Thats exactly what i do, using drone hosts(full bombers if no counter) or illus as my dps in the fleet. But in early game i just cant get the titan low fast enough with such small fleet. I get him low but it takes some time and since titan is low its already taken out like 15 frigates and then just retreats to regen. Would take me few jumps to kill it but by then he is already regenning from repair bays and i still losing my ships while i havent killed anything his. Even worse is when i try to attack the planet where few repair bays are together, then he just moves in and out all the time...taking out my frigates and gaining xp for his titan.

Same goes for mass cap ships, when someone has 4 kortuls and 1 or 2 support caps. Ofc i try to take out support ones first, but they still get away with 20% hp. If im lucky i manage to get something down and thats only if he is not paying attention. Everything has over 3000 hp and not a single frigate to kill, if cap is starting to get low, he will just retreat it. By fleet dps and damage done i for sure am over his fleet but i cant kill anything. As AR i dont have any serious regen abilitys to overheal caps dmg with only 1 mothership(prolly not even with 2), tried with culture spam and 150% shield regen, not sure how does this tech work exactly tho, if im on enemy planet wheres my culture is present and his isnt, will my shield regen work? Even if it does its still not enough to heal over caps dmg. Only thing that seems to work is kite with drone hosts around the well but thats just temporary solution.

When titan gets in im deadmeat, i was against 2 kols, 1 dread, 1 dunov and ragnarov(thats only 350 fleet supply), i had 15 drone hosts(300 fleet supply), mothership, 2 revas, halycon(200) and few illus with guardians, around 650 fleet total. My caps were getting nuked so badly, in 1 min i had already retreated all my caps(lost mothership) while my bombers were chasing retreating dunov with 30% hp( and it got away).

If someone invests heavily in capital ships, they wasted a lot of resources and you should be able to take them out early by rushing....

It seems to me they are just getting the expansion and eco up faster, and so you can't overwhelm them with frigates or bombers...it's hard to tell without seeing a replay or something...

If the enemy retreats, take the fight to their planets. If they retreat there, take over their planet. Rinse and repeat.

What would be the best caps to start for TEC Loyalist ?

In general, I would say always start with the colony cap regardless of faction...

After that, it really depends on the situation...a sova or a marza are excellent if you are rushing the enemy and bombing out worlds...marza better if you need to just wipe piddly planets out fast (get raze planet), sova if its going to be a prolonged fight or if it's at the HW (get embargo)...a kol with flak burst is also actually pretty good if you plan on getting a titan soon and want some protection from bomber spam...dunov with EMP is good for dealing with titans and preventing them from using their ability....Corsev is good no matter what, passive regen and AoE damage make it a beast...

It really just depends, frontliners are probably better with marza or sova, and eco players are probably better with kol (since eco players will be getting titan earlier)...either situation is good to have a corsev, which is arguably the best 2nd choice...dunov is probably best to save as a third choice...

I actually usually only go with one capital ship (progenitor) then straight for Titan...the resources saved on buying one less capital ship and one less cap crew tech help immensely...I won't say it's the best strategy as in the long run a Halcyon or Discord may be better, but rushing a titan that much earlier has definitely saved my butt...in fact, on the occasions I lose my starting cap, it's not uncommon for me to just get one more cap crew and go for Titan...

 Edit forgot corsev:

This can work, but your DPS likely will suck too...unless you started with 2 dunovs (which I seriously doubt, and that would be really dumb anyway), you basically are already looking at 3-4 caps, which seriously detracts from 1) their ability to level up and 2) your amount of frigate firepower....

I agree that building 2 dunovs works great after the fact (ie they already have amassed lots of guardians and carriers, and don't have frigate firepower), but if your AR opponent doesn't go that route (and they don't always) then you are in bad shape if you already built them...