Part II: Fleet Building- Main Attack Fleet

Intro


Contrary to popular belief, there is not one correct way to play or a 'perfect' fleet.
There are many different types of fleets you can build. Many factors go into which one is right for you, among them: your aggressiveness, your online time, the current state of security in your area, the players you live near, and the current nature of the war you are in. These factors differ for each person so there are different fleets for different people.
(Note: This discusses what your main attack makeup will be, you will obviously still be having some utility fleet such as HBs/RCs/CA(FC)/HCs/Levis/etc, the sample fleets also have anything other than the relevant fleet makeup erased)

To understand which fleet is right for you, you must understand the pro's and con's of each fleet and how your own playing style fits into it. A lack of understanding will lead to misuse and therefore waste.


Conventional Fleets


Cruiser/Destroyer/Corvette/Fighter
By Ƹxar Қuи with minor contributions from ST33L


Pro's: If you are looking for the best attacking fleet in the game, here it is. In general this will yield the best ratios, even better than a straight cruiser/fighter fleet. Nothing remarkable, but noticeable. This style fleet also gives greater flexibility to go recycler hunting with the corvettes as well as attack with straight destroyers/fighters if the enemy fleet is small enough.

A problem you have when you travel is that you run out of fighters quickly. This style fleet adds much needed longevity to your fighter supply because your corvettes and destroyers pull some of the fire away from your fighters.

Con's: You can paint a huge bulls-eye on this one because to many players its a flying debris pile. Despite getting the best ratio's on offense, it will get some of the worst results when attacked. Expect fighter drop after fighter drop.

Discussion: When fleet hunting becomes profitable on each server, in addition to the real top heavy or just plain ridiculous fleets, these are what the sharks will look for. The 2 to 1 ratio on the vettes and destroyers will lead to great profits.

Also in the early to middle game, going this route can lead to power deficiencies when targeting prings and pshields.

In a war where you are superior and can fly around without worry, this is the best fleet to send out. Best to keep it in a galaxy with as few threats as possible when your are not using it. The fleet can be a monster when its active, and will be a target when it isn't. Therefore if you aren't the most active player, this isn't the one for you.

Conclusion:
Attack: 5/5
Defense: 2/5
Utility: 4/5

Sample fleet: (ST33L's fleet) (about 1mil)
Fighters: 42,528
Corvette: 1,954
Destroyer: 2,449
Cruiser: 1,398
Carrier: 339
Fleet Carrier: 39


Cruiser/Fighter
By ST33L


Pro's: The Cruiser/Fighter fleet gives almost as good ratios as the Cr/De/Cv/Ft makeup. It is also an excellent fleet for attacking or for defense because you don't have as many vulnerable fleets (no cv/de)

Con's: This fleet has little utility. You don't have corvettes for recycler hunting nor do you have destroyers for the option of straight attacking with destroyer/fighters for excellent ratios. Finally, the lack of corvettes makes your recyclers more vulnerable to getting sniped; the initial fighter drops your enemy makes on your fleet will also thus give them a much better ratio.

Discussion: This fleet is a better option than the Cr/De/Cv/Ft fleet for low activity players (but also good for those who are very active, as most fleets are) because the abcense of corvettes and destroyers make this fleet a less attractive option for fleet hunters. On the other hand, you trade a little bit of effiency (~5%), utility from cv/de's, and recycler protection for the good protection that this fleet offers.

In addition, unlike the Cr/De/Cv/Ft fleet, this fleet also has more raw cruiser power which leads breaking pringles/pshields easier in the early game. This advantage vanishes however as fleets get bigger and pshields lose their value.

This is a great fleet alike for the inactive and the active players. Although some fleet makeups will allow superior ratios to this, the difference is not big and the combo of ft/cr will still allow for some very good ratios. In addition, the added protection the lack of corvettes/destroyers offer makes this fleet an attractive option for those who like to sleep lonely in their JGs. This fleet is therefore very good for both very active and less active people.

Conclusion:
Attack: 4.5/5
Defense: 4/5
Utility: 2/5

Sample fleet: (what was Ƹxar Қuи's fleet) (about 1.25m)
Fighters 50,000
Cruiser 2,000
Carrier 700


Hangar Fleet
(Fighter/Heavy Bomber/small amounts of CR)
By Ƹxar Қuи


Pro's: You provide an unparalleled amount of units to drop to your guild. As a result you completely shred fleets consisting of ships no bigger than HC. You can purely fighter bases with low amounts of pshields and capital ships in small amounts for THE BEST RATIO possible. With the right amount of cruiser support this fleet at its peak (full hangars) also has one of the best defenses, surpressing even the Cr/Ft fleets.

Con's: You are paralyzed by any fleet with a decent amount of battleships and units with higher shields. The high amount of carriers/fcs you have to go through makes it easier for your units to be sniped. Finally, while your fleet is pretty sturdy from total elimination, any suicide from a cruiser fleet above 1/3 your size cripples you by killing many of your carriers. Finally, if you have bad tech a large fighter/cruiser fleet will get great ratios without even dropping all of your fighters on you

Discussion: With the unprescedented surge of cruiser/ft and/or cruiser/cv/de/ft fleets, this is one of the best assets a guild can have in a large op. This fleet makeup provides the best hard counter available to a well put together cruiser fleet especially if you have a high enough laser tech. (especially crucial to prevent cruisers from meating your fighters).

The fighters in your fleet will last longer than any other fleet simply due to the amount of hangars you have. However the power of your fleet is exponentially reduced as your hangars empty out as the amount of shielded ships you can rape with 1% damage decreases dramatically and you risk going from enough fighters to one shot a death star to getting raped by 100 hc. Similarly, an increase in your hangar capacity represents an exponential increase in the power of your fleet (even more so than other fleets) as your options increase and there are more bases or fleets you can rape with only fighters.

The heavy bombers in your fleet is a powerful weapon to use against convential cruiser fleets, especially in a gate crash because with 20 CCs, cruiser+ still manages nearly a 1:1 to ft/cr/de/cr. Heavy Bombers drops turns this 1:1 ratio into a positive 1:1.75 one. Your fleet makeup allows for a far larger capacity of heavy bombers compared to all others. However, overloading on heavy bombers is also a defensive risk and as such the use of heavy bombers becomes a delicate balance between your offensive and defensive capabilities.

The cruisers in the fleet serves purely as a defensive mechanism against small amounts of HC/BS but can also act as base busters/extra finishers if nessasary.

Overall speaking the defense of this fleet is excellent (with not too many HBs) and this fleet presents the best assets a guild can have in a major op that threatens to run most of their standard cruiser fleet's fighter supply into debris. However, when operating alone this fleet is majorly limited as it can only take out fleet compromising of smaller ships and limited base defense depending on the amount of fighters you have. As such this fleet is better for a guild oriented (rather than individually oriented) player who likes to mould their fleet to suit their guild the best. I recommend a person with this fleet to be active enough at least to take part of all their guild's ops and to keep their own carriers safe.

Conclusion:
Attack: */5
Defense: 5/5 (decreases with more HBs)
Utility: 3/5

* depends on enemy fleet/base makeup and how big your fleet is. Generally it's a 3-4.

Sample Fleet: (~1mil)
Fighters: 50000
Heavy Bombers: 3000
Cruiser: 500
Carriers: 900