SageWon SageWon

1.2 Cap Ship Ability Guide

1.2 Cap Ship Ability Guide

Originally by Mongoose22

Capital ship ability guide 1.1

Originally gleaned from the 1.05 reference infoBy Mongoose22 Posted May 10, 2008

Edited and noted for 1.1 and 1.19/1.04E changes (
in yellow).  Added descriptions, along with additional observations, and my personal ratings (5 stars is best, 2 is worst).  Ratings have been updated as well. 

Offensive abilities or
damage noted in red.  Defensive abilities or damage reduction in green.   Finally,abilities that  either: interrupt or are interruptible are noted in purple.

Please reply/comment if you note errors, have a better description, insights, combos, or disagree with a rating.

TEC
____________________________________________________________________

Kol Battleship   ****

Gauss Rail Gun   ***
Gauss Rail Gun
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75
Cooldown time: 6
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure (All, but strikecraft)
Range:  5000     6000   (1.04E only buff)
Effect(s):
Damage: 300 / 550 / 800    325 / 650 / 975   (1.04E only buff) 
The target's maximum speed is also reduced by 50% for  10 seconds    (1.04E only added buff)
Fire Rail Gun at target (not strikecraft). Simply deals an instant 325 damage to the target at first level. (650 & 975 dmg at second and third levels).  Can be repeated, or fired again every 6 seconds (cooldown), but antimatter will likely be exhausted after 2 or 3 shots.  And damage must first pass thru shield mitigation reducing effective damage.  (Best used against structures, since they don’t have shield mitigation).

Flak Burst   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100 / 100 / 100
Cooldown time: 12 / 10 / 8
Affects: enemy strikecraft
Range: self
Area radius: 2400 / 3000 / 3600
Max targets: infinite
Effect(s):
Damage: 30 / 45 / 60 to each
Deals some significant instant damage (30/45/60) to all nearby hostile strikecraft squadrons, within the level’s range (2400/3000/3600). Again, a short cooldown (12/10/8), but relatively high antimatter cost (ea 100).

Adaptive Forcefield   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 40 / 50 / 60
Cooldown time: 45 / 40 / 35
Affects: self
Duration: 20 / 30 / 40
Effect(s):
Damage reduction: 15% / 25% / 35%
Shield bypass reduction: 25% / 45% / 60%

For 20/30/40 seconds, reduce: damage taken, and phase missile penetration done to this ship. Damage reduction of 15%/25%/35% of all types. Progressively increases its chance of blocking Vasari phase missiles. 
Notes: This is the only ability in the game that can reduce the effectiveness of Vasari phase missile shield bypass. The fully upgraded forcefield can be on at all times with no gaps as long as you have the antimatter.

Finest Hour (ultimate ability)   ****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: self
Duration: 60
Effect(s):
Autocannon splash radius: 1000
Autocannon splash damage: 60    (1.1 fix)
Antimatter regeneration rate: 5
Hull repair rate: 10
Ability cooldown reduction: 20%

“Last Stand”. Temp. increase own repair and antimatter regen rate. Also gains splash damage on attacks. Causes this ship to: regenerate 5 antimatter/s, 10 HP/s, decreases weapon cooldown by 20%, and grants 60 splash damage to autocannons for 60 seconds. Meaning restores: 300 AM total, and 600 Hull points, plus additional damage nearby.
Notes: Better used in the middle of a battle rather than to start to get the full regen benefits.


Sova Carrier   ****

Missile Batteries   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 125   70   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Cooldown time: 50     35   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Effect(s):
Creates Missile Battery (frigate)
Lifetime: 180
Hull points: 750 / 1000 / 1250
Hull repair rate: 1
Shields: 120 / 140 / 160
Shield regeneration: 1
Armor: 3.0 / 4.0 / 5.0
Armor class: light
Weapon: missile
Damage type: anti-medium
Range: 8500
DPS: 13.00 / 17.33 / 22.75
Can deploy multiple temp. missile turrets (or platform structures/frigates, long duration). 13.0/17.3/22.7 dps, 750/1000/1250 hull, 120/140/160 shield, 3/4/5 armor, depending on ability level, for 180 seconds (3 mins.).
Notes: The Missile Battery acts as a stationary, hardier Javelis frigate, with upgrades increasing both its damage and survivability. It's considered a frigate, so research upgrades will also improve it like any other ship. The battery's range is less than that of a real Javelis, so you'll want to drop it closer to the action.

Embargo   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 85   

Cooldown time: 120
Affects: enemy planet, enemy cargo ships
Area radius: planetary system
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 120  60/90/120   (
1.1 Nerf)
Effect(s):
Planet production stolen: 40% / 70% / 100%
Planet ship/structure build time increase 30% / 60% 100%
Disable Phase Jump (cargo ships)    (1.18/1.04E fix)

“Steals income, blocks trade”. Steals 40%/70%/100% of enemy planet’s production. Disables own phase jump engines to temp. prevent trade ships from jumping out of current system and slows production in current system. Increases the build time of enemy ships and structures.
Notes: Embargo steals based on what the target planet is producing, so it works best for productive enemy planets and ones with heavy trade and/or refinery traffic, as it prevents the cargo ships from leaving the system.  But it also can be an effective strategy for rushing a young nearby enemy homeworld.

Heavy Strikecraft   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: own strikecraft
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Strikecraft damage increase: 10% / 20% / 30%   12% / 24% / 36%  (1.18/1.04E buff)
Strikecraft armor increase:    1.0 / 2.0 / 3.0         2.0 / 3.5 / 5.0        (1.18/1.04E buff)
(Passive buff) Increase armor and damage of this ship's strikecraft.  Increases the damage dealt by the Sova's squadrons (only) by 12/24/36%, and increases their armor by 2/3.5/5 (= +hull by 10/17.5/25%).
Notes: The buff applies for both fighters and bombers.  While it’s a meager boost, there is no antimatter cost.

Rapid Manufacturing (ultimate ability)   ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 120
Cooldown time: 120   180   (1.18/1.04E nerf)
Affects: self, friendly planet
Area radius: planetary system
Duration: 45   90   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Effect(s):
Instant strikecraft creation
Planet ship/structure build time reduction: 30%   300%   (1.18/1.04E buff)   

Temp. dramatic increased build speed in current system.  Instantly build replacement strikecraft for this ship. Decreases the build time of friendly ships and structures by 300%, in the system that the Sova is in, while activated.
Notes: Use to replace strikecraft quickly if destroyed or to scrap your current squads and change your fighter/bomber ratio during a battle. The planetary build bonus is nice but brief, best used when you have multiple ships and/or structures building at a planet at once.

Akkan Battlecruiser  ****

Colonize +   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90
Cooldown time: 120 / 90 / 60
Affects: colonizable planet, resource asteroids
Range: 5000
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Colonize planet, + increase resource extraction rate by 33/66/100% for 360 seconds  (1.18/1.04E buff)
Free resource extractors: 0 / 1 / 2     1 / 2 / 3    (1.18/1.04E buff & fix)

Colonize target planet, Free extractors automatically built at higher ability levels.
Notes: Extractors cost only $250, or $150 with tier 1 research, but the side effect of increased extraction rates (up to doubled) for 360 seconds (6 minutes) can be substantial.

Ion Bolt  ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 85
Cooldown time: 10 / 12 / 14
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure
Range: 7000
Duration: 3 / 5 / 7
Effect(s):
Interrupt
Disable abilities
Disable construction
Disable Phase Jump
Disable ship engines
Disable regeneration
Disable weapons

Temp. disable target hostile (short duration). Renders the target unable to move, attack, use abilities, regenerate passively, or construct (if the target is a building or construction frigate) for 3/5/7 secs.
Notes: While this completely disables an enemy target, it's very brief, so save it for important targets and to cancel impending Phase Jumps. Generally inferior to the Reverie ability from the Advent Rapture Battlecruiser, although unlike Reverie it won't fail early if you focus fire on the disabled target. Can interrupt other enemy ship abilities.


Targeting Uplink  **
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: friendly frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 8000
Duration: permanent (self), until out of range (others)
Effect(s):
Chance to hit increase: 5% / 10% / 15%
Weapon range increase: 6% / 12% / 20%

(Passive Aura) Increase nearby friendlies' weapon range and hit%. In certain situations, all nearby ships gain a small increase to accuracy, and small range increase.
Notes: Most targets have a base chance to hit of 100%, so the increased accuracy is only useful against: the Advent Rapture’s Vertigo ability, or within asteroid fields where hit chances are reduced.  Similarly, the weapon range increase is best used when you're not already engaged, so it most benefits the initial approach in battles and ships with long range.


Armistice (ultimate ability)   ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: all frigates, capital ships, strikecraft and structures
Area radius: 12000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 60 or until out of range
Pulse interval: 2
Effect(s):
Interrupt
Invulnerable
Disable abilities
Disable weapons

“Cease Fire”.  Temp. force all nearby ships and structures to stop fighting. The Akkan is rendered invulnerable, and the abilities and weapons of nearby enemy ships are disabled for 60 seconds, or until the Akkan leaves the system.
Notes: Pretty much a panic button so you can flee or prevent your fleet from getting wiped, as it prevents damage for everything around the Akkan. Could also be used to buy time for reinforcements to arrive.


Dunov Battlecruiser    ****

Shield Restore   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90   65    (1.1 Buff)
Cooldown time: 16   11    (1.1 Buff)
Affects: other friendly frigate, capital ship or structure with damaged shield
Range: 6000
Effect(s):
Shield restoration: 350 / 700 / 1050    250 / 500 / 750    (1.1 Nerf)
Instantly restore some shield points to other friendly target.
The target instantly regenerates 250/500/750 shield points.  Since it is a large amount restored, it is best microed on other friendly Cap ships.


EMP Charge   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100 / 90 / 80
Cooldown time: 50 / 45 / 40
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: 4500
Area radius: 2500 / 3000 / 3500
Max targets: infinite
Effect(s):
Damage: 150 / 300 / 450                   (1.18/1.04E Buff/Fix)  360 degree firing arch 
Antimatter removal: 50 / 100 / 150

“Destabilization Charge” or “EMP Blast”.  Targeted Area of effect.  Remove some (150/300/450) shield and some (50/100/150) antimatter from affected hostiles.  This side shooter no longer has to turn to fire this ability at target. 

Notes: Damages shields (then hull), and drains, ALL enemy ships and structures around the selected target, within an increasing range (in increasing amounts). Unlike the Detonate Antimatter ability from the Advent Radiance Battleship, the enemy targets do not need to have an antimatter pool, so the EMP will still damage them. Best used to both damage and drain the antimatter of support cruisers and capital ships.

