Good points, both of you.
I'm thinking along these lines: modern carriers mainly have anti-missile turrets and missiles, and anti-ship missiles like the tomahawk (I think...). While their main offensive power is the fighters they carry, they're not toothless without them.
However, nowadays carriers are nessecary because planes simply don't have the range to get everywhere that's needed. But in FS2, fighters have jump drives, virtually negating the whole range problem. Although I'm sure that there are still plenty of advanteges to having a carrier in the immediate vicinity, it's not as absolutely nessecary as it is in the real world.
Therefore, it is my opinion that FS2 carriers will not be focused as much on carrying fighters to the neglect of direct offensive weaponry.
But you are right, the # of heavy beams needs to be toned down. So, I'm thinking one BVAS, with the rest being those pathetic SVAS turrets. The other current numbers are: 14 flak, 9 AAA and 22 plain laser turrets. For a newly designed carrier, I think that's reasonable... well, maybe a BIT over kill...

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