... However im still aprehensive about drone carriers due high maintenance (continually replacing drones/racks), lag storm caused by drone combat, and sometimes glitchy deployment methods.
Don't be, Carriers are actually
Low on the maintenance spectrum. Consider the following...
A) Drone carrier holding 100 drones on 4 large racks.
vs
B) Battleship with no drones but several turrets and equal mass compared to the carrier + drones.
Let's look at a battle involving these two, although not necessarily against each other. Both fight and win and now the victor (you) have to repair your ship(s).
A) The carrier will have taken minimal damage, if not directly in combat, which carriers should never be. Admittedly though the drones are either all dead or mostly dead, the racks can be salvaged and overall you need to replace the lost drones. Which is costly but considering the following....
B) Your battleship has hull damage and probably some systems damage. You have two options here, either
1. Replace the parts individually wherever they need it.
2. Tear apart the whole ship grab another blueprint and rebuild it.
It may take less parts to do the battleship part, but until you grab all those resources your stuck with whatever ship you've got lying about. Meanwhile the carrier is still intact and only waiting for some drones to be replaced. It may even still have some serious combat ability!
So carriers are actually the better option on the maintenance department.
Lag storm issues? try improving your ram used for starmade, or using larger and fewer drones, in short, know your limits on drones. I prefer my heavy drones as they are very effective at any range group. Not to mention highly damaging, and can be fielded in fewer numbers than my nano drones without any loss of efficiency.
Glitchy deployment methods can be dealt with by actually re-designing. Most deployment methods here are the result of crazy ideas that were honed and refined over many iterations until we found something that worked. Honestly it's all trial and error, you'll never get rid of the glitchyness unless you keep trying. =)
So go ahead and make a carrier already, what are you waiting for? :p