Carrier Command 2: Equipment Guide (How to Use the Best One)

Now that we have an idea of which targets we want to hit, we need to know the capabilities and limits of our carrier, our units, and our gear in order to make good use of the limited resources we have and avoid wasting that which is precious.

In order of importance and value are the following capabilities:
– Aerial observation and target ID – fulfilled by ALBATROSS UAVs
– Anti-sea warfare (ASW) – fulfilled by torpedoes, main gun, and various other methods
– Anti-CIWS warfare – fulfilled by main gun and ground units
– Anti-air warfare (AAW) – fulfilled by AA launchers, CIWS, and if desired, AAW equipped aircraft
– Anti-ground warfare (AGW) – fulfilled by a wide variety of methods

Loss of the above capabilities makes the campaign progressively harder, and incurs significant delays in terms of how quickly you can capture islands.

Following is a list of all starting equipment that your carrier receives, roles of said equipment, its capabilities, and a general idea of how long it will last.

SMALL MUNITIONS

AMMO (FLARE) – [Observation and target ID] – 300 – Carrier flares are wide-area illumination rounds that can be used to illuminate islands during night time. This is mainly used to spot enemy turrets, which don’t have headlights that reveal their positions unlike mobile units. Lauched from the bridge, or as a support call. 300 flares will usually last throughout an entire campaign.

AMMO (20mm) – [AAW, AGW, CIWS] – 40000 – 20mm ammunition which is used in CIWS guns both carrier-mounted and ground unit mounted, as well as aircraft chainguns. 40k is more than enough unless helicopter strafing runs are your preferred method of dealing with masses of unprotected ground units.

AMMO (100mm SHELL) – [ASW, AGW, Anti-CIWS] – 100 – 100mm gun ammunition, used in BATTLE CANNON mounted on BEAR-class chassis – useless until both blueprints are acquired. Fires HE shells with heavy bullet drop, which deal heavy damage around the point of impact, and can penetrate even enemy ship hulls. 100 shells can do a lot of damage, but beware as the AI will automatically spam them if given the opportunity.

AMMO (120mm SHELL) – [ASW, AGW, Anti-CIWS] – 100 – 120mm gun ammunition, used in ARTILLERY GUN mounted on BEAR-class chassis – useless until both blueprints are acquired. Requires aerial observation for accurate fire. Has a range of roughly 5km, which is enough to hit ships and any ground unit without being detected. 100 shells will last a decent amount of time if used sparingly to take out high-value targets.

AMMO (160mm SHELL) – [ASW, AGW, Anti-CIWS] – 100 – 160mm gun ammunition, used in the carrier main gun. Requires aerial observation for accurate fire, especially against enemy ships. The main gun’s immediate availability, power, and versatility make it a premium instrument for removing enemy CIWS and a reliable fallback weapon to use against ships. Has a range of 6km, but shells will spread more at longer ranges and take longer to travel. One volley will fire 5 shells, meaning that it can only destroy 20 targets on the starting supply, making 160mm a precious resource.

AMMO (30mm) – [AGW] – 9000 – 30mm gun ammunition, used in 30mm ground unit turrets. 9000 shots will last a decent amount of time, but if you use massed ground units which will waste many shells, you’ll need more eventually.

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LARGE MUNITIONS

BOMB (LIGHT) – [AGW] – 10 – A small bomb that is roughly equivalent in power to standard missiles. Has no homing and may not inflict full damage on fast targets. Fits only on fighter drones such as the ALBATROSS. Will get shot down by CIWS.

MISSILE (IR) – [AGW] – 120 – The bread and butter anti-ground weapon that is very easy to use, if a bit unreliable. Has a range of ~4km, and can be fired without a target lock or even target detection, homing in on the enemy ground unit in range and dealing moderate damage. At the time of writing, proudly ignores target locks. Will get shot down by CIWS.

MISSILE (LASER) – [AGW] – 30 – Laser-guided missiles are used in tandem with the observer camera of aircraft, and thus cannot be used on RAZORBILL rotors. The missile is deployed via support call from the camera, and homes in towards the crosshair. Will get shot down by CIWS.

MISSILE (AA) – [AAW] – 120 – Used in the carriers AA turret system, or mounted on aircraft, this is an IR homing missile which currently has a tendency to get distracted by enemy ground units and miss the air targets you fire it at. Will get shot down by CIWS.

