Raider swarms are the way to go. Good to have a mix of heavy and light. Heavies on their own will die to fighters, and lights on their own won't have the punch to take down big ships. Unfortunately you can/t close blast doors due to only having one weapon, but you can concentrate all fire.
Remember that raiders regenerate in a carrier, just like fighters do in a normal carrier.
And yes get a carrier for minimaxing goodness. You can always deploy it facing a table edge, not too close though! Launch Raiders, use it on All Stop as an initiative sink, then when it's getting shot at, retreat off the table. You give away a few VP's so check the victory conditions - in Annihilation for example this is irrelevant.
If you're facing Gaim or a Narn e-mine fleet then run away.