None of the XL or L ships are really meant to act alone, like in previous X games where XL battleships were basically WMDs capable of annihilating an entire sector by themselves. They're all clearly designed to fit into a combined arms fleet, along with fighters, where they make up for each other's weaknesses. I really really like this format.
I agree. I use all the classes in one fleet now including scouts to chase down and prevent travel drive escapes. A well equipped mixed fleet makes mincemeat of everything the Xenon throw at it. In X3R I just sailed thru those sectors letting flak leave a trail of destruction and abandoned ships for me to claim. Once you got that destroyer nothing could stop it. I got a fright when i first tried that in X4. My engines were shot out and i was a sitting duck with nobody around to help me out.
I only have one Destroyer or Carrier per fleet and sometimes keep the destroyer with the carrier, or detach it and its own subs if I need to. I give them 10 M and 40+10 S class escorts each. I assign a fully escorted Auxiliary to the destroyer. That's 2 XL, 1 L, 30 M, and 150 S for my full fleet. It is far more effective than just using a flock of destroyers. I build at least the first part of a fleet like that before I even think about trying to block the Xenon gates and then move into their space. There is four gates like that, so that is a good few weeks of preparing for war and getting financial enough to pay for it. I do all the game's odd jobs and get my own combat rank up in the meantime.
Full storage capacity for a destroyer is the same as the carrier that only has the advantage of supply and faster launching. I think a carrier should be higher fighter storage capacity and a destroyer much less (or is a destroyer like the Tardis inside?). I am not sure about wings with Carriers though. I can't get them to work with a NPC carrier pilot. The wing leader tends to stay docked and the rest follow the carrier.
Frigates are fast, so I usually only give them escort fighters that can keep up. That is where the scouts are used in the fleet. Frigates are best in a bunch like bananas. 10 Cerberus with 10 Discover is quite potent and can intercept a threat to the Carrier long before a Nova etc can.
Mixed loadouts seem to be good for fighters too. Ion Blaster with your preferred hull wrecking weapon. For the 10 M class escorts, I fit them with mostly shard turrets set to attack all enemies and keep them close together. That barrage obliterates any M or S that dares to approach. I am not very good at getting them to use missiles and auto resupply yet. I do not know if it even works.
I found a downside of adding forward thrust mod parts to a Odysseus. Most fighters can't keep up, so i have to use the weaker Perseus fighters with that one. Gorgon and Nemesis can keep up, but a stock Perseus can't keep up with a Gorgon, so the Gorgon only gets a Pegasus scout for its dock.
I also give a full capacity escort to my Albatross construction vessel so it can build in hostile space.
I have a special tasks fleet of 40 Nemesis in wings. They are armed with Plasma for the main weapons and shard for the turrets. They can eat up a Xenon platform in minutes, but it is dicey at first because they take some hits. I have not risked them against a Xenon shipyard yet, but my thinking is that the concentration of shard will take out those unshielded defence drones.
Setting turret commands for lots of M class is a time consumer. I would like to be able to set my choice in the build template.