1. There is no target cap on TK Push and Flak Burst, so use it when there's as many strikecraft within the area of effect as you think there will ever be (don't leave it on autocast, otherwise it will cast as soon as one squadron enters range).

5. On top of those combos, add this classic: Malice + Cleansing Brilliance. CB will do 2000 damage (if it lasts the maximum 8 seconds) to all targets within the affected area (which is basically a cone in front of the Radiance) and Malice will re-deal 30% of the damage accumulated by all those ships. Timing is important for this combo as CB will be active for 8 seconds (takes 2 seconds for the beam to charge) and Malice lasts 10 seconds. You should pick a target for CB that can withstand the initial 2k damage (basically capitals), otherwise you lose out on more damage if the target dies part-way through.

ye that seems to be the problem that a lot of threads are old, and one of the reasons why im asking so many questions. i cant figure out what the CURRENT consensus and style of play is. then again, i also should open more threads. one of the stickied threads very well described all the cap ships abilities. very handy.

one more question, is ressurection worth getting on the progenitor?

Ressurection is a god like ability in long, very late game. Just have one level 6 mothership chill at your home world and whenever one of your high level cap ships gets destroyed, you can replace it as soon as you can build it. Of course, getting a level 6 mothership to spare is rare, but if you can do it, aggresive attacks always headed by level 10 cap ships will probably ensure you'll win the war eventually, sense you opponent will have no chance of keeping his capital ships at high level (as you should be using cleancing brilliance liberally on his caps).

Depends on the situation.  If you lost a high level (4 or higher) capital ship, definitely select this ability.  This will enable you to promote any new capital ship of the same type to the same level of the old one.  I once lost my level 7 Progenitor early game (I didn't pick ressurrection at the time because there was nothing to ressurrect).  I then built a new Progenitor and raised it to level 6.  Once level 6, I selected ressurrection and built a second Progenitor to promote it to level 7.  Unless my enemy kills both Progenitors, I can "restore" my lost capital ship.

This ability can be useless at times, particularly since the Progenitor is usually chosen as a first capital ship and therefor there is little to ressurrect when it initially reaches level 6.  Later on, however, this ability can become one of the most powerful in the game.

It can also be used as an expensive re-spec tool.  If you scuttle a capital ship and create a new one, you can use ressurrection to promote it to the old one's level and then pick a new set of skills.  Rarely used, but viable.

Depends on what you're cloning and whether you need that antimatter for healing.  I've often replicated flaks in an emergency to great effects; heavy cruisers are obviously good targets just because they're expensive.  Carriers are double-edged.  They're great and powerful units, but their strike craft aren't replicated with them.  In other words, much of their limited duration will actually be spent creating their strike craft.

The bottom line is that this is a good ability with lots of tactical use, but use it in a smart fashion.

Spam diciples,  Have them focus on carriers first then flak.  When those are destroyed have carriers with bombers ready.   If his carrires contained only fighters. You can do mostly diciples and some flak.  If his carrires contained bombers, then go mostly diciples and bombers.  Bombers should target hc, while diciples against get carriers then flak.

If you want to use your capital ships the have 2 halycon and progen.  Keep all ship from in a hold movement.  Get lots lums (50+), and about 10 gardians (have repulse research).  If his carriers are just bombers dont get flak have a few carriers to get his bombers. Flak if he has fighters. Use 1 repulse at a time until it runs out of anti matter and basically push his hc out of range as you use lums to target his hc.

Note his fleet is against someone who spams lots of lrms/scouts,

JJ is right and you must scout to know what to build.For instance if your opponent is spamming sb then he doesnt have as much fleet as you and ilums will not be handy against a sb so you must adapt for situation.Sometimes it is best for bombers(which I prefer) and sometimes antisb ships.

Oh, those games had counters, it's just that unless you were of very similar skill level most of those counters could be overcome with the right micro.  In theory grunts as basic melee counter crypt fiends as basic ranged.  However, in practice any undead player will have a death knight that increases unit move speed and enable the fiends to just dance around while your grunts fail to do any serious damage.  In a real scenrio, you need to use special abilities to pin down the fiends so you can slaughter them with melee like you're supposed to.  It is a counter (and a pretty vicious one at that) if pulled off correctly, but just having the right units on its own isn't enough in that game.

The thing in Sins is that you don't have these silly techniques.  If you're stuck with the wrong unit mix, simply outplaying the opponent often isn't enough to change the outcome.