Magnetize   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 80
Cooldown time: 15
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure, enemy strikecraft
Range: 5000
Area radius: 5000 / 6000 / 7000
Max targets: 1 (frigate, capital ship or structure), 8 / 12 / 16 (strikecraft)
Duration: 10 / 12.5 / 15, or 8 / 12 / 16 strikecraft killed
Effect(s):
Disable abilities

Interrupt                (1.18/1.04E added buff)
Strikecraft collision damage: 25
Disable enemy abilities; temp. cause target to attract strikecraft to collide with target. The target cannot use abilities, and any nearby strike craft will be magnetically attracted to the target and, time permitting, collide with it.
Notes: Use on an enemy ship or structure with nearby enemy strikecraft to disable the target and thin out the enemy fighters. Poetic justice when used against carriers, and interesting ability to see in action as the strikecraft get sucked onto the target.

Flux Field (ultimate ability)   *****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 125
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: friendly ships and structures with antimatter pool
Range: self
Area radius: 4000
Duration: 60 or until out of range
Pulse interval: 2
Effect(s):
Ability antimatter cost reduction (non-ultimate): 300% (can also be classified as offensive)
Temp. reduce antimatter cost of abilities for nearby friendlies.
Notes: Greatly cheapens the antimatter cost of using abilities, so use it before throwing out other abilities from nearby ships. Antimatter cost is reduced to 25%, or one-quarter of original cost. Great if used in combination with short cooldown type abilities.  But it doesn’t reduce level 6 (ultimate ability) antimatter cost.


Marza Dreadnought   *****

Radiation Bomb   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 85
Cooldown time: 12
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure (initial damage), enemy frigates, capital ships and structures (radiation)
Range: 6000
Area radius: 1200 (radiation)
Max targets: 1 (initial damage)
infinite (radiation)
Duration: 20
Pulse interval: 2.5 (radiation damage)
Effect(s):
Initial damage: 125 / 250 / 375
Radiation damage rate: 7 / 14 / 21
Radiation damage duration: 5

(Targeted Area of Effect). Deals damage with follow-up damage to all hostiles affected. Deals 125/250/375 instant damage to the target, and then 7/14/21 damage/s to the target and all nearby ships, for a short period.
Notes: It's difficult to figure out what this power does from the stats, so here's a walkthrough: Radiation Bomb does straight damage to a targeted enemy ship or structure. That target is then considered irradiated, and any enemy ships and structures within 1200 of the target take radiation damage until they either move out of range or the radiation on the target expires. As with other abilities with area effects, this is best used against tight clumps of enemies and also against stronger targets that survive long enough to fully spread the radiation damage.

Raze Planet    (
1.1 Fix)   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90 / 80 / 70
Cooldown time: 40 / 45 / 50
Affects: enemy planet
Range: 5000
Effect(s):
Shots fired: 2 / 4 / 6
Damage per shot: 80
Population killed per shot: 10

Direct damage to target planet. Deals 80 damage to a planet, and kills 10 population per shot (2/4/6 shots per level).  So total planet damage is 160/320/480, and 20/40/60 population killed.
Notes: Fire off, damage planet. The in-game info doesn't really represent the effectiveness of this ability, as it doesn't mention that you get multiple damaging shots per use.

Incendiary Shells   ***

Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: own autocannon/missile attacks
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Incendiary damage rate: 3.0 / 4.5 / 6.0
Incendiary damage duration: 15
(Passive) Chance for this ship's autocannons and missiles to leave additional damage for 15 seconds. Effectively adds 3/4.5/6 damage to all of the Marza's weapons.

Notes: Since this ability doesn't stack, further hits on the same target with your weapons just reset the damage duration.

Missile Barrage (ultimate ability)   (
1.1 fix)   *****'
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 240
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 10000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 25
Interruptible
Channeling

Effect(s):
Missile salvos: 20  25    (1.17 Nerf)
Salvo interval: 1.25
Damage per salvo: 150  120   (1.17 Nerf)
(Total Potential Damage: 120X25=3000! Each!)

Fire missiles at all hostiles in target area. Launches a huge flight of missiles to deal 120 damage, 25 times (or 3,000 damage before mitigation), to ALL enemies in the area.  A very destructive ability.
Notes: The important thing to note about this ability is that it's channeling, so it will stop if you give the Marza other commands while it's firing, and that it takes a long time to finish. Turn off auto-everything when using this lest your capital ship decide it's a good time to, say, auto-attack a scout in the middle of your barrage. Again, the in-game info doesn't really describe what this ability does. Namely, while it's firing, the Marza shoots missiles at every target within range, each of which does 120 damage. If uninterrupted, the Marza will shoot 25 multiple-target missile salvos over 30 seconds. Obviously, this is best used against clusters of enemy targets around the Marza. Given that the Marza can't really move while firing, an enemy can move their ships out of range (or just interrupt the ability), but enemy structures within range and ships that don't notice the copious number of explosives spewing out of the Marza are fair game.

Note: This ability is fixed in 1.1 and is much more potent.  Nerfed slighly in 1.17, and made more noticeable.



Advent

____________________________________________________________________


Radiance Battleship   ****

Detonate Antimatter   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 60
Cooldown time: 20
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure with antimatter pool
Range: 4500
Duration: 12 / 15 / 18
Effect(s):
Interrupt
Disable abilities
Damage rate: 16.67 / 26.67 / 33.33
Antimatter drain rate: 10

Temp. disable target's (not strikecraft) abilities, drain antimatter, and damage target. Deals 200/400/600 damage over 12/15/18 seconds, also interrupting and rendering antimatter-based abilities useless.  Drains a total of 120/150/180 antimatter.
Notes: Damage bypasses shields.  Both damages and drains an enemy target over time, so this is best used against larger targets so the ability can run for the full duration, although pesky support ships are also a valid target. Also can interrupt other enemy ship abilities, quite a nice ability for a frontline capital ship.

Animosity   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 65
Cooldown time: 35
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 3000 / 4000 / 5000
Max targets: 6 / 12 / infinite   32   (
1.1 Nerf)
Duration: 20
Effect(s):
Enemies forced to attack self
Force nearby hostiles to attack this ship. Enemy ships within radius shift their attacks to the Radiance (itself) for 20 seconds.
Notes: Occupy nearby enemy attention while the rest of your fleet hits them. Not the best power to use if your Radiance is heavily damaged (although at that point your enemy's probably focusing their attacks on you anyway). Make sure every enemy you want to affect is within range before using this, as it doesn't affect any enemies that wander within range after activation.

Energy Absorptive Armor   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: self
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Damage converted to antimatter: 5% / 10% / 15%
Armor increase: 1.0 / 2.0 / 3.0

(Passive) Gain Antimatter from damage received, increase Armor. Converts 5/10/15% of energy-based damage to antimatter, adds 1/2/3 armor.


Cleansing Brilliance (ultimate ability)  *****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 75  120    (
1.1 Nerf)
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: 8000
Beam radius: 1000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 2 (charging), 8 (activated)
Interruptible
Channeling

Effect(s):
Damage rate: 250/s 

(Total Potential Damage: 250X8=2000! Each!)
Fire Beam Cannon at target (not strikecraft), also deals (1000? or 2000) damage to any hostiles in-between.

Notes: Unlike most abilities that affect multiple targets, Cleansing Brilliance is in the form of a beam that damages anything in its path from the capital ship to the target. Thus, you want to aim at a target in the back of a group to maximize the number of targets. This combos well with Malice from the Progenitor Mothership, which multiplies the area effect damage for all targets with Malice caught in the beam's blast, although with the shortening of Malice's duration in 1.05, you'll need to cast them at the same time to get the most effect. Cleansing Brilliance is a channeling ability, so don't twiddle with your ship after telling it to fire. The damage rate is 250 per second, after all, so you definitely don't want to break out of firing early.


 

Halycon Carrier   *****

Telekinetic Push   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90
Cooldown time: 10
Affects: enemy strikecraft
Range: self
Area radius: 4200
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 15
Effect(s):
Pushs strikecraft away from self
Damage: 20 / 30 / 40
Max speed reduction: 25% / 50% / 75%
Thrust reduction: 25% / 50% / 75%

Push away, slow, and damage nearby hostile strikecraft. Pushes away nearby enemy strike craft, dealing some (20/30/40) damage to them and reducing their speed and acceleration.
Notes: Outside of Anima Tempest, this is the only ability the Halycon has that actually uses antimatter.

Adept Drone Anima   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: own strikecraft
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):

Extra strikecraft per squadron:  squadron: 1 / 2 / 3   (1.04E only buff)
(Passive Aura) Increases the number of squads for this Carrier.  Each upgrade increases the number of Halcyon's squadrons by one.  So it is possible to have 4 squads at level 1, 6 at 3, 8 at 5, and so forth (9/6, 10/8, 11/10).

Amplify Energy Aura   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: friendly frigates, capital ships and structures with energy weapons
Range: self
Area radius: 8000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: permanent (self)
until out of range (others)
Pulse interval: 2.5
Effect(s):
Energy weapon cooldown reduction: 7.5% / 15.0% / 22.5%
(Passive Aura) Increase friendlies' energy weapon rate of fire.  Reduces the cooldown time of your fleets' energy weapons by 7.5/15/22.5%.  Altho a small cooldown reduction, it affects all in a relatively large area.
Notes: Every weapon in the Advent arsenal is an energy weapon, so this is effectively a blanket weapon cooldown for any ships near the Halycon.

Anima Tempest (ultimate ability)   ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Effect(s):
Creates 30 strikecraft  60 strikecraft   (1.04E only buff)
Note: will divide strikecraft evenly between existing squads or create one squad of 30 bombers if no squads exist
Lifetime: 75 

All of its strickecraft gain a 25% increased chance to dodge for 75 seconds.   (1.04E only added buff)

Temp. release strikecraft swarm. Instantly spawns a group of 60 strikecraft lasting for 75 seconds.
Notes: As if you didn't have enough strikecraft in space... The 60 extra strikecraft are split amongst your existing squads, so the ratio of fighters to bombers you get is dependent on the ratio you are already fielding.


