Are carriers broken?

[Coffee Fox]

They seem to have an insanely short range. I built some carriers to see how they would fare - The fighters and bombers basically stayed close to the carrier and didn't do anything.

Aren't carrier supposed to be long range? That's why they were so good IRL - They could strike from afar, out of sight from enemy ships, right (And do a lot more)?

I don't see the point of carriers if the only purpose they serve are as glorified point defense ships. ;_;

 

[Blood Royal]

Agreed, I would prefer if fighters and bombers would have at least half-system range, and then on each carrier or fleet including carriers you could choose the range the fighters are allowed to go, like "short, medium, long". That way you can choose to either use them as long range attack ships or fleet defense squadrons.

 

[ponasozis]

yep
the range of fighters is insanely short
pointless if you ask me when they get in range half the fleet is already dead

 

[Dnote]

They don't seem to be that effective at the moment. I noticed that my Bombers have a range of 8, which is about the distance they move out from the carrier, but I had assumed that range was for their bombs, not for the distance they could travel from the carrier.

 

[Nirmara]

Spaces carriers would be different than terrestrial carriers. As I see it, fighters and bombers, due to their ties with the carrier, would have a limited capacity to sustain themselves in space (small oxygen reserve, small gas/energy reserve, limited/non-existent supplies, etc). Since distances in space are much more important than IRL, the limited sustainability of theses ships would significantly reduce their range.

Also, Terrestrial targets that tend to be fairly small making terrestrial aircraft proportionally appropriate to deal with them. On the other hand, spacecrafts in Stellaris tend to be massive objects making missiles/laser more appropriate weapons to target them from afar than a small spacecraft. Their role as "missile hunters" seem's right if you take in account their size, limited range, limited weapon capacity, etc.

 

[D3m0]

There is really no point in arguing realism, there is nothing realistic about the rest of Stellaris combat or most other aspects of the game.

 

[tomstegmeier]

realism aside (dont want to discuss that, but you have some valid points) most people want and asume carriers to be long range... why not here, why dont the ytell it? pretty useless when the range is shorter than any other weapon

 

[Dnote]

Even if they are intended as a close-carrier escort of some type, they are still utterly pointless.

There comes a time where "working as designed" feature that nobody uses might as well not even exist, and fighters/bombers are one such feature at the moment.

 

[jalapen0]

Bet you could edit the range in the config files and fix that right now, if you want.

 

[Morwys]

The problem is not if it's realistic or like it would be if it was real, is that fighters/bombers are considerably underpowered compared to other weapon systems.

 

[The_Red_Star]

I'm pretty sure someone forgot to put in a zero when they typed in the ranges of strike craft.

 

[Ri0Rdian]

They are. Do not use them, or only use them on a ship made for close range fighting...which carriers usually aren't.

Anyone tried if it can be fixed just by increasing that number substantially?

 

[Red Legion]

Spaces carriers would be different than terrestrial carriers. As I see it, fighters and bombers, due to their ties with the carrier, would have a limited capacity to sustain themselves in space (small oxygen reserve, small gas/energy reserve, limited/non-existent supplies, etc). Since distances in space are much more important than IRL, the limited sustainability of theses ships would significantly reduce their range.

Also, Terrestrial targets that tend to be fairly small making terrestrial aircraft proportionally appropriate to deal with them. On the other hand, spacecrafts in Stellaris tend to be massive objects making missiles/laser more appropriate weapons to target them from afar than a small spacecraft. Their role as "missile hunters" seem's right if you take in account their size, limited range, limited weapon capacity, etc.

Stellaris, and many of Paradox's game, represents the combat abstractly rather than fully simulating it. Stellaris does deviate a bit by physically having the battles play out in front of you, but isn't realistic by any stretch of the imagination. I mean just look at the scale of the game.

I have nothing against that abstract style, I think it suits the idea of a grand strategy where you're playing the ruler, not the admiral.

 

[grekulf]

Strike Craft engagement range will be buffed significantly in the future.

 

[Cossack8559]

That's good to hear i have been seriously looking forward to having carriers but right now they are pretty useless.

 

[Coffee Fox]

Strike Craft engagement range will be buffed significantly in the future.

Yes! Thank you! I was hoping for a response from someone uptop. ;_;

My dreams of a carrier fleet bringing death to those filthy primitives using things like 'Battleships' are going to be realized.

 

[recnelis]

Hooray!

 

[Jorgen_CAB]

Yes! Thank you! I was hoping for a response from someone uptop. ;_;

My dreams of a carrier fleet bringing death to those filthy primitives using things like 'Battleships' are going to be realized.

Just hope they don't have good Point Defences though...

 

[Coffee Fox]

Just hope they don't have good Point Defences though...

Yeah. I wonder if there would be any counter to point defense for carriers; If they just get shut down, that would be a shame.

 

[jalapen0]

Bet you could edit the range in the config files and fix that right now, if you want.

Not sure why someone would disagree with my statement? Perhaps not serious?