These are the things I found noteworthy or just plain counterintuitive after 5 hours of play and a browse through of [Carrier Command 2 Strategywiki](https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Carrier_Command_2) and a bunch of other tutorials. Most of the late game stuff is excluded. ## Helm, Power, etc. **Steering lock** allows you to leave the station and do something else while the ship keeps turning at the current rate. Carrier's speed seems to be the only non-SI unit in the game. 100 knots is 185 km/h or **51 m/s**, which is actually slightly faster than the torpedoes. The red area in the overhead panel's throttle display supposedly marks the area where the engines use considerably more fuel than normally (**redlining**). This means the actual fuel efficiency gauge is lying. Engine temp gauge probably doesn't do anything either. Having lights on doesn't do any harm in PvE, but darkening the ship might be important in PvP. Power management shows both the maximum and the current power draw limited by other systems. Note that the **lift and cranes** also work slower if power supply is overdrawn. Only one subsystem can be repaired at the time. Hull repair especially takes a lot of power. Fuel pumps don't seem to do anything. Hold down **E** for **map tools** in the holomap. ## Logistics Barges need to be connected to islands and to the carrier in the logistics map. Try to make sure only one idle barge is connected to the warehouse at a time, because orders might be split inefficiently between multiple barges. Barges have infinite fuel for themselves. The overhead Delivery Log screen shows what has recently **arrived** on the carrier. You get money by controlling islands, capturing them, and by vehicle salvage (an instantaneous reward for destroying stuff). Because you get money just by controlling stuff, you probably don't need to worry too much about the economy. In the Vehicle Loadout screen, a vehicle chassis can be returned to the inventory by clicking on the chassis name. The more advanced chassis types are only somewhat more expensive than the starting vehicles, so it usually makes sense to upgrade when you can. - **Seals** are vulnerable even to 20 mm guns. **Walruses** can take some 30 mm hits, but not 40 mm. **Bears** resist 40 mm too, but have mobility and fuel consumption issues. - **Mules** can refuel and rearm (but not repair) other ground vehicles. - **Mantas** can survive some CIWS hits, carry countermeasures, and even outrun AA missiles. They can also equip an airborne radar. - **Petrels** have some armor, but overall the survivability isn't that great due to the lack of mobility and countermeasures. They can airlift ground units though. A single **drop tank** adds 100 l of fuel, which isn't that much compared to internal fuel tanks: for example Albatross has an internal capacity of 800 l. ## Drone Control Helicopters take about **60 s** to launch or recover, while fixed wing aircraft need about **90 s**. Recoveries have priority over launches. Full loop in the **holding pattern** takes about **120 s**. It extends far to the **left** from the carrier. Planes in the pattern are vulnerable to ground fire and might even hit high ground, so **place the holding pattern over the sea!** High waves can force recovering aircraft to abort and go around. Some recovering and launching aircraft are simply destroyed, although helicopter launches are probably fairly safe even in rough seas. Because wave height depends on water depth, **launch and recovery should be done close to the shore**. If it's necessary to launch further out, use the "hold on deck" button to wait for the best opportunity. #### Map mode: - You can **click the carrier** in the drone control map to see what is deployed and what can be deployed. - Waypoints are created by **dragging** from a vehicle or from an existing waypoint. Some special functions might work only when doing one or the other. - Give an **attack order** by dragging to a target or a **follow** order by dragging to a friendly unit. - Set the waypoint **altitude** by clicking it. New waypoints inherit the parent's altitude. - Fixed wing aircraft and "go codes" don't mix: they have issues in station keeping and the fuel consumption can get pretty high. #### Direct control: - Flight control and weapons must be set to manual separately. You can see and **select targets** only when you have a **weapon selected**; just having them on manual isn't enough! - Air to ground **IR missiles** can be fired with or without a target lock. Locking range is about **4 km**, but no one seems to know the actual maximum ranges for any of the missiles. #### Gimballed camera: - You can take control of the gimbal camera if a friend is already in direct control, but not the other way around. - **T** cycles between unstabilized, stabilized, and **tracking**. The last is the best for guiding support fire in. - When calling in fire support you must wait in the gimballed camera for the percentage to reach 100% (this applies even to flares). Cruise missile shows the current range to target instead. If you cancel the strike while the missile is en route, it will target the last aiming point. You can confirm your kills from the overhead log screen. Kills also show as an X on the map. ## Carrier Weapons The small green line in the **Radar** is the carrier's heading, while the red line is the set torpedo launch bearing (only visible if the torpedo launchers are powered on). Carrier's **AA missile launchers** start tracking targets when they come within **5 km**. Missile stock, readiness and the progress of the firing solution are displayed in the overhead panel. The lights next to firing buttons go white when the lock is complete. The missiles might lock to surface targets too on accident. **CIWS**es have a range of about **800 m** and use 20 mm ammo. Status is shown in the overhead panel. **Cruise missile** range is at least **10 km** (although some are claiming numbers up to 25 km), but it moves only 100 m/s (or possibly even slower?). **Carrier gun** has a range of **5 km** and fires 5 shells of 160 mm per fire mission. Both the missiles and the gun have an overhead status display. Activate cruise missiles and guns only if you need them, since they are easy to fire accidentally from drones. In terms of power management, you should only have one AA missile launcher and only some of the CIWSes online. **Flare** button will launch towards the closest island (no need to aim). ## Torpedo Warfare **Torpedoes** move at about **50 m/s** or **1 km in 20 s**. The maximum range is at least 10 km, or 200 s, but much higher ranges are also reported. **Time setting** is seconds before activation and is mainly used to bypass countermeasures. Initial turn is slow: a 90 degree turn takes about 20 s. Note that the time setting for **noisemakers** is actually their operating time, so max that out! **Aerial torpedoes** have a fixed **60 s** arming time. They travel about **3 km** in that time. **Torpedo tubes** cannot be unloaded. Perhaps it's better keep some empty, because the loading time is only some 5 s. Countermeasures are launched from the overhead panel. They just drop in place and run for **60 seconds**, so keep moving!