Progenitor Mothership   *****

Colonize   *****'
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90
Cooldown time: 120 / 90 / 60
Affects: colonizable planet
Range: 5000
Duration: permanent (colonize), 360/360/600   360/480/600 (planet upgrade cost reduction)   (1.18/1.04E buff)  
Effect(s):
Colonize planet
Planet upgrade cost reduction: 20% / 40% / 60%     15% / 30% / 45%   (1.18/1.04E nerf) 
Note: there's a short delay before the cost reduction kicks in! (Delay removed in Entrenchment).
Colonize target planet and temp. reduce planet development cost by 15%/30%/45% (kicks in after 30 seconds). This ability alone can give the Advent an economic advantage over other races.

Notes: The cost reduction is perhaps the best of the capital ship colonize abilities, and well worth waiting for, as there's a short delay after colonization before the reduction appears.

Malice   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 50
Cooldown time: 10
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: 8000
Area radius: 3000
Max targets: 8 / 16 / 24
Duration: 10
Stackable
Effect(s):
Damage propagation: 30%
Affects: other enemy frigates, capital ships, and structures affected by Malice
Area radius: 5000
Max targets: 8 / 16 / 24

“Spreads Weapon Damage”. (Targeted Area of Effect) For hostiles affected, all share % of damage taken. Deals 30% of the damage to 8/16/24 enemies within range when one is attacked.
Notes: This power has substantially changed as of 1.05. Malice now gives a straight 30% damage propagation to other targets, but the max targets are restricted. Furthermore, the damage isn't immediately applied. Rather, any damage taken by those affected by Malice is queued up, and after the buff elapses 10 seconds later, 30% of that damage is distributed to other Malice'd targets around each target. The antimatter cost and cooldown is now quite low, allow you to constantly throw Malice out with sufficient antimatter, but the target restrictions means Malice no longer can combo with Cleansing Brilliance to wipe out entire armies in one blast, although using both still works well to multiply area damage to a smaller set of targets.

Shield Regeneration    *****'
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100
Cooldown time: 20
Affects: friendly frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 3000 / 3500 / 4000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 8
Interruptible
Channeling

Effect(s):
Shield regeneration rate: 37.5 / 50.0 / 62.5
Temp. increase shield regen rate for nearby friendlies. The target regenerates 37.5/50/62.5 shields/s for 8 seconds.  Total potential shield regeneration is 300/400/500 for each ship!
Notes: Turn it on, and all friendlies around the Mothership start regenerating their shields. One of the few non-ultimate abilities that channels, so be aware that you shouldn't give the Mothership any other orders while this is on.

Resurrection (ultimate ability)   ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 100
Cooldown time: 120
Affects: other friendly capital ship
Range: 5000
Effect(s):

Transfer destroyed friendly capital ship level

Transfer dead Cap ship level to another ship. If you’ve lost a high-level capital ship, this will “resurrect” its level to new capital ship, boosting its level to that of the deceased.  Remembers the level from anywhere for a newly build ship.

Notes: As you might imagine, this is useless until you've had a capital ship go down.

 


Rapture Battlecruiser   ***

Vertigo   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75
Cooldown time: 20
Affects: enemy frigates and strikecraft
Range: 4500
Area radius: 2000 / 2500 / 3000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 25
Effect(s):
Weapon cooldown increase: 10% / 20% / 30%
Accuracy reduction: 10% / 20% / 30%

“Ship cripple”.  Temp increase target frigate's ability cooldown time and reduce target frigate's hit%. Increases the targeted enemy frigate or strike craft's weapon cooldown  by 10/20/30%, and also reduces that enemy’s accuracy by 10/20/30%.


Vengeance   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75  70    (
1.1 Buff)
Cooldown time: 30 / 35 / 45
Affects: friendly frigate, capital ship or structure
Range: 6000
Duration: 20 / 30 / 40
Effect(s):
Damage retaliation: 40% / 80% / 120%  65% / 130% / 200%    (1.1 Buff)
Target friendly temp. re-deals damage to every ship that attacks it. When enemies attack the targeted ship or structure, the Rapture will deal a portion of that damage back to the target. 

Notes: Put this on a friendly taking fire and watch the attackers crumble. At the higher levels this actually reflects more damage back to the attacker than they dished out. Best used on something that can survive long enough for the duration to be effective, plus something that's of course being fired on in the first place (possibly use the Radiance’s Animosity to draw fire).

Concentration Aura  ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75     none/passive aura
Cooldown time: 30 / 35 / 45  none/passive aura
Affects: friendly frigates, capital ships and structures with strikecraft
Range: self
Area radius: 8000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: permanent (self), until out or range (others)
Pulse interval: 2.5
Effect(s):
Strikecraft damage increase: 10% / 20% / 30%
“Battle Mediation”.  (Passive Aura) Nearby friendlies do extra damage. Increases the damage of strike craft by 10/20/30% owned by nearby friendlies.

Notes: This doesn't actually affect strikecraft directly. Rather, the effect targets friendly carriers and hangars, which then pass on the damage bonus to their linked strikecraft. You could be huddled with a bunch of Aeria Drone Hosts in a corner and their strikecraft would still be doing more damage. As you might expect, this doesn't do much if you're not fielding any strikecraft, and the Rapture itself only fields a few.

Domination (ultimate ability)   ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 90  60   (
1.1 Buff)
Affects: enemy frigate
Range: 6000
Duration: 10
Effect(s):
Gain control
Mind Control target frigate. Permanently converts the targeted frigate to your empire.

Notes: Best used on the nastiest enemy frigate you can find, with heavy cruisers making juicy targets. Also useful for taking over annoying support cruisers and turning their abilities against their owner.


Revelation Battlecruiser   ***

Reverie   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75 / 75 / 50
Cooldown time: 15
Affects: enemy frigate or capital ship
Range: 8000
Duration: 20 / 30 / 40, or 200 / 300 / 400 damage taken by target
Effect(s):
Interrupt
Disable abilities
Disable construction
Disable Phase Jump
Disable ship engines
Disable regeneration
Disable weapons

“Black Out”.  Disable target ship until time expires (20/30/40 seconds) or enough damage done to it. Completely disables the target. However, those affected may awaken if they take too much damage. 

Notes: While this can't target a structure like Ion Bolt from the TEC Akkan Battlecruiser can, in most respects this is a better ability, costing less antimatter and lasting longer, although the damage limit means the ability will quickly drop if you're trying to focus fire the target. Very effective if you use it more as a way to take a particular ship out of the battle for a long period of time while you clear out other enemies. Interrupts enemy (and friendly) abilities.

Guidance   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75
Cooldown time: 20
Affects: other friendly frigate or capital ship with antimatter pool
Range: 6000
Duration: 15 / 30 / 45
Effect(s):
Ability cooldown rate reduction: 40%   (1.04E only fix)
Reduce nearby friendlies' cooldowns. Reduces the target's ability cooldown by 40% for 15/30/45 seconds.  Or increases rate of fire by 1.67 times.  Cannot be self, must have antimatter.  Fixed to autocast when needed.


Clairvoyance   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 80 / 70 / 60    70 / 60 / 50   (1.18/1.04E buff)  
Cooldown time: 20 / 15 / 10    15 / 15 / 15   (1.18/1.04E buff)  
Affects: planet
Range: infinite
Duration: 50 / 100 / 150       90 / 120 / 150   (1.18/1.04E buff)  
Stackable
Effect(s):
Planetary remote sensor
“Far Sight”.  Temp. view target planet system, infinite range. View any planet of your choice.

Notes: Great scouting tool, as it has unlimited range (assuming you know a planet even exists). While the effect lasts (90/120/150 seconds), you'll have real-time knowledge about the target planet.

Provoke Hysteria (ultimate ability)   ****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: enemy planet
Range: 5000
Duration: 5 (charging), 40 (activated)
Interruptible
Channeling

Effect(s):
Damage rate: 1%/s
Population kill rate: 0.75%/s

“Planet Mania”.  Health and Population DoT against target planet.  If uninterrupted for the full 45 seconds, reduces planet health by 40% and population by 30%.  Takes 3 shots of -40% to kill any planet (7.25 minutes). 
Notes: Unlike the other planet-killer abilities, this one does damage based on a percentage of the planet's max, so it's more effective against fully developed, heavily populated planets compared to, say, asteroids.  Again, be careful not to interrupt this channeling ability.  Interesting special graphic & sound effects.




Vasari

___________________________________________________________________

Kortul Devastator   ****

Power Surge   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 60
Cooldown time: 30 / 35 / 40
Affects: self
Duration: 20 / 25 / 30
Effect(s):
Weapons cooldown reduction: 25% / 50% / 75%    
Shield regeneration rate: 0.75 / 1.50 / 2.25      25 / 35 / 45     (1.18/1.04E buff)  
Temp increases this ship's fire/shield regen rate. Reduces the Kortul's weapon cooldown by 25/50/75%, and its shields regenerate by 25/35/45 shield points per second, both for increasing durations (20/25/30).  Therefore total shield restored is 500/875/1350.  Effectively boosts weapon damage all of the time (to 125%/150%/175%), except for a 10 second remaining cool down at each level.

Jam Weapons   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75  70   (
1.1 Buff)
Cooldown time: 15     40/35/30   (1.04E only nerf)
Affects: enemy strikecraft
Range: self
Area radius: 3500/4500/5500    3500/5000/7000  (
1.1 Buff)    4500/5500/6500 (1.04E only buff
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 15 / 25 / 35    30  (
1.1 Buff)     20  (1.04E only buff) on all that move into range  
Effect(s):
Disable weapons
Temp disable nearby hostile strikecrafts' weapons. All strike craft that move into an increasing range cannot fire their weapons for 20 seconds.
Notes: Only disables the strikecraft weapons rather than outright destroying them. On the other hand, the area is quite large, and the duration is decently long. 

Disruptive Strikes   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: own wave/beam attacks against enemies with antimatter pools
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):

Chance: 35%     25%  (1.18/10.4E Nerf)  
Antimatter removal: 8 / 12 / 16    10 /20 /30 
(1.1 Buff)       12 /24 /36   (1.18/10.4E Buff)  
Ability cooldown increase: 10%/20%/30%     15%/30%/45% 
(1.1 Buff)    16.7%/33.3%/50% (1.18/10.4E Buff)  
Disruption duration: 10    15   
(1.1 Buff)  
Interrupt     (1.18/10.4E Added Buff)

Passive buff: 25% chance to temp increase target's cooldowns and remove antimatter when this ship damages it. This ship's energy weapons can increase their target's ability cooldown by 16.7/33.3/50% and decrease the target's antimatter stores by 12/24/36.  Now also acts as an interrupt.
Notes: Nice permanent self-buff, that's free to use (no antimatter cost).

