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1.2 Cap Ship Ability Guide

SageWon

Join Date 07/2008

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1.2 Cap Ship Ability Guide

Originally by Mongoose22

Capital ship ability guide 1.1

Originally gleaned from the 1.05 reference infoBy Mongoose22 Posted May 10, 2008

Edited and noted for 1.1 and 1.19/1.04E changes (in yellow). Added descriptions, along with additional observations, and my personal ratings (5 stars is best, 2 is worst). Ratings have been updated as well.

Offensive abilities or damage noted in red. Defensive abilities or damage reduction in green. Finally,abilities that either: interrupt or are interruptible are noted in purple.

Please reply/comment if you note errors, have a better description, insights, combos, or disagree with a rating.

TEC
____________________________________________________________________

Kol Battleship   ****

Gauss Rail Gun   ***
Gauss Rail Gun
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75
Cooldown time: 6
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure (All, but strikecraft)
Range:  5000     6000   (1.04E only buff)
Effect(s):
Damage: 300 / 550 / 800   325 / 650 / 975   (1.04E only buff)
The target's maximum speed is also reduced by 50% for 10 seconds    (1.04E only added buff)
Fire Rail Gun at target (not strikecraft). Simply deals an instant 325 damage to the target at first level. (650 & 975 dmg at second and third levels). Can be repeated, or fired again every 6 seconds (cooldown), but antimatter will likely be exhausted after 2 or 3 shots. And damage must first pass thru shield mitigation reducing effective damage. (Best used against structures, since they don’t have shield mitigation).

Flak Burst ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100 / 100 / 100
Cooldown time: 12 / 10 / 8
Affects: enemy strikecraft
Range: self
Area radius: 2400 / 3000 / 3600
Max targets: infinite
Effect(s):
Damage: 30 / 45 / 60 to each
Deals some significant instant damage (30/45/60) to all nearby hostile strikecraft squadrons, within the level’s range (2400/3000/3600). Again, a short cooldown (12/10/8), but relatively high antimatter cost (ea 100).

Adaptive Forcefield   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 40 / 50 / 60
Cooldown time: 45 / 40 / 35
Affects: self
Duration: 20 / 30 / 40
Effect(s):
Damage reduction: 15% / 25% / 35%
Shield bypass reduction: 25% / 45% / 60%
For 20/30/40 seconds, reduce: damage taken, and phase missile penetration done to this ship. Damage reduction of 15%/25%/35% of all types. Progressively increases its chance of blocking Vasari phase missiles.
Notes: This is the only ability in the game that can reduce the effectiveness of Vasari phase missile shield bypass. The fully upgraded forcefield can be on at all times with no gaps as long as you have the antimatter.

Finest Hour (ultimate ability) ****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: self
Duration: 60
Effect(s):
Autocannon splash radius: 1000
Autocannon splash damage: 60    (1.1 fix)
Antimatter regeneration rate: 5
Hull repair rate: 10
Ability cooldown reduction: 20%
“Last Stand”. Temp. increase own repair and antimatter regen rate. Also gains splash damage on attacks. Causes this ship to: regenerate 5 antimatter/s, 10 HP/s, decreases weapon cooldown by 20%, and grants 60 splash damage to autocannons for 60 seconds. Meaning restores: 300 AM total, and 600 Hull points, plus additional damage nearby.
Notes: Better used in the middle of a battle rather than to start to get the full regen benefits.

Sova Carrier ****

Missile Batteries   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 125   70   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Cooldown time: 50     35   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Effect(s):
Creates Missile Battery (frigate)
Lifetime: 180
Hull points: 750 / 1000 / 1250
Hull repair rate: 1
Shields: 120 / 140 / 160
Shield regeneration: 1
Armor: 3.0 / 4.0 / 5.0
Armor class: light
Weapon: missile
Damage type: anti-medium
Range: 8500
DPS: 13.00 / 17.33 / 22.75
Can deploy multiple temp. missile turrets (or platform structures/frigates, long duration). 13.0/17.3/22.7 dps, 750/1000/1250 hull, 120/140/160 shield, 3/4/5 armor, depending on ability level, for 180 seconds (3 mins.).
Notes: The Missile Battery acts as a stationary, hardier Javelis frigate, with upgrades increasing both its damage and survivability. It's considered a frigate, so research upgrades will also improve it like any other ship. The battery's range is less than that of a real Javelis, so you'll want to drop it closer to the action.

