Carrier Command 2/Vehicles

There are various vehicles you will command in Carrier Command 2, and fall broadly in two categories: Surface (amphibious) vehicles and Air vehicles.

There are three consoles on the starboard side of the bridge used to control vehicles. With only three consoles, only three players can control vehicles at any time.

To the left are movable spotlights that can be aimed anywhere on the flight deck. Above that are the controls for the runway lights - the green lights at the start (the stern of the ship), the red lights at the end (the bow), and white lights indicating the runway edge. These lights can be used at night to help pilots get their bearings, though in PvP these lights can quickly identify an enemy carrier.

To the right of the runway lights is the ship's log. This updates as players join and leave the game, as enemies are destroyed, and as vehicles are lost in battle. The border glows when an update is available, and the alert can be dismissed by looking at the screen. Oddly, attempting to interact with this screen directly requires the leftmost vehicle control seat to be empty. However, if you are able to sit at an empty drone control seat first, you can then interact with the ship's log normally. The screen in the center displays the current carrier holding pattern and any aircraft in it. Shown include where it is in queue, the handle (A1, for example), and how much fuel it has left. Aircraft will generally attempt to land in the order they were ordered to do so, though this can bar takeoffs for a time as well. Try to queue takeoffs first and then landings so that aircraft can take off to make room for retreating aircraft.

To the right of that is a highly pixelated CCTV camera showing the garage, the hangar, or automatically cycling through both. It serves no real gameplay purpose and is generally too grainy to use as a proper camera. Furthest to the right of that is the aircraft elevator status. Beneath the aircraft elevator status is the crane indicator, indicating whether it is moving or not. If the display is red, the aircraft crane is inoperable due to damage or a lack of power. To the left of the spotlight controls are the three vehicle control consoles. Interacting with these let players manage the ship's vehicles. In between each display are lights indicating the current status of each of the carrier's vehicles. Pressing one will launch it. Vehicles can also be launched from the console itself by clicking on the carrier icon on the map and setting a waypoint for it to move to after launching.

Clicking on empty space while manning a vehicle control console will allow you to issue a "Go" code (see Waypoint Options below) and change the map display to show additional information, such as wind and ocean currents.

Abbreviations
When viewed through cameras, units have abbreviations to identify them. The Seal, Walrus, Bear, Mule, Razorbill, Petrel, Albatross, and Manta are the playable craft that can be launched from your carrier.

The Needlefish is a small escort ship that can provide fire support to the carrier, and can be used by both the AI and players. Player-controlled Needlefish do not have usable weapons, though they can be steered and navigated manually. The Swordfish is a larger escort used exclusively by the AI.

The Barge is a vessel that facilitates cargo deliveries from owned factories to the carrier; they can be steered and navigated manually, but there's no practical purpose to doing so because players cannot load items onto a barge they are controlling.

Controlling Vehicles
Moving vehicles involves clicking on the vehicles itself and dragging a path to its destination. Clicking and dragging on top of an enemy vehicle will prompt an attack order, and you can specify which weapons the vehicle is to use.

Vehicles can also be set to follow a patrol path by clicking on a vehicle's destination and dragging to another point on the map. This sets up a waypoint system for vehicles to follow. Attaching the end waypoint onto another waypoint creates a loop that the vehicle will follow until it runs out of fuel. This is useful to prevent Albatrosses and Mantas from flying over to the next island, or having them fly recon circuits around another island.

Vehicles can be made to return to the carrier by simply clicking on the unit and dragging a waypoint directly to the carrier.

Carrier vehicles can be manually controlled by clicking on them, and then clicking on the Camera button. You can then cycle through the vehicle itself and its weapons to determine what items are automatic (yellow bar) or manual (green bar). There are a few notable combinations for this that can help you offload some work to the AI.
 * For ground vehicles, set a waypoint and leave the driving on automatic to have the vehicle drive around while you gun.


 * Conversely, leave the gun on automatic and take manual control of driving to drive very evasively while letting the AI shoot for you.


 * When flying, all targets are invisible unless you have a weapon selected. If you're flying an Albatross with the default loadout, set the flying controls to manual, then switch to an autocannon and switch that to manual, and repeat for the second autocannon. You can now fly the Albatross and attack ground targets with gun runs.