Volatile Nanites (ultimate ability)   ****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: 6000
Area radius: 2000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 60
Stackable
Effect(s):
Incoming damage increase: 30%
Damage to enemies on death: 150
Damage on death area radius: 1000

Temp increase damage nearby hostiles take and cause them to do damage to others on death. Targets suffer 30% more damage and deals 150 splash damage upon death.          
Notes: This ability has two effects: one, it increases damage done to affected targets; and two, any of those targets that blow up cause damage to nearby enemy ships and structures. While the damage increase is nice against anything, this is most effective against groups of lighter targets that you can quickly destroy, to take the greatest advantage of the death damage.


Skirantra Carrier   *****

Repair Cloud   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100 / 90 / 80
Cooldown time: 12
Affects: friendly frigates, capital ships, strikecraft and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 3000 / 3500 / 4000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 10
Effect(s):
Hull repair rate: 20 / 25 / 30
(“Nano Hull Repair”) Repair nearby friendlies' hull points over time. All nearby vessels heal at 20/25/30 hull/s for 10 seconds (200/250/300 total).
Notes: Repair Cloud is an instant-use ability, so all friendlies you want to repair will need to be in range the moment you use it.

Scramble Bombers   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100 / 75 / 50    80/65/50  (
1.1 Buff)    50/40/30  (1.18/10.4E Buff)   50/50/50 (1.19 Buff)    
Cooldown time: 60 / 60 / 60    60/50/40   (
1.1 Buff)    40/30/20  (1.18/10.4E Buff)   35/35/35 (1.19 Buff) 
Effect(s):
Creates bomber squadron    Now spawns 1/2/3 squad per use instead of just 1  (1.19 Buff)
Lifetime: 120

“Spawn Squad”.  Temp. deploy extra squadron of bombers for a short period of time.  Deploys an additional bomber squadron for 2 minutes, at level 1.  2 squads per activation at level 2, and 3 at 3.
Notes: As you might expect, extra bomber squadron appears when you use this. The bomber squadron is no different than any other. The benefit to increasing the level of this ability is the lower antimatter cost, and shorter cooldown time.  Meaning, antimatter permitting: up to 3.43 extra bomber squads at level 1 (120/35), then 6.85 squads (120/35 x 2), and as many as 10.29 extra squads, as early as level 5 (120/35 x 3).

Microphasing Aura   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: friendly strikecraft
Range: self
Area radius: 8000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: until out of range
Pulse interval: 4 / 4 / 3
Effect(s):
Chance: 20% / 30% / 30%
Teleportation range: 750
Invulnerable
Teleportation duration: 1
“Fighter Blink”.  (Passive Aura) Nearby friendly strikecraft have chance of teleporting out of attacks, or teleporting into better attack position. Renders nearby strike craft invulnerable during teleportation.
Notes: A rather bizarre ability, this permanent aura gives any friendly strikecraft within range a small chance to teleport 750 towards their target. During the second-long teleport, the strikecraft is immune to damage. This is the only ability where upgrading affects the pulse interval; normally, you only get a chance to teleport every 4 seconds, but when fully upgraded, you get a check every 3 seconds.

Replicate Forces (ultimate ability)   ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 125
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: own frigate
Range: 6000
Effect(s):
Creates three copies of frigate
Lifetime: 150
“Clone Frigates”.  Produce 3 copies of target owned frigate. Instantly produces 3 fully functional copies of the targeted allied frigate, which remain for 150 seconds (2.5 minutes).
Notes: This ability is only as good as your surrounding fleet. Much better to copy a heavy cruiser rather than a scout, right?  Also flexible enough to copy support cruisers for instant-use abilities, although the clones only come with half of their antimatter pool to start. The Bombardment Platform is also a valid target if you need to speed up your planet bombing and your Skirantra is hanging around a Vulkoras Devastator.  Siege frigates will do in a pinch.


Jarrasul Evacuator   *****

Colonize   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90
Cooldown time: 120 / 90 / 60
Affects: colonizable planet
Range: 5000
Duration: permanent (colonize planet), 240 / 480 / 720 (structure build time reduction)
Effect(s):
Colonize planet
Structure build time reduction: 20%
Colonize target planet, and temp. reduce Structure build time by 20%, with longer duration at higher ability levels (kicks in after 30 seconds).
Notes: The small (-20%) buid time reduction is of dubious value.  The duration goes from 4 minutes to 12 minutes with a full upgrade.  Remember, you need to wait a bit before the bonus kicks in after colonization.

Gravity Warhead   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100
Cooldown time: 25
Affects: enemy frigates and capital ships
Range: 6000
Area radius: 3000 / 3500 / 4000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 12 / 15 / 18
Effect(s):
Max speed reduction: 30% / 45% / 60%
Thrust reduction: 60% / 80% / 120%
Disable Phase Jump

Temp. slow target ship and prevent it from phase jumping. Has an AOE, and “gravity” affects all those around it.  The target ship suffers a 30% speed penalty and a 60% acceleration penalty, and in addition, the target's phase jump drive is disabled for 12/15/18 seconds.
Notes: Mainly useful to prevent enemies from fleeing a system so you can finish mopping them up.

Nano-Disassembler   *****'
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75
Cooldown time: 12
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure
Range: 6000
Duration:   20 / 30 / 40       25 / 35 / 45   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Effect(s):
Damage rate: 30   25   (1.18/1.04E nerf)
Armor reduction: 2.0 / 4.0 / 6.0     1.5 / 3.0 / 4.5     (1.18/1.04E nerf)     
(Total Potential Damage: 30X(20/30/40)=600/900/1200   25X(25/35/45)= 625/875/1125   bypasses Shields!)

Temp. reduce target's armor, inflict direct damage on hull. The target ship's armor is decreased by 1.5/3/4.5, and takes 25 ‘pure’ damage/s for either 25/35/45 seconds.
Notes: Best used against a hard-to-crack target that you can then focus fire. While the damage rate stays the same, the higher armor reduction and  longer duration at higher levels makes the overall damage higher.  Damage is applied directly to hull, without being reduced by shields or shield mitigation, making it more effective.

Drain Planet (ultimate ability)   *****'
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: enemy planet
Range: 6600
Duration: 5 (charging), 30 (activated)
Interruptible
Channeling

Effect(s):
Damage rate: 45
Population kill rate: 2
Resource rate: 15
“Resource Drain” Deal damage and steal resources from target planet. The target planet takes 45 damage/s, and the Evacuator siphons 15 resources/s from it for 30 seconds.  Meaning a total of: 1,350 planet damage, 60 population killed and 450 of both metal & crystal stolen from the planet, if uninterrupted.
Notes: As with other channeling abilities, ordering your capital ship to do something else breaks this ability's use. The resource theft rate is for both metal and crystal and is a flat rate, rather than depending on how productive the target enemy planet is.


Antorak Marauder   ***

Phase Out Hull   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 60 / 50 / 40
Cooldown time: 5 / 3 / 2
Affects: friendly or enemy frigate, capital ship or structure
Range: 7000
Duration: 6 / 8 / 10
Effect(s):
Damage: 200 or Shield restored: 200   (1.04E only added buff)
Interrupt
Invulnerable
Disable abilities
Disable construction
Disable Phase Jump
Disable ship engines
Disable regeneration
Disable weapons
Phase out (cannot be targeted)

Temp. phase out target friendly or enemy, prevent it from moving, attacking, or taking damage. The targeted enemy is rendered invulnerable, but is completely disabled. Enemies now take 200 damage upon return from phase space, in Entrenchment only.  Freindly targets gain 200 shield points upon return (1.04E only). 
Notes: This acts differently than Ion Bolt and Reverie because the target is essentially removed from the battle temporarily rather than crippled and vulnerable. With the short cooldown, you can use this to keep multiple enemy ships on the sidelines or to delay the destruction of some of your own ships. Be careful about putting this on auto as you can quickly drain your antimatter due to short cooldown. 

Distort Gravity   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 65
Cooldown time: 45
Affects: friendly frigates and capital ships
Range: self
Area radius: 5000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 30
Effect(s):
Phase Jump Inhibitor immunity 
Increased turn rate: 25% / 50% / 75%    (1.18/1.04E added buff)

Max speed increase: 33% / 66% / 100%
Thrust increase: 50% / 75% / 100%
Gravity well range to Phase Jump reduction: 8% / 16% / 24%

“Speed Burst”.   Nearby friendlies: temp. immune to phase inhibitors, increased: turn rate, speed, and acceleration. All nearby ships gain a speed and acceleration bonus, a reduction to the radius at which phase jumps are possible, and are rendered immune to the effects of phase jump inhibitors.
Notes: Great for chasing down fleeing enemies, closing on soft targets in the rear of a formation.  Or conversely making your own getaway. Or simply making your own travel go faster (for 30 seconds).

Subversion   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100 / 90 / 80   100 / 100 / 100  (
1.1 Nerf)
Cooldown time: 50 / 45 / 40   75 / 75 / 75         (
1.1 Nerf)
Affects: enemy planet
Range: 5000
Duration: 300 / 450 / 600
Stackable
Effect(s):
Structure build time increase: 15% / 30% / 45%    50%/100%/150%  (1.1 Buff)
Ship build time increase: 15% / 30% / 45%         50%/100%/150%    
(1.1 Buff)
Planetary remote sensor
Temp. increase ship/structure build time of target planet. The target planet suffers a substantial penalty to ship and structure build time, taking 1.5/2/2.5 times as long to build ships & structures.
Notes: The penalties are no longer modest, the duration is quite long, and the sensor allows you to spy in on the enemy the entire time. You can also stack multiple instances on the same planet to increase the penalties.  It has been suggested as a potential rushing strategy.

Stabilize Phase Space (ultimate ability)   ****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 100
Cooldown time: 120
Affects: self
Range: 6600
Duration: 75
Interruptible
Channeling   (1.17 Buff) no longer Channeling (Entrenchment)

Effect(s):
Creates a Phase Stabilizer
The Marauder creates a (unseen) phase gate for 75 seconds.  Allows jumps to another distant phase stabilizer.
Notes: Powerful, but you need to be prepared: you need to have Phase Stabilizers built and a fleet ready to send over if you're bringing in reinforcements. Also useful as a way to quickly send a defense force back to any of your planets with a Phase Stabilizer.


