Carriers
Carriers are capital ships with the ability to control Light and Support fighters (frigate-sized drones). They also have the ability to store 1,000,000 m3 of assembled ships in their ship maintenance bay so pilots who lose their ships can quickly pick up a new one. Other ships from the carrier pilot's corporation (or fleet, depending on the carrier's settings) can also use it to refit in space.
In PvP, carriers (and their supercapital counterparts, supercarriers) often serve as anti-subcapital ships. To facilitate this role, they have access to the powerful Networked Sensor Array, which increases their scan resolution but removes their ability to use electronic warfare modules. Carriers are also able to equip Command Bursts. Carriers can use space superiority fighters to kill the fighters from supercarriers, effectively removing much of the effectiveness of their larger counterparts.
In PvE, carriers are sometimes used for very grand-scale ratting.
Carrier hulls
Each race has one carrier:
Bonuses
All carriers have a mixture of general carrier bonuses and hull-specific bonuses
General
These bonuses apply to all carrier ships:
- Can use two Command Burst modules
- 200% bonus to Command Burst area of effect range
- Can launch Light and Support Fighters
- Can lock at extended ranges
- 5x penalty to Entosis Link duration
- 200% bonus to Command Burst area of effect range
Race-Specific
In addition, carriers are role-specific by the race in which they belong. The following benefits are listed by race, based on the pilot's racial Carrier skill:
Amarr (Archon)
- 4% bonus to all armor resistances
- 5% bonus to Cenobite Support Fighter neutralization optimal range
- 1% bonus to Armored Command and Information Command burst strength and duration
Caldari (Chimera)
- 4% bonus to all shield resistances
- 5% bonus to Scarab Support Fighter ECM optimal range
- 1% bonus to Shield Command and Information Command burst strength and duration
Gallente (Thanatos)
- 5% bonus to Fighter damage
- 2.5% bonus to Fighter hitpoints
- 5% bonus to Siren Support Fighter warp disruption range
- 1% bonus to Armored Command and Skirmish Command burst strength and duration
Minmatar (Nidhoggur)
- 5% bonus to Fighter damage
- 2.5% bonus to Fighter velocity
- 5% bonus to Dromi Support Fighter stasis webification range
- 1% bonus to Shield Command and Skirmish Command burst strength and duration