 * Conversely, set up a looping path of waypoints around an island for your Albatross to follow. Hop into the Albatross and set the gimballed camera to manual, but leave everything else on automatic - letting you spot all the enemies on the island from a safe altitude without worrying about crashing.

Waypoint Options
Clicking on an individual waypoint brings up a few additional options:
 * If the waypoint belongs to an aircraft, you can have the waypoint set at a specific altitude. This can be useful to prevent aircraft from flying too low and being shot down by anti-aircraft fire. Waypoint altitudes are inherited from the previous waypoint placed.


 * All vehicles can also be tied to a "Go" code. Tying a "Go" code to a waypoint will have the unit hold there until you transmit the "Go" signal, at which point all vehicles will execute their movements simultaneously. This can be useful to synchronize attacks with multiple vehicles. "Go" codes are most useful for ground units and helicopters. Mantas and Albatrosses have trouble staying in one spot for a "Go" code to be effective. Mantas will lose fuel rapidly if while waiting at a "Go" waypoint. There are four possible "Go" codes: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta.

Surface Vehicles
Surface vehicles are all amphibious and launched from the rear of the carrier. Surface vehicles consist of the Seal, Walrus, Bear and Mule. These vehicles fulfill the light, medium, and heavy roles respectively.

These vehicles perform very poorly in the water, suffering from accuracy and speed penalties. Additionally, high waves can also cause vehicles to attack the water as the waves stand between it and its target.

Surface vehicles, especially the Seal and Walrus, are no match for Needlefish and Swordfish.

Land vehicles are occasionally known to get stuck on the edges of the carrier. Ensure your surface vehicles fully clear the carrier before letting the AI take over.

All surface vehicles have two slots for support items. On the vehicle loadout screen, the slots appear to the left and right of the vehicle; both slots are functionally identical to each other.

Seal
A small and fast skirmishing vehicle, the Seal is usually used to support Walruses and Bears, as a land scout, or to capture islands. Seals are very weak and die in just a few hits to autocannons. A single well-placed shot from a Bear will annihilate a Seal.

The Seal can equip a wide variety of armament, including surface to surface missiles, a CIWS identical to the carrier, and virus bots for capturing islands.

Player carriers start with four seals on board, with two additional chassis at the main warehouse island that can be brought over on a barge.

Walrus
A larger, more heavily armored version of the Seal. Walruses are generally the mainstay unit that can perform all functions the seal can as well as outpace it on land, but is notably slower in water. This makes the Walrus good at combating other autocannon-equipped enemies as well as seal escorts.

Bear
The Bear is the heaviest land platform and is essentially a tank with four split tracks. While it can drive like a Walrus or Seal, the Bear has the lowest mobility. It has trouble climbing ramps that the Seal and Walrus can navigate, particularly when attacking a beach.

The Bear is also very fuel-inefficient, necessitating a Mule be very close by in order to be able to cover the most space. The bear's fuel supply must be carefully managed or it will turn into a very expensive turret. Bears lacking fuel can be replenished by Mules, or if they're on land, be picked up and brought home with a Petrel.

Bears can only equip weaponry dedicated to them in the primary slot - autocannons and other Seal and Walrus weapons are incompatible. The Bear makes up for this deficiency by equipping the heaviest guns of any land based unit.

Mule
Added in Major Update 4, the Mule is a large, slow, unarmed logistics vehicle capable of either refueling or rearming friendlies in the field, or deploying battle droids to bolster an attacking force.

The deployable battle droids are exclusive to mules, and are easily the slowest unit in the game. However, they have 250 rounds of 30mm dual autocannon ammunition, with which they can shred ground vehicles quickly. Their extremely slow movement makes them mostly useful for close combat and ambushes. They self-destruct when they run out of fuel or fall in the sea. Both fuel and the 30mm ammunition can be resupplied by the Mule. Like virus bots, battle droids are replenished in the carrier at no cost.

The mule cannot repair friendly vehicles and doesn't refuel aircraft and ships.

Albatross
The Albatross is an unmanned combat aerial vehicle. Relatively cheap and quick to manufacture, the Albatross serves as an early game attacker and scout aircraft.