Vulkoras Desolator   ****

Phase Missile Swarm   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90
Cooldown time: 15
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 5000
Max targets: 3 / 5 / 7
Effect(s):
Damage: 200 / 400 / 600
Fire Missiles at nearby hostiles, except strikecraft. Generates a sizable volley of missiles, dealing 200/400/600 damage to 3/5/7 nearby enemies.  Maximum total potential damage is 7X600= 4200, but is reduced by shield mitigation, and spread across many targets.  Short cooldown.
Notes: Doesn’t actually shoot phase missile, so damage dealt isn’t improved by researching phase missile shield bypass technology. Remember, don't waste it by being impatient and firing before you get multiple nearby enemies in range (a relatively small 5000 range).

Deploy Siege Platform    (1.1 fix
)   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100  35  (1.18/1.04E buff)
Cooldown time: 55  20   (1.18/1.04E buff)  
Affects: enemy planet
Range: 2600
Effect(s):
Creates Bombardment Platform (frigate)
Lifetime: 180   65   (1.18/1.04E nerf) 
Hull points: 735
Hull repair rate: 1
Armor: 2.0
Armor class: light
Range: 3000
Bombardment damage: 20 / 26 / 32
Population killed: 1.1 / 2.2 / 3.3
Build siege turret near target hostile planet with 735 hull, 2 armor, 20/26/32 bombing damage, depending on ability level for ~1 minutes.  Total potential planet damage is quite high, and multiple siege platforms can be deployed.
Notes: The platform itself is a siege-frigate-on-a-stick, although it has no shields, making it more fragile than a real Karrastra Destructor despite its higher hull points.  No longer need to deploy extremely close to the planet keep the platform within its range (fixed). 

Assault Specialization   (
1.1 fix)   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: own phase missile weapons/bombardment
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Phase missile damage to enemy structures: 8.6 / 17.2 / 25.8
Bombing cooldown reduction: 25% / 50% / 100%
“Bonus Module Damage”.  (Passive buff) This ship does extra damage against structures and planets. Its bombing damage gains a shorter cooldown. Its phase missiles will deal additional damage to structures.  The in-game description says it adds 60/120/180 damage (over 7 seconds, at the abover rates).
Notes: The bonus damage to structures is in addition to the damage the missiles themselves will do.

Disintegration (ultimate ability)   ****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 120   90   (1.1 buff)

Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure (damage), self (hull repair)
Range: 6000
Duration: 2 (charging), 8 (activated)
Interruptible
Channeling

Effect(s):
Damage rate: 200  150 (direct to hull only)  (1.18/1.04E buff)
Damage rate:   150 (direct to shield only)     (1.18/1.04E added buff)
Depletss Antimatter:   20 per second from the target  (1.18/1.04E added buff)

Nanite hull repair pulses: 6     8       (1.18/1.04E added buff ) see explanation 
Repair pulse interval: 1.5
Hull repair per second: 187.5   120  (1.18/1.04E  nerf) 
Shield restore per second:    120      (1.18/1.04E  added buff)
Antimatter restore per second:    15  (1.18/1.04E  added buff)  

Leech hull points from target hostile. The target takes 300 damage & looses 20 antimatter per pulse, and heals the Vulkoras of 240 damage and restores 15 antimatter per pulse.
Notes: 8 pulses means: 2400 damage and 1920 points of repair, as well as: -160 & +120 antimatter, if Disintegration is uninterrupted.  You need high health (900+ hull) targets to gain the full healing effect, and you may want to wait to use untill the Vulkoras has suffered damage to benefit from full healing effect as well.  Damage is direct to hull, bypassing shields, but is reduced by armor.  Typical observed damage is around 900 hull damage, with a similar amount against shield.  Again, “channeling” means that if you issue new orders, or it automatically starts a new order, the ability will be interrupted, and won’t complete its full effect.


' denotes exceptional (6 star?) abilities


Note, the Cap ships are ordered by Race as:
1. Battleships
2. Carriers
3. Colony Ships
4. Support Ships
5. Planet Killers

 

April, 2011;  I tried to edit the above for 1.2 changes but had so many problems that I gave up.  The following is a list of the 1.2 changes to Cap ships.  I tested each, and found that none were significant changes, except for the Skirantra Scramble Bombers nerf.

      • Kol:
        • Gauss Blast: Reduced AM cost from 75 to 50/55/60; increased damage from 325/650/975 to 400/725/1050.
        • Flak Burst: Range changed from 2400/3000/3600 to 3000/3300/3600.
        • Finest Hour: AM regen reduced from 5 to 3; HP regen increased from 10 to 15.
      • Dunov:
        • EMP: Range increased from 4500 to 4500/5000/5500; AM cost changed from 100/90/80 to 90/90/90; cooldown reduced from 50/45/40 to 40/35/30.
        • Magnetize: Max affected strikecraft increased from 8/12/16 to 12/20/28.
        • Strikecraft destroyed by the Dunov's Magnetize ability now give XP as intended.
      • Marza:
        • Incendiary Shells: Stacking limit increased from 1 to 3.
        • Missile Barrage: Range reduced from 10,000 to 8,000.
    • Advent Balance
      • Radiance:
        • Animosity: Increased max targets from 8/16/32 to 12/24/36; effect now channels every second over 20 seconds instead of being an instant action so new targets entering the AoE are hit; auto-cast will only activate if 3 or more enemy ships are in range.
        • Absorptive Armor: Increased armor bonus from 1/2/3 to 2/4/6.
      • Rapture:
        • Vertigo: Increased range from 4500 to 4500/5000/5500.
      • Revelation:
        • Guidance: Now a triggered, caster-based area of effect that affects friendly capital ships, frigates and structures. AM cost is now 90/100/110; range is 8000/8000/8000, cooldown is 50/50/50; buff applied grants 25%/25%/25% boost to ability cooldown rate, duration 20/30/40.
        • Clairvoyance: Duration increased from 90/120/150 to 90/150/210.
    • Vasari Balance
      • Jarrasul:
        • Colonize: Now grants additional constructor frigates instead of a structure build rate bonus. Gives 1/2/3 constructor frigates for 360/480/600 seconds.
        • Jarrasul capital ship's colonize ability adjusted to avoid crash issue. Thanks to ZombieRus5 on this.
      • Skirantra:
        • Scramble Bombers: Reduced expiry time from 120 to 75; reduced cooldown time from 35 to 30.
      • Antorak:
        • Distort Gravity: Reduced cooldown from 45 to 40.
      • Vulkoras:
        • Phase Missile Swarm: Increased range from 5000 to 6500; increased max targets from 3/5/7 to 4/8/12.
        • Assault Specialization: Increased bonus damage from 60/120/180 to 90/180/270.

 

374,467 views 100 replies | Pinned
Reply #51 Top

You need time to chip away at a large post? How unreasonable O:) O:)

Reply #52 Top

Some of my concerns may address previous ratings that I disagree with (for instance, I feel that four stars for "heavy strike craft" is completely inappropriate. Even after the buff it's three stars at best, probably two). If I don't list a proposed star rating, it's because my vote goes for "unchanged"...




Sova:

Missile Platforms ***

Heavy Strike Craft ***

I haven't seen enough of the new missile platforms to merit a decision yet, but they certainly are much better. I've often seen a Sova casually deploy three or four of these with the new patch. As a conservative estimate, I'd put it at three stars. Embargo remains a five star ability, easily one of the game's most vicious. Personally I think your original heavy strike craft rating was way over the top; it was a 2 star ability at best before, and the overall improvement has probably put it in the three star range now.

Thanks Darvin, for all the suggestions.  A very helpful round up.  I agree with almost everything.

Yeah, some of my old ratings were probably off.  Especially Heavy Strike Craft.  I had questioned it earlier (in my notes), but went with the higher rating largely because it was an aura - requiring no antimatter, and because the other Sova ability seemed lackluster in comparison (Embargo excepted).  Now I am seeing that Missile Batteries are truely lethal (if the enemy stays in range), and deserve a 4 (or even 5!) star rating.  But they too, are plagued with a relatively long deployment time (due to 'a long' cooldown).  I agree with your observation, that the new "Sova is shockingly powerful".

Regarding other ratings:  I'm not sure if I agree with the Radiance & Rapture ratings.  But I will admit, that I am not as familiar with Advent, and would really appreciate some other opinions there.  I am pretty sure that ADA (Adept Drone Anima - Halcyon) now deserves a 4 or 5 star rating.  Probably 5, again because it is an aura (a permanent no-cost buff).

My personal of opinion of Scramble Bombers (-Skirantra), at the moment, is that: it is a 4 star ability now!  I wish I would have done some testing with fighters, and against other Cap ship's flak type abilities.  But I didn't, and now our second computer is unavailable.

Finally, I'm thinking that the Vulkoras' Deploy Siege Platform is now a 5 star ability.

Edit: Having had some additional experience, I've tempered my enthusiasim for the above abilities.  But I have come to a better appreciation of a level 6 Vulkoras (Disintegration).

Reply #53 Top

I wouldn't put missile platforms into the five star range.  They're exceedingly powerful, but I don't think they're in the same neighbourhood as nanos or shield restore.  I see the argument here, but right now what I'm seeing in-game is more people being thrown off by a capital ship that traditionally hasn't been viable.  If the Sova is still winning rushes handily in skilled games a few weeks down the line, then we can talk about five star ratings for its abilities.

As far as the Halcyon goes, I'm still getting TK push and energy amplification.  ADA is much improved, but at the end of the day I'd have to say that the other two abilities are better by a sizeable margin.  I view ADA as something you pick for your first capital ship or when you already have another Halcyon with energy amplification (since it doesn't stack).

I've already said what I think about scramble bombers.  If you enemy has no fighter support then this could be dangerous, but if they have even a couple squads of fighters I personally think it's a waste of antimatter because they deploy so slowly.  I still regard repair cloud as far and away the Skirantra's best ability.

 

I personally think the Sova is the only viable "rushing" carrier cap currently.  The problem with Skirantra and Halcyon is that they don't have another good combat skill for the early game.  ADA works great for a rush, but energy amplification is more of a big deal for a mid-game fleet.  Same deal with repair cloud (not to mention Skirantra runs into antimatter issues).

Reply #54 Top

I will say this about ADA. The ability has a newfound use because when you get this cap early (as your first or second cap), the impact it brings by bringing 4 squads of fighters out of the gate is quite good. These squads never stop regenerating.

I've found the halcyon to have a newfound usefulness when going up against a human just because those non-stop regenerating fighters help out so much with an Illum spammer.