CRUISE MISSILE – [AGW] – 18 – Large, slow, laser-guided missile with a massive range, used via support call from observer. The observer must maintain aim at the target to ensure accurate hits. Large splash radius and damage allow it to destroy large clusters of enemies easily, but just like regular missiles, it will get shot down by CIWS.

MISSILE (TV) – [AGW] – 2 – Funky missile that you can only launch in manual mode, and then manually pilot.

TORPEDO – [ASW] – 36 – Torpedoes are the premium way to remove enemy ships. Use the viewing scope to find enemy ships, note down the bearing, set bearing, load torpedo, and fire. Has a huge detection range and radius after activation delay, which may result in torpedoes fired at different targets to all home in on the nearest one. Fire slowly to avoid wasted shots. Beware, torpedoes have no friend/foe recognition – if you set the activation delay below 20s, you will likely have torpedoes that home on you, your nearby barge, or fail to home in on the desired bearing.

TORPEDO (NOISE) – [Ship defences] – 12 – Panic countermeasure for when an enemy ship is firing torpedoes at you. Only lasts a few seconds, so fire it when the enemy torpedo is close enough to miss you – if fired too soon, the torpedo will have time to re-lock onto you again. Pray that it works.

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TURRETS

TURRET (30mm) – [AGW] – 10 – Low power, low penetration, inaccurate in auto mode, this is the cheapest and slowest way to get anything done in Carrier Command 2. SEALs armed with this tend to die a lot before getting much done, unless manually piloted.

AIRCRAFT CHAINGUN – [AGW, AAW] – 4 – Aircraft can use these both to strafe ground targets and dogfight other aircraft. Rotors perform better at ground strafing runs, fighter drones perform better at dogfighting. Uses 20mm ammo.

TURRET (CIWS) – [AAW, CIWS, AGW, ASW] – 2 – A true multipurpose tool, this gun can do it all faster and better than the 30mm, be it killing ground units, actually being able to hit air, or even shooting at ships if you have no better options. You only get 2 at the start, do not lose these. Uses 20mm ammo.

TURRET (IR MISSILE)/MISSILE ARRAY – [AGW] – 2 – A missile rack that you can mount on ground units to use as rocket artillery. Same as aircraft IR missiles, tends to ignore target lock and get shot down by CIWS.

FLARE LAUNCHER – [Countermeasure] – 8 – Used by vehicles to attempt to confuse IR missiles. Keyword is ‘attempt’, because it usually fails to work and your vehicle dies anyway, so don’t expect this to be a reliable way to avoid missile fire.

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UTILITY

ASSORTED CAMERAS – [Observation and target ID] – Can be mounted on vehicles to see things and make support calls. The only one you really care about is GIMBAL CAMERA which is used by air. Ground units make for poor observers, but they can do it in a pinch (such as if you lost all your planes).

FUEL TANK (AIRCRAFT) – [Observation and target ID] – 2 – Mount these on your observer plane to extend the amount of time it can stay in the air before needing to refuel. Can also be used for long-range scouting missions.

Virus Module – [Island Capture] – 24 – The module used by ground vehicles to capture islands. 24 should be far more than enough to last you the whole campaign.

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CHASSIS

SEAL – [Surface Chassis] – 6 – The fastest, but also unarmoured ground unit that can run basic ground tasks. Not ideal for combat.

WALRUS – [Surface Chassis] – 2 – Medium ground unit. Has armour, and can take a fair amount of 30mm hits. These are your best candidates for sending into fights. Will still die vs. 40mm turrets.

RAZORBILL – [Air Chassis, Helicopter] – 4 – Small helicopter that works as a basic weapon platform for IR missiles, aircraft chaingun strafing runs, or perhaps even torpedoes. Can’t mount observer cameras. Beware that chaingun strafing forces the heli to descend into enemy CIWS range and subsequently die. Has trouble landing on the carrier in rough weather.

ALBATROSS – [Air Chassis, Fixed-Wing Plane] – 4 – Extremely versatile aircraft, the most important feature of which is the observer camera slot, which enables effective use of all fire support weapons. Can use most aircraft weapons, but unless you can manufacture more, it’s best not to risk them in combat.