A Solid Introduction to Fleet Carrier Warfare
Modern naval battles are terrifying. When near peer fleets of warships potentially go head to head, they bring with them highly advanced weapons designed to be as "unfair" as possible. Long gone is the era of within visual range cannonade slinging. Close in weapons capable of knocking missiles out of the air, long-range anti-ship missiles that come over the horizon and all weather combat aircraft striking targets hundreds of miles away from their motherships - that is naval warfare of these days. On June 20th, 2024, Nuclear Option by Shockfront Studios presented their take on modern, no nuclear weapons barred surface combat with a single mission that embodies the experience.
Update 0.28 was a substantial update for the game with key highlights being a revamped in game economy for aircraft unlocking, strategic nuclear weapons and the focus of this article: the Hyperion-class Fleet Carrier and the carrier-based KR-67 Ifrit multirole fighter.
KR-67 Ifrit
The latest fixed-wing combat aircraft to the roster is the game's first purpose built carrier based multirole fighter. The KR-67 Ifrit was first mentioned to the public on November 23rd, 2023, with it public release on June 20th, 2024. This semi-stealthy multirole aircraft joins the ranks of the air superiority focused FS-12 Revoker as a top-tier, high performance single seat aircraft in the game.
This thrust vectored aircraft comes standard with a tail hook for Short Take-Off, Barrier Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) aircraft carrier operations, though the tail hook can be removed if needed.
The KR-67 carries a hard hitting internal 27mm cannon with two centerline internal weapon bays, inner wing pylons and outer wing pylons. When flying with external weapons beneath its wings, the Ifrit is capable of complex strike missions while providing self escort with active radar homing (ARH) and infrared homing air-to-air missiles. The aircraft can easily be pressed into the air superiority role with a considerable amount of ARH or "Fox Three" missiles. Making it able to intercept aircraft and anti-surface missiles at long ranges, en masse. Bunker busting precision guided bombs, glide bombs, anti-tank missiles and anti-radiation missiles round out its ability to perform any mission asked of it. Keeping with the theme of the game, the KR-67 is also able to carry two tactical nuclear bombs. Its defensive capabilities include standard chaff and flare dispensers and a self protection jammer.
Weapon capability wise, its flexibility is unmatched by other aircraft in game. A single Ifrit could fulfill the mission requirement of two or three aircraft in a single sortie. This entire array of weapons can be carried while maintaining impressive speeds, respectable maneuverability and a few extreme angle of attack maneuvers in a close range dogfight with its pitch limiter function disabled.
Hyperion-class Fleet Carrier
The Hyperion-class Fleet Carrier is the second naval vessel added to Nuclear Option. Before this update some endeavoring users got creative in the mission editor to create structures that were aircraft carrier shaped, but the real deal is now here! In the grand scheme of the game, its inclusion opens new scenarios in the base game and for mission editors to explore. Thanks to its ability to move around the map, attacking a "mobile air base" is a new mission type for players to challenge.
This aircraft carrier features two short-range infrared homing missile launchers, one long-range semi-active guided missile launcher and two close in weapon systems that are able to intercept incoming munitions like anti-ship missiles, guided bombs, nuclear weapons, etc.
Aircraft operating from the carrier spawn inside of the carrier and are automatically lifted by elevator to the flight deck for operations. There, they utilize a Ski-Jump Style ramp to launch themselves into the air using their own engine thrust and the forward motion of the aircraft carrier. For landing, aircraft automatically receive landing position data for speed and an E-bracket for landing on the carrier deck. Currently only the KR-67 benefits heavily from this system thanks to its built in carrier arrestor cable hook, but any aircraft that can fly slow enough to land on a carrier deck and slam on its brakes before falling off the carrier also benefits from them.
Mission: Carrier Duel
Update 0.28 brought a challenging mission that, in my opinion, acts as the perfect introduction for high level naval combat in Nuclear Option. The mission places two fleets, with the same number of warships, same combat capabilities and same number of aircraft against one another. Each fleet having a single aircraft carrier with its air wing compliment. In this mission, the air wing of is made up of a solid mix of aircraft covering various roles in quantities that are believable when compared to real world aircraft carrier air wings:
24x KR-67 Ifrit (Multirole Fighter)
08x T/A-30 Compass (Light Attacker, Trainer)
04x EW-25 Medusa (AWACS, Electronic Warfare)
04x SAH-46 Chicane (Attack Helicopter)
02x CI-22 Cricket (COIN Aircraft)
The missile engagement ranges of the Hyperion-class Fleet Carriers and their Shard-class Corvette escorts allow for large scale air combat operations without there being a dozen long-range surface-to-air missiles raining upon aircraft the moment they get within 60 nautical miles. Though, their combined weapon systems still reliably intercept just about any weapon thrown at the warships unless they are fired en masse.
Something the Carrier Duel mission portrays that I feel like many other games do not capture is the intense air battle that would make up the first half of a fleet versus fleet battle of this scale. The air wing is truly the first line of defense and primary means of offense. Before either surface group can engage each other directly, their combat aircraft tangle in the skies above the open ocean. For players flying in this scenario, it is difficult and ill advised to try and ignore enemy air operations. Playing the long-term strategy of gutting the enemy's air wing while they operate outside of the range of their fleet air defenses protects your fleet from constant attack while diminishing the enemy fleet's defensive options. There are times where the air battles are becoming decided by carefully avoiding ARH missiles through high speed evasion and notching missiles or flying just above the water's surface in attempts to drive missiles into the ocean while closing for a close range dogfight.
Combat over the open ocean is a unique experience in the sense that with no terrain coverage to hide behind, the player's decision on when to evade or when to commit to an attack are even more high risk. In this mission there are foothills available for terrain masking on a nearby shoreline, but they are removed from the main axis of attack between the two fleets. Players will need to fly out of their way and out of the main area of the battle to utilize it.
Direct attacks against the fleet frequently result in at least half of the munitions fired being intercepted before they are any threat to warships. Mainly because of the concentration of close in weapon systems and short-range surface-to-air missile systems. Targeting a single warship and concentrating fire on it yields the best results per attack. A lone player will have limited success during the first attempts of attacks on surface ships, but will be able to utilize the efforts of their AI allied aircraft to augment their own attacks. Of course flying with multiple allied human players changes this significantly, with mass attacks timed and focused on a single enemy.
Eventually, as each fleet comes into range to attack each other directly, players can use the fleet surface combat as a distraction to close short range and executing slashing attacks to pick off the Corvette escorts or disable the aircraft carrier. Though, like any real warship, it will take at least half a dozen high explosive munitions to sink them. The tactical nuclear weapons carried by the aircraft in the air wing are also susceptible to interception, so this is not a problem that can be easily solved by atomizing the fleet at the drop of a hat.
For the handful of times I played this mission, it always came down to each fleet engaged in close range combat with both sides taking considerable losses. Even the victorious side is questionably combat effective after the enemy carrier has been sank. It is a grueling battle and interesting to see Shockfront Studios allow it to unfold this way.
In the near future I plan on creating an aircraft carrier centric mission for Nuclear Option to continue exploring the new aircraft carrier playstyle while capitalizing on their strengths and weaknesses. It will also be my first attempt to create a mission for Nuclear Option in general. Look forward to it!
About the Writer
Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.
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