Swamped by fighters and bombers!!!

you call that a big blob of text? meh seen bigger

anyways, build more flak and add in your own carriers loaded with fighters, the one two punch will help clear the skies than build some LFs (yes I said the light frigates) and send them after the enemy carriers (Light Frigates are the counter to carriers)

oh and one other thing, flak costs 4 supply points and a fighter/bomber squad costs about 7 (carriers cost 14 supply points and you get two squads) so feel free go two flaks for one carrier (8 vs 14) and you will still have plenty of room to build a decent fleet to handle whatever he has

10 isnt gonna cut it. You should have 2 flak for every carrier he has. Anything less than 20 to start with isnt gonna make a dent. Also you might wanna like Ryat said, build your own carriers full of fighters. A Kortul with Jam weapons will buy you some time also.

So dont be afraid to to a bit heavy on the flak, their damage isnt grand against other ships but they make great meat sheilds.

one more thing: the reason why your flack wont move might be because they are using discharging missles.

discharging missles are great, and deal extra AOE damage, but your ship dont move, so make sure you move your flack to where you want them, so they dont go off chasing sc, and end up in the middle of nowhere, and unable to move.

10 flak will do just fine against the fighters unless its a large amount of fighters(more than 20 squads) or unless as mentioned above your flak are spread out everywhere chasing lone squads.  It doesn't take much to suppress fighters with a handful of flak but more flak makes it quicker.  Flak won't do squat to the bombers though.  You need fighters of your own to kill the bombers.  Anti-SC cap abilities will help too.  Skirmishers/LF are great at killing carriers as mentioned already and some have anti-antimatter abilities to neutralize their ability to rebuild squads, just watch out for any LRFs that would kill the LF.

[_]-Greyfox

Just a Grammer Tip (coming from the person with bad english >.>): To the Vasari: Their AAs arent "Flaks". SAAM seems to make clear sence

Plus: build about 4-10 "SAAMs" and maybe, 1 or 2 Carriers with Fighters: Like the other suggestions above: LFs (never tried it tbh) seems to be a good idea to chace down those pests unless the Bombers deside to rip them to pieces.

If you say flak or flak frigate then people will know what you mean.  If you say "SAAM", then people will have no clue what you are talking about(including me).  It makes no sense to me but maybe its just me.  I am guessing the AA is anti-air which one could say is a misnomer as well since its in space and there is damn little "air".  On a side note, you may want to make sure you spell at least grammar right before you try to nitpick someone for what may or may not be a small error.

[_]-Greyfox

Ten anti-strike craft cruisers is completely insufficient after the early game.

You have two options to deal with strike craft.  The first is the obvious and shoot down the craft themselves, the second is to go after the carriers and blast them.  Most players use some combination of these two approaches, but either way you're going to need lots of firepower. 

To take out strike craft, you need lots of firepower in the form of fighters and flaks.  You want to absolutely crush the enemy, and that usually means a large formation of flaks that shred any strike craft that fly overhead complemented by a large group of fighters to rip bombers apart.  To take out carriers, you need frigate power, and for Vasari that usually means Kanrak Assailants and lots of them (Enforcers and Skirmishers also work well here, but Assailants offer you the best overall package).  Now, most strategies will use a combination of these approaches, using flaks and fighters to thin out the enemy strike craft while the frigates rip through the enemy, but the exact balance and approach is really up to you.

Now, as mentioned, a Kortul Devastator capital ship with the "jam weapons" ability is highly useful here regardless of your approach, and for very large fleet battles (~50 or more enemy squads) it's a no-brainer. 

Heres some tip:

Two Flak Frigates to One Carrier

Flak Frigates ONLY kill fighters effectively, not bombers effectively. Build fighters to kill bombers effectively.

Hecoloyn Carrier is good vs air craft, as they can push them away.

Colbalts is a good strat to kill carriers.

Thanks for the speedy response!!!

1. I had no idea I had to little flak but thanks for bringing that to my attention.

2. I thought 3 Cap ships would suffice vs 2 especially since they all have at least 1 level in each special ability (some more). I have a Death Egg, the Kortul dev and also I believe a special support capital ship, but practically no strike craft.

3. I had 17 light frigates but lost 3 before I could retreat how many should I have?

4. I think I told my flak to attack the enemies cap ships so they didn't do their job. I will split them from my main fleet but send both fleets together. That way I can target the capital ships and his strike craft.

5. Anything else

Thanks!!!

The number of capital ships you use is a matter of taste and strategy.  Three is more than sufficient for a mature fleet in most cases.  The Jarrasul and Kortul are great choices overall, but generally a Vasari fleet should have a Skirantra for healing.  I personally find them invaluable.

The number of Skirmishers you have depends on a lot of factors, including overall fleet composition and size.  Against the AI, I probably wouldn't even build Skirmishers.  Instead, use Kanrak Assailants.  They require only one lab to research and pack a very vicious punch.

Progress report...

1. I now have a huge fleet with 35 light frigates 16-18 cruisers (the farthest one on the left is the type) and with carriers around 25 fighters for destroying bombers. I also have support and just in case one of every type of Capital Ship with at least level 1 in every ability.

It worked well but will it continue to work?

2. I want more Kanraks to because I have only 17-18 of them.

3. Thanks for all the help!!!

It depends on what it is up against really.  Your fleet should always be tailored to what your enemy has and what resistance you expect to be fighting.  To do this you need to know what counters what.  Kanraks and LRF in general counter most things pretty well but especially LF and caps.  LF counter support cruisers and carriers.  HC counter about anything.  Fighters counter LRF, fighters, and bombers.  Bombers counter HC and structures including starbases.  Scouts counter LRF(somewhat for the same resources spent).  A lot of times it will say what it counters on the infocard of the unit. 

And yes, 10 flak will cover early to mid game just fine.  Unless they have more than 10 carriers(vasari or tec) all with fighters or the squadron equivalent in carrier caps and then you may want to bring more.  They are not going to kill your LRF fast enough with the fighters for the extra time they have living to make a huge difference.  There are other reasons to build more flak but to counter fighters is not one of them.  Flak are VERY effective at killing off fighters especially if the person does not micro the fighters away from the flak using various means.  You certainly do not NEED 2 flak to 1 carrier because thats overkill to suppress fighters although you may want them.  If you want them to counter LRF or as meat shields thats a totally different function and irrelevant to this particular discussion.

[_]-Greyfox

Not the best of approaches.  You're almost always better off with a few capital ships that specialize in a handful of abilities.  Sometimes there will be one or two (like Jam Weapons) that really work well in your given situation, but these are the exceptions to the rule.  Most of the time you pick your capital ships and their abilities sparingly.  Given your current fleet size, you're very heavy on capital ships.

Definitely; for a fleet of your size, 50 or even as many as 80 would be a good number to have.  In those kinds of swarms, they just vapourize enemies.

Thanks!!!

1. Yeah went overboard on capital ships but they do the job. That and my heavy Cruisers. I will build more and more light and heavy frigates especially kanraks.

The good news about all those cap ships is I never need any planet siege frigates