yes, flak frigates are near useless.... tough rly DO help when used properly,

first of all, dont use them as an attack frigate,  rather use them as a support frigate, and spread them out acros your fleet, tough pretty slow at killing fighters/bombers, becuase it's inability to pursue, spreading them out during a battle where strikecraft are a problem rly does kil them, tough slowly...

the only thing that gets annoying is that they break of of your intended destination and pursue a fighter on the other side of the grav-well... that is probably the only reason why flaks are not being used,   their damage vs strikecraft is fine as it is, range is short  as it should be,  autotarget is what messes it up, they'll run out of the battle pursueing a single squad. even though there are 20 bombers right behind him..., and so do all the other flaks...

"wish they'd fix targeting... al ships should target close-by ships first... then when priority target "flak vs strikecraft / LRM vs LF" enters a certain range it'll autotarget, when the unit leaves a certain range (runs or is destroyed), a new target is picked using the same commands as before....."

so up short... no i rarely use flaks,  even when my enemy uses carriers only, i often build carriers of my own "unless it's Advent carrier spam"  every 5 fighters should also have 1 bomber,  not to destroy capital ships etc.  but to distract enemy fighters "prioroty target is bomber" having enemy fighters target bombers first can save u alot of fighter losses....

newb here..

but I've already stopped using flak frigs, as they appear to be useless...(and strikecraft are way overpowered)

IMHO, they are way underpowered. They should devastate strikecraft, period. Just a few Flak frigs should be able to remove those annoying hordes of swarming fighters and bombers, creating zones of "Fly in, but no fly out" areas in the grav well. Maybe bumping up the cost of them in materials, and in fleet would be a balance for increasing their power, along with making them slow lumbering hulks.

Another thing that would be nice (and may exist and I just haven't found it yet) would be the ability to assign an "auto-defend" command so that the Flak frigs (or whatever) only attacks targets attacking what they are defending and won't go off chasing the one lone fighter as 20 bombers are bearing down to kill the Cap it is assigned to defend.

On the overpoered strikecraft issue, adding a flak aspect to turrets to make them take out strikecraft more effectively would make them more useful. as it stands, I've quit using those as well, in favor of Hangers (the AI doesn't seem to understand that taking out the thing spitting out the strikecraft willl get rid of the strikecraft a lot quicker than shooting the strikecraft will)

While not particuarly effective, I always make about 7 per fleet.  It takes time, but they do make a big difference when facing fair numbers of squads.

A possible strat to keep them from chasing off after squads is to change thier tactics to "Hold position" or nearby target (I cant remember this particular name exactly).  You could then place them in a location and they wont move or will only engage nearby targets.  I use the latter on Siege frigates when i assault Pirate worlds to keep them from getting nuked too early by going straight to the planet and into a hornets nest of ships and platforms.

And yes, I am a newb, sorry if you dont like my advice.

Perhaps a solution, on top of beefing up basic anti-fighter frigates, would be to have anti-strikecraft Cruisers?

TEC  -  Kaminov Heavy Flak Cruiser
 - The Kaminov's primary weapon are explosive shells that are proximity detonated. The explosive turns the heavy casing into lethal shrapnel, ripping through lightly armored targets. Very effective against groups.
 - Ability Upgrade: Box Barrage - Cruiser can target an area of space, and will concentrate all fire in that space. Attack speed significantly increases, but cannot attack any other place.

Advent  -  Aegis Cruiser
 - The Aegis is armed with a massive battery of remote controlled, extremely light laser weapons. When deployed, they form a 360 degree sphere around the cruiser. These laser weapons can independently target individual strikecraft. However, when the weapons are deployed, the Aegis's speed is severely limited, and damage to the cruiser can destroy individual batteries, limiting its damage output. After a period of time, for the cost of antimatter, they are automatically replaced.
 - Ability Upgrade: Weapons enter a period of overcharge, dramatically increasing damage output. However, between 40 and 70% of them will be destroyed after the overcharging process is complete, and must be slowly rebuilt by the Aegis host.