Embargo   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 85
Cooldown time: 120
Affects: enemy planet, enemy cargo ships
Area radius: planetary system
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 120 60/90/120   (1.1 Nerf)
Effect(s):
Planet production stolen: 40% / 70% / 100%
Planet ship/structure build time increase 30% / 60% 100%
Disable Phase Jump (cargo ships)    (1.18/1.04E fix)
“Steals income, blocks trade”. Steals 40%/70%/100% of enemy planet’s production. Disables own phase jump engines to temp. prevent trade ships from jumping out of current system and slows production in current system. Increases the build time of enemy ships and structures.
Notes: Embargo steals based on what the target planet is producing, so it works best for productive enemy planets and ones with heavy trade and/or refinery traffic, as it prevents the cargo ships from leaving the system. But it also can be an effective strategy for rushing a young nearby enemy homeworld.

Heavy Strikecraft ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: own strikecraft
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Strikecraft damage increase: 10% / 20% / 30%   12% / 24% / 36% (1.18/1.04E buff)
Strikecraft armor increase:    1.0 / 2.0 / 3.0         2.0 / 3.5 / 5.0       (1.18/1.04E buff)
(Passive buff) Increase armor and damage of this ship's strikecraft. Increases the damage dealt by the Sova's squadrons (only) by 12/24/36%, and increases their armor by 2/3.5/5 (= +hull by 10/17.5/25%).
Notes: The buff applies for both fighters and bombers. While it’s a meager boost, there is no antimatter cost.

Rapid Manufacturing (ultimate ability)   ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 120
Cooldown time: 120   180   (1.18/1.04E nerf)
Affects: self, friendly planet
Area radius: planetary system
Duration: 45   90 (1.18/1.04E buff)
Effect(s):
Instant strikecraft creation
Planet ship/structure build time reduction: 30%   300%   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Temp. dramatic increased build speed in current system. Instantly build replacement strikecraft for this ship. Decreases the build time of friendly ships and structures by 300%, in the system that the Sova is in, while activated.
Notes: Use to replace strikecraft quickly if destroyed or to scrap your current squads and change your fighter/bomber ratio during a battle. The planetary build bonus is nice but brief, best used when you have multiple ships and/or structures building at a planet at once.

Akkan Battlecruiser ****

Colonize +   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90
Cooldown time: 120 / 90 / 60
Affects: colonizable planet, resource asteroids
Range: 5000
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Colonize planet, + increase resource extraction rate by 33/66/100% for 360 seconds  (1.18/1.04E buff)
Free resource extractors: 0 / 1 / 2     1 / 2 / 3    (1.18/1.04E buff & fix)
Colonize target planet, Free extractors automatically built at higher ability levels.
Notes: Extractors cost only $250, or $150 with tier 1 research, but the side effect of increased extraction rates (up to doubled) for 360 seconds (6 minutes) can be substantial.

Ion Bolt ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 85
Cooldown time: 10 / 12 / 14
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure
Range: 7000
Duration: 3 / 5 / 7
Effect(s):
Interrupt
Disable abilities
Disable construction
Disable Phase Jump
Disable ship engines
Disable regeneration
Disable weapons
Temp. disable target hostile (short duration). Renders the target unable to move, attack, use abilities, regenerate passively, or construct (if the target is a building or construction frigate) for 3/5/7 secs.
Notes: While this completely disables an enemy target, it's very brief, so save it for important targets and to cancel impending Phase Jumps. Generally inferior to the Reverie ability from the Advent Rapture Battlecruiser, although unlike Reverie it won't fail early if you focus fire on the disabled target. Can interrupt other enemy ship abilities.

