I don't know if you guys know this or not, but flak frigates are actually EXTREMELY overpowered. The general consensus in the community seems to be that flak is only useful in leveling your opponents titan and making your eco angry. I can confirm that is NOT the case. A combination of low tech (only requires TWO labs… WTF), incredible range and speed (a handful of flak got lock down an entire gravwell), cheap cost (75 credits more than cobalt… what a bargain), and the ability to counter every ship in entire game besides cap and HCs make going mass flak one of the most effective strategies in the game.

What about its supposed counter, the light frigate, you ask? The majority of the sins community doesn't know this – which is why the secret I'm about to divulge will make the "pros" very angry– but LF doesn't counter flak... It is actually the other way around. Don't take my word for it, go make a custom game and see for yourself. 200 supply of gardas vs 200 supply of cobalts. If you micro the gardas just right, the cobalts will exhibit what I call "retarded fish syndrome," and spin out of control, unable to attack the flaks. Meanwhile, the gardas will steadily chip away at the ENTIRE cobalt group, and eventually win. I guarantee this will make your head explode, as you finally realize the awesome power of the flak frigate.

1st test

Starting Conditions: 50 Gardas vs. 40 Cobalts (both 200 supply)

NO upgrades for either side

ELEMENTARY micro for flak (consists of moving back and forth in straight line)

End Result: 22 Gardas remaining (88 supply)

Remaining gardas have very high health

SCREENSHOTS- http://postimg.org/gallery/371hjd9qc/4ab10b9b/

2st test

Same conditions

End Result: 27 gardas remaining

Replay: http://www.2shared.com/file/fBoBDoHM/FlakLFtest.html?

 Ryat, a trusted and prominent member of this forum, ran his own tests with 80 sentinels and 100 disciples. He said the sentinels won, hands down. 

Discussion about the aforementioned "retard fish syndrome" affecting cobalts can be found here: https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/446223/page/1

Solutions

1. Eliminate crystal cost, increase credit cost to 400

A 25 unit decrease in crystal in return for a 25 credit increase seems to be more than adequate nerf for a unit of this firepower. As everybody knows, credits are the most important resource in the early game, so this will cut down the flak numbers substantially.

      2. Increase ship speed

Hold on a second! This sounds like a buff! Well no actually. One of the key elements for the flak's op nature is its ability to dish out tremendous amounts of damage due to having a fast turnaround rate. Imagine how more powerful strike craft would be if they had the flak's speed and weapon cooldown! A faster speed would lower dps, as the ship would creep out of range due to forward momentum, which translates into less time shooting at the enemy and more time turning around.

      3. Increase range

This will allow it to target more enemies at once, effectively reducing the dps per ship.

Please offer constructive responses only people. No trolling, name-calling, or put downs.

P.S. - does anyone know how to put screenshots into posts? I tried the "insert image" button and it doesn't work.