Basically, you build a total of 3 sovas and 6 perchons in the escort strike force. 2 of the sovas build nothing but bombers and the other has nothing but fighters. The pecherons are also nothing but fighters. The TEC's carriers have a total of 7 squads and so that gives you a total of 14 bomber wings and 13 fighter wings. The TEC makes up for in quantity what you don't get in heavy damage, as you can send 2 targets on opposite sides of the gravity well a very fancy present that they won't appreciate. TEC strike craft are ok at the ship to ship fight, but they excell in crippling your opponent's shipbuilding capability especially when you keep the motherships outside the gravity well so they can jump at anytime.
So you build 3 Sovas and 6 Percherons, scaling with increases in fleet supply? Well,
"
The TEC makes up for in quantity what you don't get in heavy damage"
is not true for carriers. All the carrier cruisers take up 8 supply points, whether the Aeria or the Percheron or the Lasurak. If anything, the Vasari would have numerical superiority in carriers with their Phasic Transmissions tech. The Advent carrier cruiser is also the cheapest, so it doesn't matter if the TEC has a stronger economy since the Percheron costs more. The Lasurak is even pricier, but the Vasari's superior resource economy kind of makes up for the big metal and
big crystal price tag.
And all capital ships have the same price and supply requirement, so Sovas can be neutralized by Skirantras or Halcyons for no further price. So you only have a numerical advantage if the enemy doesn't build carriers or uses them really sparsely.
The Advent also have a better chance of neutralizing TEC shipbuilding instead of vice versa - their Hangars are Tier 1 tech and are stronger than those of the TEC, and their Aerias are Tier 2 ships and are comparatively cheap, while Percherons are Tier 3, and not that cheap.
And in later game(Tier 6+), not even an equal number of Level 10 Sovas with Heavy Fighters + Percherons with Bombers can beat an equal number of Level 10 Skirantras with Fighters + Lasuraks with Bombers. Vasari strike craft come alive at Tier 6 with their damage boosts, armor boosts and speed boosts maxing out, and their hull and repair rate having hit the top on Tier 4 and their shield negation maxing out at Tier 5.
Rapid Manufacturing cannot be kept up for long enough against Repair Cloud with it's big cool-down(2 minutes vs. 12 seconds), and it takes <5 seconds in the Cloud to fully restore a Vasari Fighter to full health(max is 105 hp) from any condition. It won't be that easy to crack them with both sides microing their carriers' abilities.
I too agree with Jotanhorn. TEC carrier abilities are vastly underrated. Heavy Fighters + Targeting Uplink + Designate Target = Bad news . Heavy Manufacturing + Dunov's magnetize ability = More bad news.
Wow, that sounds like a significant degree of dependence for TEC strike craft on their capital ships. Not like their rivals can't counter that with support abilities of their own.
Repair Cloud + Microphasing Aura + Defeat Shields = Bad news. Jam Weapons + Distort Gravity = More bad news. Distort Grav + Microphasing Aura, both at Level 3, would make for some extremely rapid strike craft. Jam Weapons also has a range of 3500, and TEC Bombers can't match that with any technology or Targeting Uplink or whatever factored in.
Concentration Aura + Adept Drone Anima + Amplify Energy Aura = Bad news. Telekinetic Push + Anima Tempest = More bad news. Concentration Aura also operates through host carriers, so it has unlimited range for their strike craft.