It is far more stable and slower than the Manta, making it more suitable for gun runs against enemy ground targets. Its low durability, however, makes it vulnerable to hits from 30mm autocannons and anti-aircraft guns. With no countermeasures, albatrosses suffer particularly against the naval SAMs used by carriers, the swordfish, and the needlefish.

Early on, its best attachment is the gimbal camera, allowing it to identify targets for surface forces or for the main battery gun. Later in the game it loses its effectiveness vs. the Manta, which has similar attachment options but also has countermeasures and is far more survivable. In cases like these, albatrosses may be more effective at carrying laser guided missiles or for making long distance torpedo runs against enemy ships.

Manta
Mantas are fast, multirole UAVs capable of performing almost any mission. While fairly difficult to fly, Mantas can mount several new attachments that let them surpass the albatross later in the game. With radar capability for spotting air and sea targets, coupled with the camera slot, the Manta can act as a long-distance scout. While the gimbal camera can only spot enemies from 5,000 metres out, the radar has twice the range - and you can equip both if necessary.

Offensively, the Manta also has the same four weapon slots as the albatross. The Manta, however, does have missile countermeasure capability, letting it scan enemy ships without getting in range of its AA gun.

Razorbill
The Razorbill is a coaxial rotor unmanned attack helicopter vehicle. The Razorbill can equip two primary weapons and two support attachment slots. By default it is equipped with two anti-surface missiles. Aircraft autocannons are a common alternative choice to allow more precise gun runs on ground vehicles.

Razorbills are also far more survivable, thanks to the option to mount missile countermeasure attachments. This, coupled with their precise flying abilities, can make Razorbills also effective in the anti-ship role.

When flying a Razorbill, remember that the helicopter has its lift vector above it - so increasing engine power will have the aircraft ascend. Move the craft forward by nosing down.

Petrel
The Petrel is a tiltrotor heavy lift aircraft with similar loadout properties to the Albatross.

Despite having the same equipment loadout possibilities as the Albatross, the Petrel's lack of mobility relegates it to more of a support than a ground attack role. While it can attack enemies from a hover like the Razorbill, the Petrel is capable of loading up a surface vehicle for long-range transport. This can be useful for porting your units to distant islands from the carrier and back.

To have your Petrel load up a unit, have it fly to a waypoint near the unit you want to pick up, then draw another waypoint from the first waypoint to the vehicle. You can then click and drag from the pickup point to your carrier in order to send both units home (the vehicle falls through the flight deck, straight into the garage).

Alternatively, you can send your Petrel carrying your unit to another destination. Make sure to set the altitude of waypoints between the start point and the end point to be high enough to clear any obstacles. At the end, click on the drop off waypoint to open its features (see Waypoint Options) to drop off the vehicle.

The petrel can be offensively in conjunction with "Go" codes as the hovering capability combined with a high capacity allows strikes to be lined up easily for simultaneous missile firing. This is useful for overwhelming CWIS turrets but ships with missiles should be avoided due to a lack of countermeasures.

Naval Assets
Introduced in patch 1.2.0, the warehouse island of each player can construct Needlefish - small escort vessels used to support the carrier.

The AI Needlefish functions differently, and is discussed under Escort Ships.

Needlefish (playable)
Constructed at the initial warehouse island owned by the player, these Needlefish are equipped with a variety of weapons used to support the carrier. While they can be manually sailed around like the Barge, their weapons are entirely automated and cannot be controlled directly under any circumstances.

Player controlled Needlefish are only armed with one weapon, as opposed to the AI Needlefish's two.

Four types of Needlefish can be built, each with identical stats but different weapons. The AA Needlefish is armed with the same 20mm anti aircraft cannon as the CIWS of the carrier, Seals, and Walruses. Boasting a 1,000 round capacity, it will automatically lock onto and destroy any incoming missiles or enemy aircraft.

The Gun Needlefish is armed with a 160mm deck gun. Like that of the carrier, it responds to gimbal cameras equipped on any Albatross, Mantas, or Petrels. It is armed with 20 rounds. The gimbal camera will have the nearest ship fire a deck gun volley at the target, so to have the gun needlefish fire, position it closer to the target (or turn off your carrier's weapons). Additionally, the Gun Needlefish can be ordered to fire on designated targets in the Vehicle Control screen.