Vasari  -  Dakarus Destroyer
 - The Dakarus is armed with two heavy batteries of phase missiles. These special phase missiles contain MIRV warheads that, while somewhat effective against most ship types, are especially damaging to strikecraft. When the missile gets close enough to a target, it will randomly target a handful of targets within range, and deal damage to each of them.
 - Ability Upgrade: Gravity Sink: When engaged, for a short time, all targets are pulled towards the Destroyer. How effective this is depends on hostile craft direction of movement, mass, and speed. Ships with a lot of inertia or faster speeds may be affected less than those with lighter weights or slower engines.

Just some thoughts I came up with real quick.

Another start that someone else mentioned is simply putting the anti-strikecraft weapons on every Capital ship.

for temporary fix

set engagement range for Flak Frigs

Actually, flak does not suck as much people think.

To beat carries you need 1 flak per squadron. Light frigates with their anti-support ability are also important. Makes it harder for enemy strikecraft to be replaced.

I just dont really build them.

Once you have a critical mass (like 100 squads), bombers are just plain wicked.  You'll kill the enemy cruisers and capital ships before their fighters can deal with your bombers.  This works best for advent with their rapture (30% extra strike craft damage... ouch), and is very difficult to stop without Kol, Halcyon, or Kortul.  You NEED those anti-strike craft abilities to survive.  Early game, though, your bombers don't deal quite enough damage and fighters will take them out before they deal their critical damage.  The more versitile fighter shines there, but later on a balance is a good idea.

For all that's said about the wicked power of strike craft, I had three level 5 Kortuls last night all with maxed jam weapons... let's just say I did just fine without fighters or flak.

I find that the anti-fighter frigates for both the Vasari and TEC work very well when dealing with strikecraft spam. (I don't play Advent, so I cannot have an opinion on their anti-fighter ship) I normally have about 15-25 anti-fighter ships per fleet, and they provide me with plenty of fighter and bomber protection. I try to keep them all clustered near forward/center area of my fleet, and when the fstrikecraft attack, i just leave them to the frigates. depending on the numer of strikecraft, by the 4th or 5th attack run, anywhere from 25%-75% of the strikecraft are destroyed. When that happens, it is then that I release my fighters to assist mopping up the rest, and when the rest of their fighters are gone, I release bomers.

Personally, I feel that it is a good balence. Anti-fighter frigates won't slaughter strikcraft on tghe first pass, but will take chuncks out of them on each pass, and unless your opponent has over 100 squadrons, only about 20 frgates are needed.

As an aside, if you are facing that many srtikecraft, its late enough in the game to spam the frigates to about 60 or so, which can tear those fighters to pieces

Just some clarification - the idea that missiles made guns obsolete is why the F-4 Phantom was one of the most doomed fighters the US ever flew. It became so bad, several squadrons retrofitted external 'gun pods' that were clumsy, loose, and inaccurate, just because the enemy MiGs were often encountered in subsonic, close-range environments.

Also, describing the 20mm as 'massive' is a bit of an overstatement - AFAIK, most USAF aircraft equipped with a gun for air to air combat is 20mm...

My suugestion was not theory, I have successfully used it in practise.

You need carriers yourself. Bombers already get popped by fighters super fast. They do NOT need a buff against bombers. If anything, fighters need a nerf. carriers also need a small speed nerf and a health nerf imho.

That was decades ago, when missile guiding system were primitive. Technology has greatly advanced since then. The usefulness of a gun on aircraft is still debated. On the other hand, the A-10 Thunderbolt II's cannon is extremely effective on the battlefield.

Buff the flak frigates! 

This is a serious issue that is ruining the game by making carrier spam un-counterable except by your own carrier spam. 

strike craft annihilate Capital Ships hugely easily making it even more important to have some decent flak.