on their already mild damage potential (for a capital). Since they already have a limit of 3 light fighter squadrons loaded at a time, they can’t take 4 even with the addition of a 4th tube. This change would incentivize the use of support fighters much more widely and (hopefully) promote carriers to be used alongside other capitals as supporting vessels against sub-capitals through their squadrons damage, EWAR support, and fleet boosts.
While I’m aware of many other changes people want to see done to carriers such as increased hit points, better application, etc. I feel like it’ll be easier to start with smaller changes and go from there rather than a full rework when I can only imagine developer time is stretched with new content coming out.