Aeson
Posts: 784
Joined: 8/30/2013
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I tend to have four main types of combat fleet:
1. Defense fleets. Much like RemoteLeg's picket fleets, except usually with five frigates instead of four. Once pirates are eliminated as a serious threat, these fall out of service or are combined into larger formations and assigned to protect nearby systems.
2. Destroyer squadrons. Typically composed of ten destroyers, these are my early-game battle squadrons, but tend to become infrastructure raiders and light attack squadrons later in the game; may also be employed to support the heavier combat fleets in larger fleet actions or assaults on heavily defended colonies.
3. Cruiser squadrons. Typically composed of ten cruisers, these are my later-game battle squadrons and usually do not exist prior to construction size 500 or so.
4. Carrier groups. Typically composed of ten large carriers, these are usually deployed to assault colony defenses or to support large fleet actions.
I typically use one or more cruiser or destroyer squadrons ("battle groups") and a carrier group to assault colonized systems, with the battle groups going in first to draw the attention of any hostile warships in the system and the carrier group following to attack the fixed defenses or, if necessary, to support the fleet action after the enemy warships have been engaged. Unless I'm in a hurry, the battle groups will be withdrawn from the system once the only targets left are the colony defenses (space port and defense bases), with at least one battle group being kept in deep space near the system as a rapid response force in case of a hostile fleet attacking the carriers; any other battle groups participating in the operation will be employed for other tasks at my discretion. Once the orbital defenses have been destroyed, a battle group (typically one of the destroyer squadrons) will be assigned to maintain control over local space around the colony and the carrier group will usually be employed elsewhere.
Defensive frigates are typically armed with blasters and carry an assault pod, and may also be equipped with a tractor beam and jump denial system. In the midgame, they will also typically use Kaldos Hyperdrives, as the Kaldos Hyperdrive has much better response times within system and continues to have a better response time out to around 0.2 sectors away from the home system ("nearby systems" covers things out to about 0.25 sectors away from the home system) than the Equinox Jumpdrive, Calista-Dal Warp Drive, and Gerax Hyperdrive.
Destroyers are typically armed with blasters, blasters and phasers, blasters and torpedoes, or torpedoes while cruisers are typically armed with torpedoes or torpedoes and missiles. My cruisers tend to have a heavier armament relative to their size than the destroyers do and as a result are slower than the destroyers, with cruise speeds typically around 20 for cruisers and 30 for destroyers in the early-mid game. Destroyers may occasionally be equipped with assault pods in the early game, though these will typically disappear later in the game.
Carriers are typically size-750 or larger and are unarmed but for a small battery of point defense weapons; I go back and forth on whether to provide carriers with heavy shielding and armor or reasonably high sublight speed.
I will occasionally make use of a fifth type of fleet, the Hunter-Killer (HK) fleet, which is intended to pounce upon and kill (or, rarely, capture) pirate construction ships, resupply ships, the occasional advanced warship, or really anything else I deem worthy of a specialized fleet. Prior to the development of jump denial systems, HK ships need to be able to close the range and deal damage rapidly or the target is likely to escape; as a result, my HK ships tend to be faster and more heavily armed than is typical for my warships, and are also more likely to use graviton beams, railguns, and proximity arrays than my other designs. HK ships will generally fall out of service or be modified to be more similar to my standard warship designs once jump denial systems become available as such systems greatly reduce the target's ability to escape before being destroyed.
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Also, each fleet gets a Utility Ship. This ship gets all the fancy stuff that helps the fleet do it's job such as fleet counter measures, long range scanner, etc. I put it all on this ship so the others don't need to bother.
My mobile Long Range Scanners tend to be on Resupply Ships and Exploration Ship variants, neither of which will be part of a fleet. Having one nearby is all that's necessary; each fleet doesn't need its own dedicated Long Range Scanner.
I don't really have a set way of employing Fleet Targeting and Fleet Countermeasures; sometimes I don't bother with them at all, sometimes I'll put them on every large warship, and sometimes I'll create a specialized flagship to carry them (and any fleet admirals) in relative safety.
< Message edited by Aeson -- 10/2/2016 9:50:58 PM >
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What are your fleet compositions? - 
RE: What are your fleet compositions? - 
So far the only way I've been able to survive is by building fleets entirely of the largest Cruisers and Battleships I can. I've researched and armed them with Nuclear Missiles (range 1200), and set them to Evade. Even though their attack strength is half against armor, they still pack a ton of a punch, and there is no loss of attack strength do to distance. They're still at 100 attack at 1200 range.
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