Changes in Sins

1) Yes

2) Carriers have bounced around between being really powerful and subpar over the past few versions.  Right now, strike craft are very effective, but a bit pricey to bring on to the field.  Carrier capital ships got a buff last version and are now the preferred form of carrier.

3) There never was an official announcement about a third micro-expansion.  Diplomacy is described as the last micro-expansion, so there will not be a third one.

4) Malice isn't a big deal anymore at all.  It's more guardians with shield restore and hoardes of illuminators.  Early-game, Advent has a vicious rush with the newly buffed Halcyon supported by lots of disciples and seekers.  Overall, they have stronger units and stronger caps and stronger comboes, so they are the stronger faction.  TEC has a fair shot at beating them early-game, Vasari has a fair-shot late-game.

TEC is, IMO, the weakest faction in the current version of the game.  You have to really lean on the powerful Sova capital ship (it got buffed, a lot) and the hoshiko to go anywhere with TEC, but you can pull it off.

5) Large fleets of LRM's are still around, but the light frigate got a substantial buff in recent versions, and people frequently use scouts as combat units now. 

6) I was under the impression that the hard AI always cheated.  Anyways yes, the hard AI cheats, and the unfair AI cheats a lot.  They're all stupid as heck anyways...

First of all, you don't need Trinity if you have Entrenchment and vanilla. All you will get new is Diplomacy, which you can get for $10 on Impulse, compared to the $40 of Trinity.

1. Most MP games use quick start, but their are a handful of people that play Entrenchment and still don't use it

2. Well, if you have a well balanced force to defend it with, a big LC fleet can do some nasty things, particularly with the Advent, since it can have 3 SC instead of 2. I think SC always were important, and they are even more so in Entrenchment. Well, remember that flak never was really THAT good against anything except Advent and small groups of TEC fighters; Vas bombers can stand up forever against most flak groups, so in summary, flak is only a little, to stick with your metaphor, a little over par.

3. I never was aware of a 3rd micro-expansion

4.https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/348928; this could give you some advice on other's opinions, because i think that your question is kinda an opinion choice.

5. A well balanced fleet is a great choice, expecially an Advent one, but a TEC one is good too and the Vasari have a tech that increases fleet capacity by 8% to 15%, which makes up for the Vasari's higher fleet logistic requirements and then some. A LRM spam can be easily countered by a LC spam w/ fighters, or the Illums (but illum spam can beat just about anything, except a bigger Illum spam).

6. I don't know about hard AI cheating, i think that the Unfair and Cruel AIs are the only ones that can cheat, but i didn't do too much SP when I got Entrenchment, I did about 5 games per faction, one against each AI type, 2 for unfair, to get used to the new stuff, then I went straight to MP. 

Hope this helps.

Kron

I have to disagree. The Akkan is actually useful now, the Cobalts and Scouts are in the same league as deciples and seekers (unlike the Vasari), and while their carriers take a bit longer to get, they don't have any major weaknesses. I fail to see how they are any weaker than the Vasari. And anyways, it may not matter for much longer, as the new patch is (hopefully) due to be out soon as the Illum bug is sure to be fixed and seekers to be nerfed.

Akkan is very awesome now, no questioning that, but you can get by without it.  But the Sova?  If I don't get it first, I get it second.  Cobalts and scouts are pretty good, but the seekers and disciples are noticably better.  I never said TEC was by far the weakest, and early-on the Vasari are definitely the weaker of the two factions.  With hoshikos, a slick heavy, and solid units to round out their fleet, TEC has it pretty good..  The problem is, they have nothing that is awe-inspiringly powerful.  The mobile Vasari starbase, subverters, phase stabilizers, fully upgraded phase missiles, or the elegant Advent battleball that will toss you around like a rag doll while the illums cut your fleet to ribbons.  TEC has a solid fleet, but they do not have an answer to these powerful late game technologies and comboes, which is why I consider them the weakest faction.

Thank you for the quick replies.

I just finished a Large Random Map (8 Player SP Game) earlier as TEC. I must say, things have really changed over the course of the patches. I noticed a huge change in how the AI Conducts itself. Granted, it still has suicidal tendencies (i.e. rams its entire fleet into a minefield then to a fully upgraded starbase), it is overall better than any of its predecessor. It seems the AI Retreat-fest or the AI Surrender fast has been effectively eliminated in the latest patch. There was even this one point wherein I lost a major fleet battle against the Vasari even though I was winning half-way. I didn't notice that the AI now actually commands its support fleets and is eager to set up decisive battles. That was a definitely fun game. At the end of it all, I noticed that the AI has not utilized any of the end-game superweapons at all though. And I had trouble getting the last AI to surrender despite constant Novalith bombardment to its empire. I'm actually amazed at how it rebuilt its economy (i.e. recolonizing, re-upgrading) its planet after it was wiped up. Before, the AI would just leave that planet even if it was its home planet. Indeed, that was a pleasant surprise.

However, I must agree with your assessments about the TEC. The Advent Repulse-Illum combo is so deadly. Whereas, the TEC still has the same old ships. Aside from the nerfed Missile Barrage, there was hardly any tide-turning unit in TEC's Arsenal forcing TECs to rely on a combined fleet and constant rebuilding. Carrier Caps seem to be the trend too. I tried out a quick ICO one on one earlier against an Advent and a Halcyon Combo forced me to rush a Sova as well. How times have changed.  

Its not too hard beating the double halc carrier+diciple+scouts, with a single akkan.

If he plays it right, he just kites while his bombers force your capital ship to retreat.  You really need fighters (3-4 squads) to deal with those bombers and buy you the time for your units to beat the carrier rushes.

I personally find one carrier cap set to all fighters with a big swarm of light frigates (assailants if you're Vasari, since skirmishers suck) will counter two carrier caps, but you're pretty well screwed if you don't have a carrier cap, since you don't have any real answer to the bombers, and he only needs to dedicate one or two squads to fighters to keep your lone fighter squad out of the picture.