James Lyrus
Lyrus Associates
The Star Fraction
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Posted - 2010.02.17 11:27:00 -
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If you don't know that you need a dread, you don't need a dread.
They're valuable tools, but very specialised - they're for shooting down structures, and sometimes on an alliance scale in a capital slapfest.
But basically, you almost never deploy a solo dread, unless you like losing them.
Carriers on the other hand, are wider in their utility. You won't necessarily find them valuable in a small corp, as a front line combat ship, but they are at least viable to act in support of a conventional gang.
RR, corp hangar, ship maintenance array and a long jump range are other things that make for out of combat utility - I own a carrier that I use primarily as a 'ship backpack' - I fly to a new base in my recon, cyno in the carrier which brings in the ship collection and spare mods. I can't fit quite as many as I'd like, but a carrier full of T2 frigates and cruisers is a useful quantity, and far less annoying than moving them one at a time.
And the carrier can relocate very quickly for rapid ship swaps.
Fighters are quite nice, but expensive and more vulnerable than you might imagine. Useful amount of DPS though, on a ship with a lot of EHPs and tank. Just don't make the mistake of thinking it invulnerable - people will bother to chase down your carrier, and hunt it down if you use it carelessly. It only takes one or two ships to 'pin' you, for long enough for backup to arrive, and then you're a killmail.
The other use is the 'almost suicide' logistics triage carrier - I've seen it used to good effect, but it also needs a very tight cohesive gang/corp.
You lose the fighters (that are expensive) and fit purely for triage/RR, and 'insurance tank'. Jump in, go into triage for a really awesome tank, and really impressive gang RR. Hope your gang can clear the field fast enough with that support that you don't then die, because in triage you're stuck until triage wears off, and effectively helpless if unsupported.
It can, and does work, but it's a gamble that can cost you a carrier - that's not always a bad thing though, because in the right fight even a carrier loss isn't the end of the world - fully insured, it might be worth it.
So if you're really set on capitals, the answer is a Carrier - when you need a dread, you need a dread, but the rest of the time it's a hangar ornament.
But there's other skills and ships that you'll probably find more useful/valuable in a smaller gang size, which you might want to focus on first.
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