Carrier/TM command setup

[krahen]

Hey all, in much of my x3 reunion to AP playi time was only really did just station building and trading alot. Having a few ship to protect my station and doing not much of comat.


But now I want to Buy and Large and get Carrier or TM's and engage in some fun comat.


Im trying to learn by myself, playing with the commands and searching the forums, almost no success.


I started small. Bought a Chokaro and upgrade with everything i think it would need to be a successfull carrier.

-fight mk1/mk2
-jumpdrive with e-cells
-patrol,supply,carrier command software,trade mk1/mk2/ext, nav software.

Loaded all the ship with lasers and missiles

Bought 3 m4's and homebased them to the TM and dock them in it.
For a first time test I made a patrol threw pirates sectors. Ive set the patrols command for 3 sector. It did and came up agaits 3 pirates m4. It got destroyed because the fighters inside the TN didnt launch automaticly and just let their carrier die.


I dont really need advice on how to equip the carrier/TM or the fighters that i can search or figure out by myself. I need advice on how to setup ,order or command wise, on how to make the carrier automaticly launch/retreive and attack enemys without my input or minimal.

[benjoseph]

I believe you order the fighters to defend the carrier, but this will only activate when the ship comes under attack. You could try the "attack target of" command.

[Triaxx2]

TM's aren't really designed for OOS operations.

If you homebase them to the TM, they'll auto-launch, and protect it. The defend command also works.

[Silverblade The Enchanter]

My fave ship is the Shrike, in Albion Prelude, I used some of the "ship tuning crates" to boost it's speed to 156m/s
Some carriers carry more, have other advantages etc but Shrike's my fave.

Don't use "weak" fighters, they'll get blown out of the sky too often and are waste of effort :/
Always upgrade them to best of your ability, makes a huge difference!

I suggest the "Eclipse", because of it's huge shield (200mj) AND two turrets and good laser energy power (no harm installing a few energy bolt chain guns to eek out laser power longer).

Always make sure fighter's turrets are set so they'll attack missiles (in AP, I modify the "attack fighter" so missiles are #1 priority and have nearly all my ships use that)
and have the Mosquito missile defence set up on ALL ships large or small, fighting or traders (from Bonus pack)

Other good fighters are

Venti
very fast, but low cargo capacity/laser power vs eclipse, suggest using it with mix of phased repeater guns or particle accelerator cannons (lighter weight than HEPTs) and energy bolt chain guns or mass drivers (as it can run out of laser power) and keeping small stock of missiles/ammo due to low cargo space
it's so fast the venti's great on light/medium fighters, mass driver can be good weapon as it can get close to enemies like annoying M4s/5s which then get shredded, and lot of mass driver hits slow any enemy down

Falcon Hauler, this is a *MUST*, always have at least 1 per carrier, because they can carry a huge load of XL sized cargo, so great for buying equipment, energy cells etc
As a fighter it cna carry a huge load of missiles so set it to fire them a lot!

I love the Yaki Tenjin but it's shields are too light to make it very survivable as a "fleet" ship that's going to be in messy combats. I keep one as my personal fighter

One reason I like the Shrike is because it uses the Gauss Cannon, 4 of these with about 35 or 40 units of ammo, will tear the hell ouit of anything from M3 and up without using laser power!
I set those 2 turrets to "attack Capitols" s that's what you want them to concentrate on first.

In AP because of the great turret srcipts I set them to swap out, so turrets can swap out to Ion Shard Rail Gun; flak guns, or phased repeater guns or energy botl chain guns, or up to the gauss cannons as they need.

I like the Ion Shard on the Shrike purely for rate of fire = tends ot get more hits, others preffer concussion impulse generators (which knock small ships flying)
depending on what ship cna fit what laser.

Shrike is also good for it's slim profile, makes it easier to dodge incoming fire
Also like the Griffon Sentinel in AP.

I recommend using the Typhoon missile from your larger comonwealth ships, swarm missile that can tear hell out of most enemies from M3 up.

Carry a load of Wasp, Tempest and Thunderbolt missiles for your fighters.
Have each fighter set to use one type, and under weapons, set amount to carry so they auto resupply on docking but requires Supply software to be fitted I think?
as well as set any ammo like for energy bolt chain guns or mass divers,typiclalyt you want about 20 to 30 of any type of missile per fighter, 30 to 40 Energy bolt chain gun or mass driver ammo
and your carrier will need to carry at least 300+ ammo per type of weapon used, and 100 of missile type for resupplying your fighters

You want some ships to always be launching swarm missiles, as those will waste enemies' time trying to knock out, letting heavier missiles through their busy defences more often
so maybe 1/2 my fighters have Wasps (which are also good at getting rid of annoying M4/M5s), rest have Thunderbolts or Tempest heavy missiles

You can also carry a fast M5 with "explorer" software to help map out sectors you discover, load it and main ship with a few Advanced satellites, and drop them 20km+ above main map so most enemies wont' shoot them down

So, my usual load out for SHrike is
4 x Eclipses (heavy fighters) and 2 x Venti (fast fighters) in a "wing" set to Protect the Shrike.
1 x Falcon Hauler as cargo buyer (only set it up with lot of missiles if going on special fight thus normally has plenty of spare freight space)
1 x Kestrel (as scout)

and maybe 20 or 30 MKII drones for "FUBAR!" moments:
eject all of them, go into commands, order all drones in sector to attack enemies, to buy time/distract/do damage on tougher foes, hehe!

[krahen]

awsome post silverblade



Will the fighter on the TM or other Carrier will redock witht the ship on patrol after they attack something.

[Triaxx2]

I have to disagree with Silverblade on a lot of points. Pikes are excellent M4's well shielded, fast. I find that it should only use 4 PAC's of the potential 6, to maximize battery.

And the Tenjin is surprisingly capable. With only 75MJ shields it seems lightly shielded, but it's got two turrets that are capable of firing forward and thus give it a massive defensive capability, as well as essentially 11 primary weapons.

Now, why do I say the Pike is capable? The speed of the Pike is enough to get it out of most trouble and despite the lower shielding, it's a very hard target.

[Skyman]

Now I know how to use my Shrike, thanks to Silverblade and Triaxx2.