ADA is more useful, and I'm actually half tempted to say anima tempest is now at least a 4 star ability. 60 strikecraft is more or less 8 squads (9 fighters per squad, 7 bombers per squad...i think). That's power when you think about how much individual drone hosts bring with them.

Reply #55 Top

I never said ADA is bad or that you shouldn't use it, I just think it's the weakest of the three Halcyon abilities overall.  TK-push is still a nightmare for enemy strike craft, and energy amplification is still a massive boon for your frigate fleet.  I will agree that anima tempest is much improved now.

Reply #56 Top

Hey guys,

I found out that the Sova now is really helpful in singleplayer. Against several unfair AI my team of 10 Sovas, 2 Kols, 1 Akkan, 2 Dunov and 1 Marza pretty much rock everything. I just built some additional flak, hoshikos and a few cielos to help defend against bombers and the like.

Once some AIs decide to attack a planet of mine I withdraw all my ships to the repair bays (and I only build repair bays, cept an additional starbase maybe for boons bonus). There the Sovas develop an extremely frightening firepower. After 2-3 minutes in the battle an army of about 30-40 missile platforms has been created with 30 dps each. Especially nice, since the platform uses cap ability damage :-)) Of course that stuff is a bit fragile, too, yet the repair bays egalize this disadvantage.

Do not use this in multiplayer though!

btw the additional armor via "heavy strikecraft" is pretty nice. With other armor upgrades my fighters have 12, the bombers 13 armor in total. Yet it is still the weakest ability of the Sova.

Reply #57 Top

What were you doing?  Go big or go home?

Though yes, you could create an instant army...

Reply #58 Top

Sorry for bad info, Volt. I like playing large or huge single player maps with 4-6 hard/unfair AI (teamed)

Reply #59 Top

We know a lot of people play singleplayer, and you'll find we'll give out advice to those who ask regardless of whether they play single or multi.  However, it's difficult to gauge the performance of capital ships against the AI because it is a very weak and inflexible opponent.  We're not belittling you or anything, it's just that a human opponent is much less forgiving and provides a better example of how a capital ship performs under pressure.

In practice, I have never gotten 16 capital ships in a multiplayer game.  Human players don't get their units killed anywhere near as wrecklessly as the AI, so there's less experience to go around.  As well, you generally have to be far mroe conservative with your expenditure.  Usually you will be forced into upkeep very early just to survive, so reaching the highest levels of fleet command is rare because building a superpower economy is more difficult.

Reply #60 Top

Quick question recently played a game to get go big or go home acheivement as vasari by the end i had atleast one lvl 6 of each vasari cap.

My question is how does mauraders phase stabilizer work exactly i prssed it then tried to jump to another stabilizer and it failed. Does the maurader have to be at the edge of the grav well or does it not matter cuz if it does i say that reduces its usefullness

Reply #61 Top

Does the maurader have to be at the edge of the grav well or does it not matter

No.  It doesn't matter where in the grav well the ability is initiated.  I tested it again, just to make sure, and it worked fine for me - several times.  Just click on the ability, then tell the fleet to jump to the other phase stabilizer.

The only limitation I see, is that you have to jump within 75 seconds.  And the fleet will have to fly to the grav well edge and jump before that time expires.

It is possible that you have run into a bug with phase stabilizers.  I have seen several people complain about them being bugged, although I have never had problems with them.  This current report seems to be the most credible.

Edit:  In vanilla Sins, you might have to tell the Marauder to jump befor you activate the ability, since it is still a channeling ability, and issueing a new command will break the ability.  But I'm not sure.

Reply #62 Top

Also make sure that you are jumping to a well that HAS a Phase Stabilizer built ad functioning.

Reply #63 Top

Following is a summary of my updated 1.18 ratings.  It is also generally an indication of my preferred build order.

But there are exceptions for every rule. 

I’d like to hear how others might rate some of these?  What do you favor?  And why?

TEC
   4  Kol Battleship   ****
3  Gauss Rail Gun   *** 

4  Flak Burst             ****     
4  Adaptive Forcefield   **** 
4  Finest Hour (ultimate ability)   ****
15
   4  Sova Carrier   ****
4  Missile Batteries   ****
5  Embargo               *****
3  Heavy Strikecraft   ***
3  Rapid Manufacturing (ultimate ability)   ***
15
   4  Akkan Battlecruiser  ****
5  Colonize +   *****
4  Ion Bolt         ****
2  Targeting Uplink  **
3  Armistice (ultimate ability)   ***
14

   4  Dunov Battlecruiser    ****
4  Shield Restore   ****
4  EMP Charge        ****
3  Magnetize            ***
5  Flux Field (ultimate ability)   *****
16
   5  Marza Dreadnought   *****
4  Radiation Bomb          ****
4  Raze Planet               
   ****
3  Incendiary Shells               ***
6  Missile Barrage (ultimate ability) 
   ***** '
17

Advent
   4  Radiance Battleship   ****
4  Detonate Antimatter   ****
3  Animosity                       ***
4  Energy Absorptive Armor   ****
5  Cleansing Brilliance (ultimate ability)   *****
16
    5  Halycon Carrier   *****
5  Telekinetic Push      *****
4  Adept Drone Anima   ****
4  Amplify Energy Aura   ****
3  Anima Tempest (ultimate ability)   ***
17
    5  Progenitor Mothership   *****
6  Colonize   ***** '
4  Malice        ****
6  Shield Regeneration    ***** '
3  Resurrection (ultimate ability)   ***
19
    3  Rapture Battlecruiser   ***
4  Vertigo   ****
4  Vengeance   ****
4  Concentration Aura  ****
3  Domination (ultimate ability)   ***
15
   3  Revelation Battlecruiser   ***
4  Reverie   ****
3  Guidance   ***
3  Clairvoyance   ***
4  Provoke Hysteria (ultimate ability)   ****
14

Vasari
   4  Kortul Devastator   ****
5  Power Surge   *****
3  Jam Weapons   ***
4  Disruptive Strikes   ****
4  Volatile Nanites (ultimate ability)   ****
16
   5  Skirantra Carrier   *****
5  Repair Cloud      *****
5  Scramble Bombers   *****
3  Microphasing Aura      ***
3  Replicate Forces (ultimate ability)   ***
16
   5  Jarrasul Evacuator   *****
3  Colonize              ***
4  Gravity Warhead   ****
6  Nano-Disassembler   ***** '
6  Drain Planet (ultimate ability)   ***** '
19

   3  Antorak Marauder   ***

4  Phase Out Hull   ****
4  Distort Gravity   ****
3  Subversion         ***
4  Stabilize Phase Space (ultimate ability)   ****
15
   4  Vulkoras Destroyer   ****
4  Phase Missile Swarm                   ****
4  Deploy Siege Platform              
  ****
4  Assault Specialization              
    ****
4  Disintegration (ultimate ability)     ****
16

' denotes exceptional abilities (6 star?)

  Note:  Edited to include 1.19 ratings on Scramble Bombers.

Reply #64 Top

4  Scramble Bombers   ****

Don't know where you're coming from here; I personally think this is the weakest capital ship ability in the game by a considerable margin.

Other than that, your ratings are within 1 star of where I'd put them, and I'm not going to nit-pick.  I do think you're a little hesitant to hand out 2-star ratings, which could bring some more granularity to your ratings, but as I said I'm not going to nitpick.

As for 6-star abilities, I wouldn't put the Progenitor's colonize on this list.  Maybe before its nerf, but definitely not now.  The Akkan's colonize is certainly the better of the two anyways, so if the Progen's gets six stars the Akkan's must as well.

Reply #65 Top

Microphasing Aura   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: friendly strikecraft
Range: self
Area radius: 8000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: until out of range
Pulse interval: 4 / 4 / 3
Effect(s):
Chance: 20% / 30% / 30%
Teleportation range: 750
Invulnerable
Teleportation duration: 1
“Fighter Blink”.  (Passive Aura) Nearby friendly strikecraft have chance of teleporting out of attacks, or teleporting into better attack position. Renders nearby strike craft invulnerable during teleportation.
Notes: A rather bizarre ability, this permanent aura gives any friendly strikecraft within range a small chance to teleport 750 towards their target. During the second-long teleport, the strikecraft is immune to damage. This is the only ability where upgrading affects the pulse interval; normally, you only get a chance to teleport every 4 seconds, but when fully upgraded, you get a check every 3 seconds.

 

are two micro auras better than 1?

Reply #66 Top

Quoting 27sneaks, reply 65
Microphasing Aura   ***
Pulse interval: 4 / 4 / 3
Effect(s):
Chance: 20% / 30% / 30%

This is the only ability where upgrading affects the pulse interval; normally, you only get a chance to teleport every 4 seconds, but when fully upgraded, you get a check every 3 seconds.


are two micro auras better than 1?

Yes, I tested it.  But maybe not by a lot, depending upon the situation.  The first upgrade improves the chance to hit from 20 to 30%, and the second reduces the pulse interval from 4 to 3.

Reply #67 Top

Now that 1.18 has matured, Carrier Caps have become universally accepted as the most powerful Cap ship.  Powerful enough that 2 Cap ship starts makes sense, and have become the norm .  But the Colony Cap ships are still often a good beginning Cap ship, bringing adequate power and improved colonization.

The 1.19 patch introduced several changes to frigates, but only 1 change to Cap Ships:  a now controversial buff to the Vasari Skirantra's Scramble Bomber ability.  Some say it was over buffed, and is now in need of a nerf.  What exactly was the change?  And how does it compare?  I hope the following will illustrate just that.

Clearly, the old Skirantra needed a buff, and the Vasari race as whole needed help.  The antimatter hogging Vasari Skirantra couldn't stand up against the antimatter efficient Advent Halcyon.  And it struggled against the powerful TEC Sova.  Since Carrier Caps were a required first choice (in most rush situations), the Vasari were at a decided disadvantage with no real counter available.   But I think some people underestimated the initial Scramble Bombers ability, and it took more use of the buffed Scramble Bombers to fully appreciate the ability's power.

The 1.19 Changelog lists the following changes:

Skirantra Carrier's Scramble Bomber ability revised -

  • Now spawns 1/2/3 squads per use instead of just one.
  • Antimatter cost changed from 50/40/30 to 50/50/50.
  • Cooldown changed from 40/30/20 to 35/35/35.

Since a Scrambled Bomber's duration is 120 seconds, and the old ability's cooldown was 40/30/20 by level, it meant that by continuosly casting (if antimatter provides) you could have up to:

   3   / 4   / 6       extra bombers for each of the 3 levels (derived from 120/40, 120/30, 120/20). 
The total antimatter used in each case is:  150 / 160 / 180 (derived from 3X50, 4x40, 6x30). 

