Can't yet report on how the carrier group manages, but I can better report on the performance of a battle group of two
Salamis-class, two
Agamemnon Bs and an
Albatross. Against the aliens at the wreck stack that fire 48xAMM salvos if I get too close, 18 strength shields, a tracking speed of 16000, 5000km/s speed, and
no ECCM are not ideal fleet attributes, lol. They handled slow ASM attacks and most faster opponent ships just fine, but two targets I assume to be motionless at the wreck stack were unapproachable. My little battle group actually managed to survive learning that the wreck stack occupiers fire AMMs like crazy, but every ship was turned to Swiss cheese when I checked the armor after getting out of their range.
After a stint in Earth's groundside naval base (200,000t hangars serve as my naval bases, but only Earth's production capacity has managed to assemble one by 2084---my first playthrough is probably a lesson in empire mismanagement) I sent the force back to that system and tricked the remaining two fast opponents that maintained a distance outside of my missile range by baiting them over my jump-point into the system: I detached my missile ships and transited them while continuing to retreat with the rest of the force, transiting the missile ships back when the furthest enemy contact seemed on top of jump-point. Worked like a charm and I gave the TG commander a "Sheridan Medal" for tactical brilliance in honor of a fictional captain that had a knack for winning against technologically superior opponents.
I lost my first ship, one of my surveyors, in a different system against a FAC group of these same aliens ...
Yuri Gagarin class Survey Ship 10 000 tons 172 Crew 1636 BP TCS 200 TH 300 EM 0
6250 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 6-41 Shields 0-0 Sensors 36/1/2/2 Damage Control Rating 8 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.62 Years MSP 869 AFR 94% IFR 1.3% 1YR 179 5YR 2681 Max Repair 312.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months Spare Berths 0
J10200(sq3-50k) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 10200 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
625 EP/TR.25 Commercial Magnetic Fusion Drive (2) Power 625 Fuel Use 2.65% Signature 150 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 750 000 Litres Range 509.4 billion km (943 days at full power)
CIWS-25000 (8x5s) (2x8) Range 1000 km TS: 25000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Thermal Sensor TH2-36 (1) Sensitivity 36 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 36m km
Improved Gravitational Sensors (1) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
Improved Geological Sensors (1) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
... and dispatched every 5000km/s warship in response, my 10,000km/s ships still engaged in TF training (some still at it). The enemy got off a missile attack that sailed right past most of my PD because they went
way heavy on the ECM and were able to launch before I could target ... lesson learned and scientists currently teching up on ECCM. They didn't weather my missile attack when they closed with my fleet for little discernible reason, unless Aurora had the enemy attempt to sacrifice itself for the sake of a small population of aliens I found and wiped out without thinking about the practice it might afford my two marine companies and the intel I might have snatched from prisoners.
(Hilda Pickens claims it was prudent to wipe out an enemy observation post while her fleet operated in the system and who am I to argue? She is a Sheridan Medal recipient after all ... but I suspect revenge for the doomed crew of
Miroslaw Hermaszewski that Pickens's slow force couldn't reach before their life support gave out.)
Anyway, I've seen enough to convince me that my current builds are ugly ducklings of limited utility. I think I can make them work, but their roles were too ill-defined when I designed them. I'm tempted to build an entirely new battle group at the current engine tech level ... primarily because 12 month intended deployments aren't enough to even conduct TF training. My next bunch (assuming I can mine enough of the gallicite and neutronium that's getting a little low) should be better optimized and I'll post the final designs after I reach a compact ECCM with which I'm comfortable. The consequent teching in ECM should also make my next crop of ASMs more deadly.