Recommendations on a good carrier / hanger?

[littleheadspin]

I need a ship that has a good sized hanger. I'm new to the game and haven't had the chance to try out every ship, you may have seen me asking questions all the time on here

I wont be piloting it myself, but I do need something that is:

Good Speed
Good Shielding
Good Sized hanger

[Starlight_Corporation]

Just checked the encyclopedia, the only ship that combines those 3 well is the Terran Tokyo. All others tend to have one of the 3 chosen stats weaker.
The issue however is, it requires Terran weapons to have any offensive capacity, and those might be hard to come by if the Terran economy isn't up & running.

If you want a Commonwealth M1, the shields are set on 2X3GJ (6GJ total) with 3 exceptions: Teladi Condor (8GJ, but lacks speed & has a relative small hangar) Pirate Galleon (4GJ, average speed & tiny hangar) Split raptor (4GJ, high speed & largest hanger)

My advice for a commonwealth M1 would be a Split Raptor nontheless, the sheer amount of fighters(65) it can hold, coupled with it's speed (allowing it to outrun most capitals) makes sure most opponents are shredded when they try chasing this.
Runner up CW M1 are the Boron Shark (average hangar, but nice speed) and Colossus (good hangar but average speed) They both perform nicely.

In the end it mainly depends on your style of battle to decide wich one to go for.

[littleheadspin]

hmm..

which one would would be good overall out of all the carrier type ships?

I mostly just need it to protect a complex. So it wont be with me on travels, so I guess I could rule speed out.

[A5PECT]

What exactly are you trying to defend against? If it's just small pirate groups then an M7 or even a powerful M6 would do.

If you're going against pirate capital ships or Xenon patrols then you're probably going to want something very heavy like an Osaka.

[Starlight_Corporation]

If it's to protect a complex, better go with a destroyer. They perform far better as defenders, and they posses more shields. OOS defense succes is heavely reliant on shields.

[Gazz]

Good Speed
Good Shielding
Good Sized hanger

Panther.

4 GJ are not low if you consider the tiny target area compared to M1s.

The advantage of a "real" M1 is usually cargo space but that's none of your conditions.

[littleheadspin]

What exactly are you trying to defend against? If it's just small pirate groups then an M7 or even a powerful M6 would do.

If you're going against pirate capital ships or Xenon patrols then you're probably going to want something very heavy like an Osaka.

It was to protect a huge chip complex

But as it goes I seem to be hated by half the universe & I'm 2 jumps away from xenon.

I don't even know if I will need it, I just feel like spending a bit of cash I guess

[Ripskar]

So we're talking OOS sector defence, fighter base;
Given that job my choice goes to the Teladi Trading Station.
Infinite Hangar, pretty good shielding, Win.

[Spero]

So we're talking OOS sector defence, fighter base;
Given that job my choice goes to the Teladi Trading Station.
Infinite Hangar, pretty good shielding, Win.

Rather sure they have to actually attack the station for the fighters to do anything.

If you can get a hold of an Aegir, they are the perfect sector defence. The fastest capital ship, solid shielding and great firepower (ironically it has worthless firepower while you are in sector).

Problem is you need to cap them, but being faster than most NPC M3s, they're just too good at the job to pass up.

[Catra]

Terran Tokyo / ATF Odin (only acquired via boarding)
Xenon J (only acquired via boarding =p)
Terran #Deca (can only be acquired via boarding, only have one shot at it)
Goner Aran (need to complete a plot, and only acquired via boarding)
Split Raptor
Argon Colossus
Paranid Zeus
Boron Shark
Teladi Condor
Yaki Hoshi
Split Panther
Pirate Galleon

Ordered from best to worst based on criteria.

[Ripskar]

So we're talking OOS sector defence, fighter base;
Given that job my choice goes to the Teladi Trading Station.
Infinite Hangar, pretty good shielding, Win.

Rather sure they have to actually attack the station for the fighters to do anything.

Never seen anything one-shot a 'Plex. As such plenty of time to click on station and order wing to attack, assuming you haven't wasted creds on Falcon Sentinels or something.

[zyriel]

im using Raptor for carrying fighter fleets

useful link for choosing good ship for any job is here X3TC ships

[ganjanoof]

just my 2 cents : Don't waste your money on fighters, they're just cannon fodder OOS and you'd be worried replacing them all the time.

I'd go for a M2 class ship.
The best imo is the OTAS Boreas but for OOS defence, pure power is more important so any M2 with a little bunch of millions on PPC's will make a fierce guardian.
You can add a wing of M6 corvettes (about half the price of the destroyer).
For OOS jobs, the Argon Centaur with a plenty of HEPT's is a killer.

If you don't have money enough, just buy the M2 and use a little SETA. Money should come eventually

You should not be in bad relationships with many races if you're not rich enough. Try being rich. It helps. Alot.

[MarvinTheMartian]

But as it goes I seem to be hated by half the universe & I'm 2 jumps away from xenon.

What have you done to my universe!?
Seriously though, if you've p'ed off the neighbours that much you might not have the rep to buy an M1 any more!

I don't even know if I will need it, I just feel like spending a bit of cash I guess

Why spend that many credits to have something sitting around that you can't see in action? Buy something interesting that you can either fly or call in to assist with "negotiations", time to get a destroyer me thinks

[Gazz]

Yes, destroyer sounds sensible.
Most engineering problems can be solved by using a bigger hammer.

[Catra]

Boreas: 90,949,930
Harrier: 63,055 1445 / Boreas.
Scorpion: 314,800 289 / Boreas.
Sabre: 288,910 315 / Boreas.

The 3 best fighter choices for OOS combat duty. You can get quite a lot for a single boreas, it gets even sillier if you opt to use the best ship for OOS combat(the Terran Osaka / ATF tyr) and use the clone trick.

Either way, an M2 just isn't cost effective, then adding corvettes on top of that just makes it worse. Just throw M5s onto it, and you can quite literally not have to have shields on the ship.

[DiveBomberDave]

An M7M and marines to cap any wild pirate ships which you can then use to defend your assets.

I use a carrack in relatively safe sectors and osaka/brigantine's on the gates of other sectors. If you expect pirate cap ship patrols I just get a few more osakas to defend/attack nearest of gate keepers. I dont build in xenon migration routes tho...

[littleheadspin]

What have you done to my universe!?
Seriously though, if you've p'ed off the neighbours that much you might not have the rep to buy an M1 any more!

I know! Im thinking of loading the save again

Im not hated by everyone, exaggerated a bit, just teladi and boron

[TTD]

I came across a useful ploy for part of the FF plot.

Now not sure if it will fully work here as the station to defend is not the station the fighters will be ...erm... "stationed" in,but here goes.

Get the Teladi Trading Station and dock a wing of 65 or so good M3+ . Set the wing to defend the complex when needed,ie when under attack.
This bit work for me in FF.

Now the bit I am not sure of is if you can have the wing docked at the trading station and STILL have them on defend complex duties at the same time.

Just an idea,so...anyone?

[A5PECT]

Hmm... maybe if you made the wing's homebase the trading station and gave the "Defend station" target as the complex.

It's a shot in the dark. However...

Defend Station
[Def.stat]

Dock at selected station and fight off all
attackers.

It probably won't work.