There is also the issue that this would require a rewite of how damage occurs on motherships, obviously is craft are docked outside then they cannot be protected by ship armour. It means a lot of code for something that already has it's role generally fulfilled by existing components.
This is true. Obviously, I wasn't expecting it to be added overnight. It was a suggestion, not a demand.
The first strike idea is a nice one, but why not just have a couple of ships that are essentially a bucket load of box launchers with a couple of engines in place, then simply have them followed by a tanker to ensure fuel to reach a destination.
You know, I'm quite impressed that you managed to take pretty much the exact idea I already described and make it sound brand new.
Unless you meant full-size ships? If so, then yes, this would work just as well, but my idea has the added bonus that, after their first strike, they can rearm in a smaller regular carrier. Again, it's not a late-game tech. If you don't have big carriers, then a fleet of large ships with box launchers would have to go back to a colony with maintenance facilities to rearm. Even a hangar with a capacity of, say, 6kt, needs a carrier of maybe 30kt, right? And you'd need a few 6kt ships to match a squadron of 30-40 fighters, and the fighters could take turns rearming in a 1kt hangar just as easily as frigates in a 6kt one. It just gives you that little bit more flexibility that you can't get from small ships with tons of box launchers.
And sure, if you're fighting in a system where you already have a colony with maintenance facilities to rearm, then using larger warships would probably be the better option. But I'm willing to bet that combat away from your colonies (or near ones without maintenance facilities) is just as common as combat near them (if not more so).
The other issue then brings the speed limitations in play, if you have a giant first strike carrier using external ports, this vessel is limited in speed by the material stress on the ports. This means either it cannot keep up with a suitably balanced fleet, or it cannot make a run for it if things go badly. Or worse you have to make decisions such as "let's just cut and run and leave all the parasite craft to their doom.
This latter part is true, but I was imagining that the speed limit would be imposed on the class design screen. The only limit on what would happen to the ships while the carrier was in motion would be limited to the size, not how fast the carrier could go. If she could do 5k km/s unloaded, she could do 5k km/s with a full air group on board. And don't forget, the idea is a "hangar" component with less mass. Yes, you can stick lots of them on one ship and have a carrier the same size as one with regular hangars, but with much more fighter capacity. Or, you could sacrifice that capacity to have a carrier much smaller (and therefore faster) than existing carriers. Does that not fit in with Aurora's style of letting you design the fleet to fit your playstyle?
There's another thing; We've been focusing on the idea of box launchers. It would be possible to give a docking-port carrier a bunch of beam-armed fighters, to help defend the fleet. And, because they don't need rearming, it wouldn't be necessary to operate it alongside a regular carrier, or send it to rearm at a colony after each battle. You could even use it to operate a handful of fighters from other ships (what would, in modern-day parlance, be called "surface ships;" the destroyers and cruisers and such).
I know what you're thinking:
This is OP. It would mean that you can have a lot more beam fighters in the same amount of space, and there would be no penalties compared to regular hangars.
Yes, it would. And no, there wouldn't. So, let's go back to what we were saying earlier.
There is also the issue that this would require a rewite of how damage occurs on motherships, obviously is craft are docked outside then they cannot be protected by ship armour. It means a lot of code for something that already has it's role generally fulfilled by existing components.
This is true. Obviously, I wasn't expecting it to be added overnight. It was a suggestion, not a demand.
It's not going to happen any time soon. So, if it does happen, it will probably be for C# Aurora. And in C# Aurora, refuelling is being changed; now only ships with special components will be able to refuel other ships. I'm assuming that a hangar bay would allow refuelling. Let's say that a docking port also allows refuelling, but at a reduced rate. Or even prevents it altogether. Now, there's a limit on how often beam fighters can sortie from a docking port carrier.
But why not just take along a full-size tanker and refuel fighters from that?
Prevent fighters from refuelling from tankers with refuelling components. Maybe add a fighter-only refuelling component, to maintain fighter/tanker capability. Now, they can only refuel from full-size ships with either docking ports or hangars.
I think I've covered everything, but then, I thought that the last four times, too. Maybe I'm just bad at explaining things!