Alright I thought about posting this in the Beta forums. But there are several "Carriers are overpowered" type threads there now as is. And quite frankly they may or may not be OP. I will leave that for the Devs to decide and I will learn to adapt.

Which brings me to the point of my posting. What counters have we come up with that are "solid" plans for countering the new strikecraft and their carriers? The advent ones in particular I am having problems with when I am TEC. Now advent on advent I can counter them well since we both get them as a Tier 2 military upgrade unit and we both get them with 3 squadrons.

Its the TEC and Vasari that are stumping me. Actually the Vasari I dont really know what to do yet, I get them so rarely when I random myself. (which is how I pick my race every single game btw) I have come up with counters for late game pretty easy and we can discuss that also if you would like. My concern is the early game in close combatish maps. Take Kronac's Cross for instance all 3 of yoru opponents are 2-3 jumps away. (2 jumps to all 3 by going to center star and their homeworld, 3 jumps to the homeworlds on your left and right) Now in this scenario the advent just seem to have a huge hands down advantage with the Tier 2 carriers in 1.1

At best you will have a lvl 3-4 ship when they show up with Carriers. Due to the usually Very limited Metal on the map its hard to mass very many ships also. As you always have 1 asteroid to one side, and one ice planet to the other, the inside has 3 random planets of anytype and 1 pirate base. (For those that dont play the map often) Now back on track. How do we counter teh buffed up Advent carriers at this early junction with such limited resources in the metal department?

So far the best counter I have come up with is to assume they will arrive with 3-5 carriers within half an hour to 45 minutes. This so far has proven true on the smaller 4 player maps like this. Thusly You could fast tech up to carriers yourself. But the superiority of the Advent tier 2 carriers to the tier 3 carriers of the other races is undeniable so far for me. Anyways the best counter I have come up with in this fast teching situation I have been testing is to get you own carriers as fast as you can, and get some flak also. (not alot) Build nothing but fighters, then take over the skys with flak and fighters. While they are doing their anti flying unit thing, you take out the navy leaving the hopefully uselsess Advent Carriers effectivly grounded.

Out of 5 games on Kronac's Cross to test this. This has worked 2 out of 5 times, the other 3 times it pretty much ended in a stalemate with both fleets decimated to the point of being worthless. Which I will point out is in the Advents favor if its thier carriers vs your carriers. In this scenario and Advance to the rear is suggested. (aka retreat)

I would be interested in hearing other counters to this. I will be trying a few games of instead of rushing to carriers of my own, of maybe going with a heavier Light Frigate count early on and make sure they have all the appropriate offensive upgrades and maybe Blitz the carriers down. But without proper anti-air the Strikecraft will still be around long after their host has been subdued.