The new patched ability's cooldown is 35 at each level, giving 3.43 casts within the 120 second duration, meaning that by continuosly casting (if antimatter provides) you can have effectively up to:

  3.43/6.86/10.29 extra bombers for each of the 3 levels (derived from 120/35= 3.43 x 1, 2, & 3). 
The total antimatter used in each case is: 171.5 /171.5/171.5 (derived from 3.43x50 at each level).  

The antimatter demand didn't change much.  Theoretically, you should have enough antimatter generally available (providing you don't use the other AM hogging abilities too).  But you can effectively generate as much as 14.3% more bombers at level 1, and 71.5% more bombers at both level 2 and 3!  That is, until you run out of antimatter and/or stop continous casting. (Note, it doesn't always continously cast using auto-cast).  Or a more simplistic analysis could say that the number of bombers at the second upgrade was doubled (+100%), and tripled (+200%) at the third upgrade.

The following is a side by side comparion of the maximum average number of squads available to each of the Carrier Caps at key levels.  Be mindfull that this assumes that the Skirantra has enough antimatter to continuosly cast.  Whereas the Halcyon is guaranteed a squad (of choice - not just bombers), providing that the aura Adept Drone Anima is chosen as soon as it is available (at levels 1, 3, and 5).  It also assumes that Anima Tempest will be continuously activated at level 6, giving an effective average of 3.125 additional squads (max +7.5 squads for 75s of 180s).  Although TEC can't obtain additional squads, it can deploy up to 4 progressively more lethal turrets (Missile Batteries) at each of these 3 levels, and instantly replace damaged or destroyed strikecraft at level 6.

...# of SQUADS..................New.............Old
............TEC.....Advent.......Vasari........Vasari
...........Sova...Halcyon....Skirantra.....Skirantra
Level 1....3.........4.............6.43..............6
Level 3....4.........6............10.86.............8
Level 5....5.........8............15.29............11
Level 6....6........12.125.....16.29............12
Level 8....7........13.125.....17.29............13
Level10...8........14.125.....18.29............14

In other words, Carrier Caps start with 3 squads of strikecraft each, and level up to a maximum of 8.  New squads are aquired at every other level, except for back to back at levels 5 and 6.  So the new progression goes:  3 squads at level 1, 4 at 3, 5/5, 6/6, 7/8, 8/10.  The Halcyon with the Adept Drone Anima (ADA) gets 1 extra squad, as soon as levels 1, 3, & 5.  So: 4 squads at level 1, 6/3, 8/5, 9/6, 10/8, 11/10.  Anima Tempest could add an effective 3.125 squads at level 6 on.  The old Skirantra with Scramble Bombers could deploy a maximum of 3 extra squads at level 1.  Up to 4 extra squads at the second upgrade (as early as level 3).  And up to 6 extra by level 5!  So a maximum of 6 squads at level 1, 8/3, 11/5, 12/6, 13/8, 14/10.  But now a maximum of 6.43/1, 10.86/3, 15.29/5 and one more at levels 6, 8 and 10.

Finally, I intend to edit the original post for the 1.19 changes, and change the Scramble Bombers rating to 5 stars.

Edit Note:  I edited the above table to Add Anima Tempest squads, per Des Connor's following suggestion.

Reply #68 Top

Thanks for this summary Sage.  You've left out the Halcyon's ultimate for the max squads- shouldn't you add that in for L6 and above?  Could you make a comparison of Anima Tempest to the revised Scramble Bombers?

While Vasari used to struggle, especially on maps without many neutrals, the scout changes and the upgrades to their LF and heavy cruisers were always going to help, as was the elimination of the Illuminator bug.  I'm not at all sure that it is clear that Scramble Bombers needed a buff, though. 

I would agree that the ability might have been underappreciated.  Darvin's post on Scramble Bombers being the weakest ability in the game seems a rare error of judgement on his part, and I'm sure that he'd reconsider after having made several posts on the weakest capital ship abilities in other threads.  However I would agree with your rating that Scramble wasn't even the worst ability on the Skirantra, and if the ship needed a boost then the second weakest ability, Microphasing Aura, was perhaps the one to improve- though I presume that it stacks...?  Or perhaps the weakest, the Ultimate, Replicate Forces..?

It seems evident that L1/L2 Skirantras have hardly been altered, so any posts dealing with a Skirantra rush are not considering the right problem.  However, 2 L5 Sovas have 10 squadrons, two L5 Skirantras thirty...  Also, the Skirantra squadrons can all be healed at once, the Sova has this as its ultimate....?  I note that your ratings have Rapid Manufacturing as less valuable than Scramble Bombers, before the revision..

Here are all the abilities you had as less valuable than Scramble Bombers, which might have obviously needed a buff before Scramble Bombers did..., I've commented, as you asked.

Gauss Rail Gun *** There have been posts complaining that if this ability was buffed too much it might take a whole light frigate out... compare to ten extra bomber squadrons? 

Heavy Strikecraft *** I'm not sure how effective this is, a detailed comparison with Microphasing Aura and the extra Advent squadron might be instructive. 

Targeting Uplink ** This does have its uses, I suspect it might be underrated. 

Armistice *** Situational, can be very effective.

Magnetize *** You have to get your fragile Dunov near an enemy ship surrounded by strikecraft...? 

Incendiary Shells *** Rubbish.  How is this stronger than v1.18 Scramble Bombers?

Animosity *** Or this?  It doesn't function, how is that far stronger than several extra bomber squadrons all at full health? 

Anima Tempest *** Very effective.. however the squadrons last barely more than half the time of those produced by Scramble Bombers.. 

Resurrection *** Very useful for long games, though.

Vertigo *** The rating might have more to do with the overall effectiveness of the ship rather than the ability?

Domination *** Domination effectively gets you two ships permanently, Replicate Forces three temporarily..  

Guidance *** This has been said to just use up antimatter quicker, not even useful at all with many abilities.

Clairvoyance *** The Revelation is just a very poor ship at its main function, siege, even with its ultimate it still has problems with asteroids.. 

Jam Weapons *** Underrated.  Flak burst will just annoy strikecraft where Jam Weapons saves a ship.  Combines well with fighters. 

Microphasing Aura *** Obscure.

Replicate Forces *** With v1.19 Scramble Bombers you obviously wouldn't waste antimatter on the Skirantra's ultimate anyway.

Egg Colonize  *** Yeah, but the other abilities are top-class.  You have this as the joint best v1.18 ship, I wouldn't disagree.

Subversion *** Another rubbish ability, even if the Marauder itself has improved.  A waste of antimatter even in rare situations where it might help. 

Reply #69 Top

Quoting DesConnor, reply 68
Thanks for this summary Sage.  You've left out the Halcyon's ultimate for the max squads- shouldn't you add that in for L6 and above? ...

Oh yeah,  Thanks for pointing that out.  I can't believe I forgot to add in the 60 additional strikecraft that Anima Tempest will provide (at lvl 6).  How many squads does that equate to?  60 strikecraft is more or less 7.5 squads (9 fighters per squad, 7 bombers per squad).  They last for 75s with a 180s cooldown, meaning they could be present 41.67% of the the time, effectively equivalent to 3.125 squads all of the time (assuming continous autocasting of the ability).  I will edit the above post to reflect that change.  Like Raging Amish alluded to earlier, Anima Tempest may also be an underated ability now, due to its 1.18 buff.

I appreciate your additional comments, and they provoke some interesting responses that I will try to address later when I have more time.  But regarding your observation of:  why did Scramble Bombers need buffing over other abilities?  I think it made sense because it is the Skirantra's main offensive ability, and Carrier Caps (and that particular ability) are almost a required early choice due to substantially greater offensive firepower. 

Remember, my testing showed that 1.18 Carrier Caps beat all other Cap ship choices within each race by over 1000 hull points (1 exception).  While my 1 vs 1 LAN testing showed that a Skirantra would win (with 280 hull remaining) in a matchup between level 1 1.18 Skirantra & Halcyon, this was largely because all bombers were selected.  The results were reversed at level 3, with the Halcyon winning (with 280 hull remaining).  [Skirantra with 2 lvls of SB, and 1 level of Repair Cloud - 1 activation versus Halcyon with 2 lvls of ADA, and 1 lvl of TK Push autocasting].  But again, I believe the results would have been greatly different if some fighters had been also deployed.  And I believe this was beared out in actual play.  My experience was the Skirantra wouldn't survive... and there wasn't anything else as effective.  Something had to be done, but as you suggest, maybe a buff to its other abilities would have been adequate.

I tend to agree with others, that the current Scramble bombers is OverPowered and is being abused, and it needs a nerf.  But I don't know in what form or by how much.  Hopefully the above will provide some guidelines.

Reply #70 Top

I tend to agree with others, that the current Scramble bombers is OverPowered and is being abused, and it needs a nerf. But I don't know in what form or by how much.

I propose we start by creating a chart of the pros and cons of the "additional strikecraft abilities" on the carriers.

Please feel free to modify, add to this, change it, etc.

                                                                  MAX SC AT LVL
ABILITY PASSIVE/ACTIVE    FIGHTERS BOMBERS    PLASMA_DEPLOYMENT   1  3  5   6   8 10

ADA     P                 X        X                              4  6  8   12 13 14
HS      P                 X        X                              3  4  5   6   7  8
SB      A                          X          X                   6 11 15   16 17 18

To truly know the power of each carrier for balance purposes, we would have to create a chart characterizing everything (abilities, hit points, attack, special abilities) etc.  But this is a small start at least.

By the way, since Vasari, Advent, and TEC strikecraft all differ, I think we should normalize all of them around a "theoretical strikecraft" so that we can compare apples to apples.  For instance, clearly a Vasari strikecraft is not to be compared to an Advent one.  Perhaps we could use TEC strikecraft as the "strikecraft unit," i.e (just pulling numbers out of my ass for illustrative purposes) 1 TEC SC = .75 Vasari SC = 1.25 Advent SC.

Reply #71 Top

Looking at the summary of the updated ratings for the capital ships by ability, you have the Revelation as the joint worst ship with fourteen points- tied with the Akkan..?

This might even overstate the Revelation, which is an awful ship.  Sometimes I'm not sure about the results of theorycraft but a siege of an undefended planet should be more open to a theory approach than most problems. 

