Value of RA

40% discount.

its similar to presvasive economy now, and it also offers a portal

TEC---> get 8 millitary labs to get full fleet power --> get 8 civillian to get production up

Vasari get 8 milli labs and your set

(the is ofc simplified but you get the gist)

It used to be way more beneficial when the ships were free.

8 Civic Labs

And yes, it is worth it, late game.  Early game, it will just cripple your economy before it pays off.  Unless you are lucky and no one bothers you.

RA was severely nerfed for version 1.1 of the game.  So, two months ago in version 1.05 it was pretty powerful if not overpowered.  When you built the phase gates, the ships rolled in for FREE!  During a game you might type out a message such as, "I have attained Returning Armada, the game is over."  RA is still a good deal today, but it's not nearly as great of a deal as it used to be.

but it is still extremely useful, giving ships at 60% of the cost and INSTANTLY!!    it really allows for fleet enhancement in large maps and gives an instant defence force against raiding parties.  like the thrice-be-damned TEC rebel passive ability.

I think it sucks.

You spend thousands and thousands of resources researching it, then you spend a few thousand building the Phase Stabilizer(s), then you spend another few thousand activating the ability, which has a very, very long cooldown, and your reward is about 5 mismatched ships per Stabilizer.

Don't use it, it'll lose you the game.

I disagree whole-heartedly.  I am in a game right now where it is very beneficial for me.  This is usually the case in larger maps.  Once you have it researched to level 2, you get 7-10 ships per use.  Usually I get 4-5 Ska Enforcers and 2-3 Lan Carriers. 

Let's add those prices up.  for each Ska Enf it costs 150 met/110 cry and for each Carrier it costs 160 met/140 cry.  So, if I get 4 enf and 3 carriers, that is a total of 1080 metal and 860 crystal for each one bought seperately.  By using RA, I have successfully re-inforced my fleet in juat a few seconds for a very small of the fraction of the price than building the ships individually and then having to wait a certain amount of time for each ship to build.

Other pluses are that you get an instant phase gate between any planets that have the Stabilizer in.  Also, you can use RA for each Stabilizer.  For instance, you have 4 Stabilizers...you can use each one in succession...1, 2, 3, 4, and have an instant small fleet of 28-40 ships and also with a great balance of ships in that small fleet.

At some point, you are gonna tech up to 8 labs any way, you just might do it a little quicker to get to RA, if that's how you choose to go.  I think that it is way worth the effort in the long run on a larger map.  And the money you save to use it for a re-inforcement of your fleet, instead of building 7 individual ships will soon pay off the difference of what it cost to get to have the ability to use RA.

Hope that made sense.

so says the TEC/Advent player who just doesn't know how to beat it.

anyway, I would build the stabilizer just for the direct phase jump abilities,

and if you activate several RAs at once, then you can use the ships from 10-15 grav wells (or whatever number you decide to use) to form a VERY large defensive force.  or a carrier heavy offensive force. 

RA if used multiple times gives a VERY good fleet mix, at 60% of the cost, and INSTANTLY.  that's worth nearly anything research/building wise, if you ask me.  8 Imperial labs only takes about 3 planets to fill up, and you are done, and then there are just 4 researches for it to be maxed.  it's simply an amazing ability.

If you take my post #8 and Orodum's post #9, they are pretty one and the same.  If 2 people are saying the same thing, then you would think that there is something of value in using this ability.

bet thaMah doesn't even play Vasari

I also disagree.

Another key factor that you are missing is:  you get high level ships that you did NOT pay to research.  You can actually get by with only 1 military lab, and 8 civilian labs, and still have a very strong mixed fleet including tier 5 HC's.  (The money saved on not researching each of these ship types, alone can just about pay for RA).

Contrary to popular accusation, I'm actually basing my opinion completely off my own experience as a Vasari player. If I was Advent or TEC and just hated the ability because I couldn't beat it, why would I come in here saying it sucks? Wouldn't I say it was overpowered?

First let me ask a question, does activating two Stabilizers in the same gravity well, one after another, grant you one or two Returning Armadas?

Because I activated two stabilizers (With Returning Armada researched twice, by the way) in the same gravity well and only got about 10 ships, roughly 3 enforcers, 2 carriers, 4 skirmishers, and an Assailant as far as I can remember.

well... you would say that 'twas overpowered in the feedback section, but here you would try to convince people not to use it, bcuz you couldn't beat it.  If you were an Advent/TEC player.

as far as i know, it gives you 2, but you probably only had researched the first level of it.

What a low and pathetic thing to do.

Except that I said that I researched both levels of it. I should know, because I lost the resources to prove it!

Why would you have 2 in the same well?  That makes absolutely no sense. to me.  I do know personally (I did it last night) that you can have multiple Stabilizers in seperate wells and use them all at once and get 7-10 ships per at RA level 2.  This was in v1.12.  I then moved all 37 ships to the furthest stabilizer out (the one closest to my fleet) and had them join my attacking Armada within a couple of minutes of all of them being summoned.  They joined a fleet of 5 caps and roughly 20 carriers, 15 Ska Enf., at least 10 sentinels, 10 kanraks, and 10 Ravastra Skirmishers.

Very useful if you ask me.

Because then I'd get (I thought) more forces in the immidiate area of danger instantly if I activated two RAs in the same gravity well.

I haven't had more than one in a well, either.  it's just not worth the tactical slots or the creds.  esp since once i have it, i have enough planets that I activate them all once and I have a fleet as large or larger than any other player's.

Well, by the look of it activating two RAs in the same gravity well only gives you one RA. (Though they still take the resources.)

I can understand the thought behinds having two in the same well in order to get more ships there quicker, but then the 2nd stabilizer provides no extra benefit besides using the RA ability.  I would think you would put it in another star close to the original star in order to at least get some other use out of it.  As Orodum said it uses too many slots and is too expensive to build to just throw two in the same well.

I didn't think so. I had a slot to spare, and I knew what I was doing. (Or thought I did...) I thought the benefit of summoning two RA fleets would pay off.

Did you have enough open fleet slots?  I am assuming that you did.

But I learned the hard way on this point.  I had my phase gates set to auto-cast (RA).  And it used up/filled up all my fleet slots, and kept on charging me for activating RA (once I had enough crystal), even tho it didn't create ANY new ships!  Because I hadn't researched higher amounts of fleet yet. (I think the old RA would give you unlimited fleet, despite what fleet level you had researched).

[PS. I thot the cooldown was 10 minutes, not 15].

I did because I had to build frigates afterwords to help my fleet out. (Or maybe that was because my ships were getting destroyed that I had room.)

Probably is. I edited my post because I wasn't entirely sure, but it got quoted anyway.

if you stagger them, they should work.  i mean, hit one, wait til 30 seconds after the ships arrive, then hit the other.  then you wouldn't have to wait for the cooldown, and you would get 2 RAs.  but it's only theory

Well yeah, I activated them immidietely one after the other.