The Torpedo Needlefish is armed with a single twin torpedo launcher and only two torpedoes. As its torpedoes cannot be used manually, they must instead be instructed to fire using the Vehicle Control screen.

The Cruise Missile Needlefish is exclusive to the player, and is armed with the same cruise missile launcher (and six missiles) as the launcher found on the carrier itself. It uses the gimbal camera like the Gun Needlefish: position your cruise missile needlefish closer to the impact zone than your carrier to use the missile needlefish.

Needlefish have fairly limited fuel reserves and ammunition, and should remain near the carrier to be resupplied.

Turrets
Some islands have fixed weapon installations that will attack enemy vehicles that get too close. These turrets can be equipped with one of five weapons: a 15mm autocannon, a 30mm autocannon, a 40mm autocannon, a missile launcher, or a CIWS gun. The CIWS gun can intercept missiles as well as aircraft that stray too close. When an island's Command Center is captured, any surviving turrets on that island will change to the team of the island's new owner, and can be remotely controlled from a Carrier via its Unit Control screens.

Turrets have infinite ammo and do not require replenishing. Turrets cannot be repaired, though they have a significant amount of health (800). Islands can be tasked to build their own turret defences. To do so, first enter the vehicle control screen, as described above. Then click on the island command center, and then select which of the three turret types you want to build. Various slots will then be shown, and each slot can support one turret. Depending on the size of the island, it can have as few as 3 slots and as many as 20 or more. The three turret types available are a CIWS turret, a 30mm autocannon turret, and an IR missile turret. All take 60 seconds to build. The cannon turret costs 1000 resources, the CIWS turret 1250, and the missile turret 1500.

Escort Ships
More heavily defended islands have coastal patrol craft that must be destroyed prior to a direct assault. They consist of the Needlefish and its larger counterpart, the Swordfish. Both are very powerful adversaries and should generally be taken down from range by ship- or air-launched torpedoes. Both ships have infinite ammunition and fuel.

Both ships share the same weapons: a deck gun, a CIWS, a Naval Missile Array (equivalent to your carrier's own AA missiles), and a torpedo launcher (can load and fire noisemakers and normal torpedoes).

The difference between Needlefish and Swordfish is that Needlefish have two of these weapons. Which of the four is randomly determined, and a Needlefish will never carry two of the same weapon. One of the weapons can be determined by scanning the Needlefish twice and seeing its weapon icon. The other must be determined visually. If the weapon icon is blank after two scans, then the Needlefish is carrying torpedoes.

As two of the weapons are exclusively anti-air and the other two are exclusively for surface threats, it is theoretically possible to encounter a Needlefish which cannot engage surface (has the Naval Missile Array and the Naval Anti Air Cannon) or air (has torpedoes and the deck gun) targets.

This is not the case with the Swordfish. The Swordfish, by contrast, has all four weapons in a randomly determined layout (its deck gun may be at the rear, the front, or mid-deck, but all Swordfish do have a deck gun).

Both ships are best taken down from standoff range using torpedoes. The Needlefish can be sunk with a single torpedo, while the Swordfish requires two. In the event torpedoes are unavailable, they may also be destroyed via other means such as bombs (Medium for Swordfish, Light for Needlefish) or rockets. Missiles of any kind (Cruise, Guided/Laser, TV, and IR) are not recommended if the ship is able to use CIWS against them, but it is possible for a ship's superstructure to block a CIWS from firing on a missile approaching at low altitude. Artillery and deck guns are not ideal as only a direct hit on a ship will damage it.

If attacking with aircraft, a Manta is recommended as it can easily outrun anti-air missiles at full throttle. It is recommended to manually control aircraft that are fired on by missiles, as the friendly AI does not fly them at their maximum speed. Enemy boats take a relatively long time to reload anti-air missiles, so baiting out missile launches is a good way to expose them to a variety of aircraft attacks. The Manta can also avoid anti-air missiles through ordinary evasion, even head-on, though this requires considerable practice and should be augmented with flares for maximum safety.