Im doing something wrong (early game assistance?)

[CorrieKay]

I must be doing something wrong. I start a new game, move to the next island, capture it, and as im waiting for it to build, the enemy carrier comes and wrecks me.

Theres not really anything i can see i can do up untill the second island is up, seeing as my first island doesnt net me enough resources or production speed to be able to build anything significant before the enemy carrier shows up. And even then, he seems to be instantly killing any of my walrus/mantas the second they come within gun range (launched everything at him, they were all dead within 15 seconds)

Not only that, but as soon as his deck guns (his machine guns, not his plasma, i actually sniped that with my own plasma array) get within range of me, they shred my carrier. I was commanding the plasma guns, and i saw the machine guns open fire, about three seconds later, my plasma cannon was toast.

:l so, any tips?

[OnyxBMW]

For fighting the carrier, the strategy I've found that works every time I've tried to fight the carrier, is basically exploit its bad firing arcs. Punch in close to the carrier, take the hits, get in behind it, put repair points in your likely-destroyed offensive gun, and then pace behind the carrier. As long as you stay behind it, you can keep your plasma cannon alive (aim for their defensive quads early, which are likely trapped in hitting your comms tower) and mitigate his ability to use his plasma cannon. Do this for long enough and the enemy carrier dies without a hope of fighting you. The main thing is, the front quads can aim down, while the rear quads can't. When you purposely kill his quads with yours, he can't fight you back, and when you get behind him, he can't really hurt you anyways. Basically turns the fight into one big joke.

Ironically, save your mantas and walrus' for after the guns are down, since they're too stupid to utilize firing arcs and will blindly charge into a gun that can kill them. Also, don't fullscreen the carrier view, since that breaks the AI on your guns.