They are an element in long games... If you find yourself in a position to be able to build a single such weapon, you are making sacrifices somewhere else in your empire to deploy it. Its a strategic decision, like any other. I would venture to declare that if you find yourself electing to construct multiple such cannon, then you are either a very good player or you have already won the game.These facilities are extremely entertaining. Larger games wherein game length can come into play (and therefore these assets) usually consist of multiple star systems, and since the cannon can only target planets in its own star system, you immediately have an inherent limitation. There is the reason for multiple players to cooperate.On the flip side, trying to break into an enemy system might entail getting a toehold in some no-name sector long enough to develop and build such an asset. Sounds cool.Its a table-turner for sure. Its(they`re) supposed to be.
Mega uber-ships would be worse than superweapons. They would be mobile, and would kill droves of stuff much faster than superweapons. As it is, capital ships are strong enough. Mega-ships would be harder to take out than superweapons.
As of now, the TEC can fly a small swarm of ~30 fully upgraded Arcova Scouts through enemy choke-points without losing too many and place a bunch of Timed Explosives on the enemy superweapon to blow it up, and keep doing so for multiple superweapons until hangar fighters kill them all or they get surrounded and destroyed.
The Advent could do the same with 30-40 Seeker Vessels. They'd charge through the enemy choke-point for minimal losses and launch Martyrdom suicide ramming attacks at the enemy superweapon until the cannon crumbles, and keep killing superweapons this way until all the scouts are dead. The investment would be considerably less than that of the opponent who built the superweapons.
The Vasari could use their Kostura Cannon to permanently disable enemy superweapons with chained shots on autocast, or call the Returning Armada to crush enemy fortifications, or both. They'd need Level 8 research, but the superweapon user would also obviously need Level 8 research.
As I understand it, the Advent converts a section of the population; hit the planet with enough of them and you can overthrow it. The TEC kills a section of the population; hit with enough of them and you kill the whole population (and make it impossible to colonize for a few minutes). The Vasari one...stuns all the ships in orbit for maybe 20 seconds and does a marginal amount of damage. If I'm not mistaken you'd need more than 4 shots just to kill any frigates in orbit. It strikes me as being the most underpowered of the group, given that they all cost the same.
The TEC Novalith Cannon deals 3000 damage to an enemy planet or asteroid. It would take 1 shot to kill any asteroid and 2 shots to kill a fortified Advent or Vasari planet, and population growth would be slower if the planet were to be re-colonized.
The Advent Deliverance Engine converts hostile culture in the target gravity well to 15-20% friendly culture, draining allegiance(and thus income) and cultural buffs and replacing them with Advent culture bonuses(like extra shield mitigation and planetary vision). It would take a lot of shots to eventually neutralize a planet, but the former owner of that planet would not be able to colonize it again.
The Vasari Kostura Cannon disables enemy orbital structures for 3 minutes and enemy ships(not including strike craft) for 15 seconds, while removing 10% of their current hitpoints. So it could potentially be used to stunt shipbuilding(by nuking factories), temporarily disable enemy technology(by nuking labs?), or continuously disable enemy superweapons(by firing chained shots). 2 Kosturas could also used in tandem with a massive carrier fleet, to keep enemy ships disabled and have them get crushed by fighters and bombers.
