Imagine, you have medium gunboats and light cruisers
at your disposal.
You decide to attack (and destroy!) a relatively small enemy battlegroup, which consists of:
- 1 medium gunboat (more turrets, less hull than yours)
- 1 light cruiser (less turrets, less hull than yours)
- 1 battlecruiser (superior hull and firepower)
- 1 heavy carrier (superior hull and firepower)
To do so, you need to form your own battlegroup.
Question: How many cruisers and gunboats you'd need to win (minimum number of each) and why?
If we're talking about ingame gameplay mechanics, I'd say a cruiser and a battlecruiser (or a second cruiser, based on your question) alone can do the job. The cruiser is the most survivable ship class out there, able to take some damage with the cruiser shields while being small and fast enough to dodge endlessly, and with a light morter and one or two pulses, it can take on any ship trying to take on it. The only threat to the light cruiser would be a medium or heavy cruiser. Same speed, more DPS.
The battlecruiser would be doing the same job the light cruiser does. Battlecruisers are easier to hit, but still a massive pain in the butt. They can deal enough damage to tank light battleships with the right loadout, but are also just small and fast enough to deal with any other ship class.
Heavy Carriers (there are only so many anyway) are just like any other battleship: Extremely vulnerable on their own. The job of a battleship or carrier is solely to provide an area of denial during group fights. They deal huge amounts of damage, if they hit - that is a very big if - while being unable to flee or prevent someone else from fleeing. They are slow, meaning any non-battleship can thrust out of effective firing range of the carrier. Cruisers and battlecruisers, if not able to tank, stay at the highest possible distance that allows for dodging while being able to use their most rangey weapons, usually mortars of each class.
The gunboats are mostly not a threat to cruisers, battlecruisers or carriers. There are only few people who know how to kite in a gunboat, and given it is a group fight, chances are the gunboat gets surrounded and can't dodge everything. The DPS it provides is miniscule compared to what everyone else adds to the fight. If it uses pulses, that might be the best contribution. Otherwise, gunboats are usually used to fight snubs and bombers, using solaris and missiles/razors.