Overview
Carriers would be destroyer-class vessels which, rather than having heavy suppression turret modules, would be equipped with 4 bays that can be assigned to anything from light interception, heavy bombing, team support, or dispatching repairs to distant allies.
Overall, carriers would exchange direct firepower for a battlefield-wide presence, and would be equipped with only minimal defensive weaponry to make room for crew, hangar, and on-board fabrication facilities. More so than Suppression class Destroyers, Carriers would be vulnerable to close range attack, but tough enough to allow allies to rescue them in time. Before destruction of the vessel, however, it will be possible to render hangars inoperable, or disable the special module from transmitting commands to dispatched fighters.
Active Modules
Active module slots would assign each hangar space with a different type of drone. The carrier operator can choose to launch all 4 wings at once, or keep some on reserve for self-defense, or to more quickly recover from losing a previous wing of fighters. There wouldn’t be any restrictions on duplicate modules, if a pilot wants to have 4 wings of interceptors, then they will be doing so at the cost of offering no chance of team repairs or the heavier damage that bomber wings would offer.
Interceptors - Interceptors would be light and fragile, making brief hit and run strikes on targets with a short-ranged lance beam. These would have the highest velocity and agility of all fighter types. Due to the low but accurate damage, these would be best utilized for finishing off heavily damaged targets, or attacking other drones.
Bombers - These would be better armored to deal with larger threats, but would be larger in size and thus easier to hit. Weaponry would be medium ranged and easy for fighters and smaller to evade. Their attacks would have splash damage, making it possible for them to cause damage through barriers and increase their effectiveness on tight fortified positions.
Defenders - Slow and short ranged, but fairly tough, so best suited for self-defense, or for protecting your slower allies, like frigates and destroyers. These could be easily dealt with from a distance, but create a zone of denial in large numbers or with a fortified team position.
Special Module
Your special module will bring you into the “Tactical Overlay” which will give you an overview of the battle that can be panned and zoomed in typical RTS fashion, and the user interface to select and command your drone squadrons to dock, move-to, defend, attack, or possibly perform special secondary functions unique to the fighter type. This module will be present on your ship as a destructible segment, and when destroyed, the control uplink will be severed, and drones will either self-destruct, or revert to the default behavior of attacking locked targets but otherwise hovering nearby.