From the figures you've provided- and I am not happy at all with the results:

Unimproved asteroid  1000 health

TEC Marza L5 third level of Raze Planet 480 damage cooldown 50s

Vasari Vulkoras L1 w/a single siege platform will do 1300 damage over the course of its 65s lifespan.  You could even move on.

Advent Revelation L6 finally gets an improved siege weapon.  The *ultimate* does 400 damage, 180s cooldown.  The Egg's ultimate, Drain Planet does 1350 damage, plus cash....

 

But... perhaps the Revelation is a specialist siege ship, intended for the heaviest targets only?  Lets try a 6000 health planet.  Only the very best for the Revelation.

TEC Marza L5 w/third level of Raze Planet 480 damage 50s cooldown... antimatter is a constraint at 70, but four uses is 1920 damage, 170s, 280 AM

Vasari Vulkoras L1 w/siege platform lets imagine that we don't want to use too much AM, say 210 max, got to keep reserves for when we get L2 and a second ability. So that restricts us to 6 siege platforms.  Each do 1300 damage over the course of their lifespan... thats 7800 damage in 165s, based on cooldown 20s 20 damage and 65s lifetime       

Advent Revelation.  Ultimate ability.  Optimal target.  2400 damage, cooldown expires at 180s.  Only 150 AM.  Even on its best target, the ability only does 60 damage a second... like 3 first level siege platforms.  The platforms even last 65s, compared to 40s... The platforms can be destroyed?  But Provoke Hysteria is an interruptible ability...

The animation is good.  But if these figures are right, the ability is wildly overrated.  I wouldn't allow Provoke Hysteria four stars based on this.  The ability isn't even as good as the first level of the Vulkoras ability.  One star.  Revelation... eleven points.  If Guidance and Clairvoyance are valued at three each, and they're not.  Clairvoyance might be two.

Of course, this imbalance can be countered.  Build more LRF.

Reply #72 Top

This did seem more than a little off so I tested it... what is the effective bombardment rate of the platforms?

It seems more like 2.0/s than 20/s, which produces more reasonable results.  Then six platforms would only produce 780 extra damage.  However that is more than twice the damage to an unimproved roid, and at a typical planet/improved roid level of 2500-3000 health the first level siege platforms on a first level Vulkoras would be about 66% as effective as the Revelation ultimate... which is still nowhere near as good as Drain Planet.

Reply #73 Top

I've been pointing out those discrepencies in the star rating for some time now, DesConnor.  I agree with you that we have a lot of overrated and underrated abilities on that list.

 

I did this once before, so I may as well do it again.  This a second opinion (mine) on the star ratings.  To reiterate my criterea for each rating:

- awesome; top-of-its-class, the stuff dreams are made of
- great; not necessarily the best, but definitely a strong pick
- average; nothing to scoff at, but not going to change the world
- below average; probably not worth your time in most cases
- bugged or useless

For the most part, these abilities will be analyzed on their best-case scenario.  After all, you wouldn't pick jam weapons if your opponent isn't using strike craft.  However, there are a few exceptions that are notorious for being overly niche, such as "ressurrection" of the Progenitor.  Sometimes that ability can change the course of games, other times you never get an opportunity to use it at all.

Like before, I'll only list abilities that I disagree with SageWon on so we can focus our discussion on those:

 

Kol (2-3 stars):
Gauss Rail Gun (**): Too little damage, too much antimatter cost, not enough redeeming qualities.
Adapative Shield (***):  Great for keeping the Kol alive, but highly limited in effect otherwise.

Sova (4-5 stars):
Rapid Manufacturing (**): Just does too little for an ultimate ability, especially for a capital ship that doesn't scale well into the late game.

Akkan (4-5 stars):
Ion Bolt (*****): Lethal capital ship killer; in the age of carrier caps (nanos isn't nearly as threatening to a kiting target) this is easily the most dangerous capital ship killing ability out there.
Targeting Uplink (***):  Requires careful planning or the right circumstances, limiting its utility, but awe-inspiring in the right situations (20% damage boost in asteroid belts?  LRM's attacking starbases from outside retaliation range?  Stabases that outrange Ogrovs?)
Armistice (*****):  Potentially gamebreaking if used skillfully, but very difficult to apply well.

Dunov (1-2 stars):
Shield Restore (***): Not enough shield restored, but anything that can keep capital ships alive longer is good in my books.
Magnetize (**):  Glorified disabler ability; doesn't bring down enough strike craft to be significant.
Flux Field (****):  Great ability, but only as good as the other abilities you have on hand.  For late-game TEC, that's unfortunately a very short list.

Marza (3 stars):
Incendiary Shells (*):  Damage is largely negligible.  Even when maxed out, one extra frigate deals more.
Missile Barrage (****): Great damage output and deadly if used in the right situation, but too many ways to counter it.

Radiance (3 stars):
Animosity (*):  Not useful to begin with, and can be overriden by a new attack order.  For a faction with the guardian, it's completely unnecessary to begin with.
Absorptive Armour (***):  It's passive, which is nice, but it's on a capital ship that doesn't need much antimatter to begin with.  Still, Advent need every point of armour they can get their hands on.
Cleansing Brilliance (***):  SOOOO hard to get a clean shot with this, and since the malice nerf it's not really that powerful anyways.

Rapture (2-3 stars):
Vertigo (****):  Brutal ability due to its lack of a target cap.  Cutting a LRF swarm's DPS by 30% is absolutely godly in the late-game.  Unfortunately, it's quite antimatter hungry.
Vengeance (***):  One of the few abilities in the game that actually punishes focus fire.  I love it, but unfortunately it's easily countered by attacking something else.

Revelation (1-2 stars):
Guidance (*):  Seriously, most capital ships have antimatter issues, not cooldown issues.  This ability just lacks purpose.
Provoke Hysteria (***):  Great for sieging 6000 hp planets, but honestly if there are more than a couple of those you'll be investing in siege frigates anyways.

Kortul (4 stars):
Jam Weapons (****):  In the age of carrier capital ships that can replace strike craft before you can blink, turning off their guns is actually far more effective than killing them.  Particularly against large late game swarms, this ability is utterly invaluable.

Skirantra (5 star):
Replicate Forces (**):  Not so much that this ability has gotten worse, but there are SO many better ways to spend antimatter on this ship now. 

Jarrasul (4 star):
Nanos (****):  As a rule, capital ships kite these days.  The idea of getting something to sit still so you can shoot nanos at it is a laughable prospect.  This ability just isn't what it used to be as a result.

Antorak (1-2 star):
Distort Gravity (**):  Speed is nice, but on the faction with phase stabilizers totally unnecessary.  Bypassing phase jump inhibitors is nice, but a few squads of bombers can have the same effect. 
Subversion (**):  Much too niche and specialized to be of wide-scale use.

Vulkoras (3 star):
Phase Missile Swarm (**):  Crap ability, deals way too little damage to too few targets.

 

Reply #74 Top



But... perhaps the Revelation is a specialist siege ship, intended for the heaviest targets only? Lets try a 6000 health planet. Only the very best for the Revelation....

The animation is good. But if these figures are right, the ability is wildly overrated.

Hey Des,  I can't keep up with all of this.  But I wanted to say, I also did a comparison of Sieges awhile back too.  I also concluded that the Relation's Provoke Hysteria was in need of a buff (shorter cooldown), and lobbied for that in Kitkun's Cap Abilities thread.  It just takes it too long to kill any planet!  The damage rate is great, but you have to wait forever for the next shot.  At least your ship can do other things inbetween shots.  But it is excellent for a first strike against fully upgraded homewords.  Followed with some siege frigates, so that a second shot after the ridiculously long cool down can finish the planet.  It does compare well against homeworlds, as the following comparisons show, from my old thread.  Therefore the rating.

"I know that a level 6 Revlation can kill ANY planet, big or small, with 3 shots of -40% in 7.25 minutes.  Kind of a long time to kill a measly 1,000 health asteroid, but not bad against a fully upgraded 6000 health homeworld.
A level 6 'Egg' can kill a 1000 health Asteroid with 1 shot, or in 35 seconds!  (And you get income/resources!)
That same 'Egg' can kill a homeworld with 4.44 shots of -1350 health, so either ~9 or ~12 minutes (3 min. cooldown).
A level 5 Marza (lvl 3 Raze Planet) can kill a homeworld in about 10.37 minutes (6000/480 with 50 sec cooldowns).
That same Marza can kill a 1000 health Asteroid with 2.083 shots, with 1 cooldown, so 50+ seconds, meaning about a minute or so (1000/480 X 50 sec)!"

I don't know long would it take a Vulkoras with its siege ability?  And how long would it take the comparable 4 siege frigates?  Some of Darvin's testing showed that it was roughly comparable to the Marza's Raze planet.

I will agree that the Revelation is a pretty miserable ship.  Clarvoyance actually is quite nice to have, and is handy late in the game when it is hard to get scouts into the back of empires.  But the second and third levels don't add much value.  Reverie is a surprising ability, the best interupt?  Higher levels of it can almost make the Revelation invulnerable. Then you might eventually get Provoke Hysteria.  But until then, what is it good for?  I have to admit that I've never really understood Guidance very well.  Believe it or not, I know some pros that would pick this ship first!

Everyone is going to have their own opinions on these abilities, and it is almost impossible to know all 60 abilities inside and out.  Thats why I've called them my "personal" ratings, and have encouraged others to add input of their own.

Reply #75 Top

Quoting Darvin3, reply 64

4  Scramble Bombers   ****


Don't know where you're coming from here; I personally think this is the weakest capital ship ability in the game by a considerable margin...


As for 6-star abilities, I wouldn't put the Progenitor's colonize on this list.  Maybe before its nerf, but definitely not now.  The Akkan's colonize is certainly the better of the two anyways, so if the Progen's gets six stars the Akkan's must as well.

Yes Darvin, you've "been pointing out those discrepencies in the star rating for some time now,....  I agree with you that we have a lot of overrated and underrated abilities on that list."

And you also have been obviously wrong in some case, as have I.  In particular regarding Scramble Bombers.  DesConnor also said: "Darvin's post on Scramble Bombers being the weakest ability in the game seems a rare error of judgement on his part".  I blame part of the current patch's problem with Scramble Bombers upon you. 

I chose not to respond to the above type of comment before, and won't now.  But I will say that I can understand most of your ratings and appreciate them.  And everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  But I don't believe there is neccessarily a right answer.  For example, I think your ratings of the Akkan are tilted by racial preference, or other preferences.  I think it is a great ship for colonizing, but never could get excited about the other abilities and just see them differently.