How Do You Carrier?

[Mythos]

So I have some bombers, set to "bombard" and "launched" in a Guppy. I engage a Xenon K with me at the helm, but my bombers don't do anything. They don't launch or attack unless I manually select the group. Other times, when I'm not at the helm, they launch and go attack a Xenon K halfway across the map and die. I'm just looking for a middle ground here where I can helm my ship, and have my bombers engage within a medium range ideally after or while I engage in a coordinated attack (I'm using the Guppy's turrets as dumbfire which does great dmg).

Also, weapon groups. I've heard pairing a long range weapon with torpedos will help your fighters launch from further back. Do I need to group my launchers and my primary weapon together? Or should I have launchers still be secondary? I'm just not seeing that many torpedo strikes from my bombers...

Any help would be appreciated. I feel like the whole carrier thing is overly complicated with so many menus and loadouts all over the place.

[conrado.lacerda]

Originally posted by Mythos:

I engage a Xenon K with me at the helm, but my bombers don't do anything.

Clear the carrier's order queue.

More generally, I suggest bringing along a destroyer or two to tank the enemy capital ship, or else your bombers will get the full attention of those Xenon turrets and they devastate S and M ships.

Also, there's a 40km range for "bombard" (and "intercept" as well), so if you're at the helm I would suggest keeping your bombers docked until the enemy is locked down by your destroyers.

Edit: The one way that I know of making use of bombers without capital support is to pilot yourself a nimble fighter equipped with Burst Rays, destroy the enemy capital ship's turrets and shield generators and then call in the bombers for the kill.

[Mythos]

Originally posted by conrado.lacerda:

Originally posted by Mythos:

I engage a Xenon K with me at the helm, but my bombers don't do anything.

Clear the carrier's order queue.

More generally, I suggest bringing along a destroyer or two to tank the enemy capital ship, or else your bombers will get the full attention of those Xenon turrets and they devastate S and M ships.

Also, there's a 40km range for "bombard" (and "intercept" as well), so if you're at the helm I would suggest keeping your bombers docked until the enemy is locked down by your destroyers.

Edit: The one way that I know of making use of bombers without capital support is to pilot yourself a nimble fighter equipped with Burst Rays, destroy the enemy capital ship's turrets and shield generators and then call in the bombers for the kill.

I appreciate the help. From my experience, my Guppy can kite and tank K's and even I's just fine, that's not the issue here. The issue is my fighters don't auto launch when I'm at the helm. Is that normal or some weird bug? 40km is kind of huge, that's unfortunate (but probably good late game). Means I'll have to micro manage them a bit mid game. What I'd like to see, that isn't happening:

I get within 8-10km of a Xenon K, I hit enter and go to the menu where it says "Docked" and I switch it to "launched" and bingo, bombers launch out and assist me with the attack. That isn't happening. They just sit in their bays... Pretty frustrating.

[conrado.lacerda]

Originally posted by Mythos:

I get within 8-10km of a Xenon K, I hit enter and go to the menu where it says "Docked" and I switch it to "launched" and bingo, bombers launch out and assist me with the attack. That isn't happening. They just sit in their bays... Pretty frustrating.

Remove all orders from the carrier as well as the subordinates.

[Mythos]

Originally posted by conrado.lacerda:

Originally posted by Mythos:

I get within 8-10km of a Xenon K, I hit enter and go to the menu where it says "Docked" and I switch it to "launched" and bingo, bombers launch out and assist me with the attack. That isn't happening. They just sit in their bays... Pretty frustrating.

Remove all orders from the carrier as well as the subordinates.

No orders in queue aside from the default "hold position"

[conrado.lacerda]

Sorry, then I don't know what's causing your problem. May be a bug worth reporting to Egosoft on their official forum.

[Daddy Shark]

I thought this was just how carriers worked. If I'm flying then the ships just stay docked and don't do anything unless I command them. If the NPC captain is flying then the fighters all do what they're supposed to do.

[Tiberius]

From far away, use coordinate attack command (its important to use this command from safe distance, because they need to set a formation first).

Otherwise, use attack command, then from the carrier ship's loadout, launch your fleet

[seePyou]

Originally posted by Mythos:

Originally posted by conrado.lacerda:

Remove all orders from the carrier as well as the subordinates.

No orders in queue aside from the default "hold position"

the difference is that you are the "admiral" or the carrier captain. No ship will launch without you telling it, actively.
You cannot "program" this. It's already programmed as a behaviour by Egosoft, that is what you see happening when someone else is the captain. They just issue commands, just like you would, they do not just sit there and do nothing but pilot the carrier. They are in command and they tell the ships to do things. You also need to tell ships to do things.

[conrado.lacerda]

Update I think I've found the issue: when you're piloting the carrier yourself, you need a full-stop for bombardment units to launch correctly. Can anyone confirm?

Edit: this also seems to be true when it's the AI captain in control of the carrier.

[Mythos]

Originally posted by conrado.lacerda:

Update I think I've found the issue: when you're piloting the carrier yourself, you need a full-stop for bombardment units to launch correctly. Can anyone confirm?

Edit: this also seems to be true when it's the AI captain in control of the carrier.

Good looking out. I have the issue with bombard regardless of piloting it myself or not. Intercept works fine though. I suspect it's a bug from when they added the new bombard command.

[conrado.lacerda]

Originally posted by Mythos:

Originally posted by conrado.lacerda:

Update I think I've found the issue: when you're piloting the carrier yourself, you need a full-stop for bombardment units to launch correctly. Can anyone confirm?

Edit: this also seems to be true when it's the AI captain in control of the carrier.

Good looking out. I have the issue with bombard regardless of piloting it myself or not. Intercept works fine though. I suspect it's a bug from when they added the new bombard command.

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