More than anything, carriers need that capacity to be commensurate to their size and cost. The capacity is presently far too low for their size.
Actually looks about right to me when the volume of the docking bays (particularly M docks) is added up, as rough approximation of the internal volume that would be needed to store each ship.
You do realise that we're talking about a Carrier, right; 2Km long, actually bigger than a lot of real mountains. S ships are about the size of most modern military aircraft, being at the most 10 to 15m across at their largest/longest; decidedly smaller than their docking bays and even then, a modern aircraft carrier (which is tiny in comparison to even L sized ships) can comfortably carry 80 to 90 of those.
40 S ships is nowhere near close to the sort of storage that such a ship can or should have. Even if one were to lay these single file across a single arm of the colossus, and presume that each takes up about the same space as a docking bay (a rather massive presumtion that disregards any considerations of storage), we would still be able to fit well over 50 of those in the 1Km plus length of a single arm of the Colossus. And that's if we're only placing them single file on only one single arm and nowhere else.
Leave the entire ship; the storage capacity is too low for a single arm of the ship. The thing is a mountain sized ship with the storage capacity of a small car park.
The simple fact is that the carrier capacity is beyond ridiculous in just how low it is compared to the size of the ship, which basically makes the carrier a massive liability in practice, since it's a massive pile of empty space just sitting there and eating shots from the enemy, offering a rather pathetic amount of storage space, nothing in the way of weapons and little else otherwise.
If your carriers EVER get shot at, or need to fire at enemy ships, you're using them wrong. Carriers should be kept WAY at the back, several 10's of km from any possibility of getting involved in the fight.
This does raise the very troubling question of what exactly the Carrier is doing anyways; since the Auxiliary, as per this notion, does everything the Carrier does and more, and at a lower price to boot.
Here's the simple truth; the carrier is heavily armoured and shielded, and sacrifices much of the repair ability of the fleet auxiliary, and can only service M and S class vessels. If it isn't offering any combat ability or added utility for that (not to mention the added price), then the ship is quite literally trash and has no purpose, since the fleet Auxiliary already exists and does more at a lower price.
The storage and ability in combat aren't so much conveniences as reasons for the ship to actually exist.
As for the destroyers vs the Xenon I. The Xenon I is large enough to occupy a significant portion of a fighter's weapon range. And since this game seems to have a rule where turrets, no matter how much larger, can't outrange (and only barely out damage in a handful of cases) fighter weapons; means that Destoryers don't have any option but to get in close, since that pea shooter of a main battery isn't even going to tickle the shields on the I.
Well that's just wrong. You're simply not going to be able to convince me that all those Xenon destroyers (both K & I) which my Phoenix Vanguards eliminated in my last game just fell apart all by themselves & not as a result of my destroyers main guns. Mostly they were engaging the enemy at around 7-9km (guns modded for extended projectile lifetime/speed) &, aside from a few instances where a pilot got too enthusiastic & had to be ordered back to the firing line, their turrets didn't fire at all. It's obvious you've never actually tried this yourself. Those man guns do far more than tickle - every time a shot lands a noticeable chunk of shields or hull is eliminated. Get a bunch of destroyers together (had 8 by the end of that game) & their main guns can demolish a Xenon capital in a remarkably short amount of time.
Well, anecdotes aside, here is what I do know; the main batteries of the destroyer offer less firepower than a single turret. At a DPS of 1092 for both batteires combined, they are quite literally the worst L sized weapons on the ship; worse even then the L sized pulse turret, and for a destroyer that's going to be engaging other capital ships, woefully inadequate, with only their range and projectile speed to their name. So yes, I have given the guns a try, more than once, and, unless one swarms the Destroyers by bringing say 4 or 5 to the enemy's 1, the actual main guns aren't contributing much of anything to the cap ship fight, especially when compared to the likes of L turrets, missiles or even S class vessels.
I'll be blunt here; any weapon, however terrible and useless can do damage in sufficient numbers, but that doesn't make it a good weapon. The main batteries are objectively terrible; being only good for having the sort of range that the L turrets should have had as well. Being able to take down Xenon ships by swarming 8 of these is no arguement in their favour, any more than the fact that I have had better results using 10 or so pulse, heavy missile or torpedo armed Eclipses or Quasars against the same ships, and for a lower cost.