Targeting Uplink **
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: friendly frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 8000
Duration: permanent (self), until out of range (others)
Effect(s):
Chance to hit increase: 5% / 10% / 15%
Weapon range increase: 6% / 12% / 20%
(Passive Aura) Increase nearby friendlies' weapon range and hit%. In certain situations, all nearby ships gain a small increase to accuracy, and small range increase.
Notes: Most targets have a base chance to hit of 100%, so the increased accuracy is only useful against: the Advent Rapture’s Vertigo ability, or within asteroid fields where hit chances are reduced. Similarly, the weapon range increase is best used when you're not already engaged, so it most benefits the initial approach in battles and ships with long range.

Armistice (ultimate ability) ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: all frigates, capital ships, strikecraft and structures
Area radius: 12000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 60 or until out of range
Pulse interval: 2
Effect(s):
Interrupt
Invulnerable
Disable abilities
Disable weapons
“Cease Fire”. Temp. force all nearby ships and structures to stop fighting. The Akkan is rendered invulnerable, and the abilities and weapons of nearby enemy ships are disabled for 60 seconds, or until the Akkan leaves the system.
Notes: Pretty much a panic button so you can flee or prevent your fleet from getting wiped, as it prevents damage for everything around the Akkan. Could also be used to buy time for reinforcements to arrive.

Dunov Battlecruiser   ****

Shield Restore   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90   65    (1.1 Buff)
Cooldown time: 16   11    (1.1 Buff)
Affects: other friendly frigate, capital ship or structure with damaged shield
Range: 6000
Effect(s):
Shield restoration: 350 / 700 / 1050    250 / 500 / 750    (1.1 Nerf)
Instantly restore some shield points to other friendly target.
The target instantly regenerates 250/500/750 shield points. Since it is a large amount restored, it is best microed on other friendly Cap ships.

EMP Charge ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100 / 90 / 80
Cooldown time: 50 / 45 / 40
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: 4500
Area radius: 2500 / 3000 / 3500
Max targets: infinite
Effect(s):
Damage: 150 / 300 / 450 (1.18/1.04E Buff/Fix) 360 degree firing arch
Antimatter removal: 50 / 100 / 150
“Destabilization Charge” or “EMP Blast”. Targeted Area of effect. Remove some (150/300/450) shield and some (50/100/150) antimatter from affected hostiles. This side shooter no longer has to turn to fire this ability at target.

Notes: Damages shields (then hull), and drains, ALL enemy ships and structures around the selected target, within an increasing range (in increasing amounts). Unlike the Detonate Antimatter ability from the Advent Radiance Battleship, the enemy targets do not need to have an antimatter pool, so the EMP will still damage them. Best used to both damage and drain the antimatter of support cruisers and capital ships.

Magnetize ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 80
Cooldown time: 15
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure, enemy strikecraft
Range: 5000
Area radius: 5000 / 6000 / 7000
Max targets: 1 (frigate, capital ship or structure), 8 / 12 / 16 (strikecraft)
Duration: 10 / 12.5 / 15, or 8 / 12 / 16 strikecraft killed
Effect(s):
Disable abilities

Interrupt (1.18/1.04E added buff)
Strikecraft collision damage: 25
Disable enemy abilities; temp. cause target to attract strikecraft to collide with target. The target cannot use abilities, and any nearby strike craft will be magnetically attracted to the target and, time permitting, collide with it.
Notes: Use on an enemy ship or structure with nearby enemy strikecraft to disable the target and thin out the enemy fighters. Poetic justice when used against carriers, and interesting ability to see in action as the strikecraft get sucked onto the target.

Flux Field (ultimate ability) *****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 125
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: friendly ships and structures with antimatter pool
Range: self
Area radius: 4000
Duration: 60 or until out of range
Pulse interval: 2
Effect(s):
Ability antimatter cost reduction (non-ultimate): 300% (can also be classified as offensive)
Temp. reduce antimatter cost of abilities for nearby friendlies.
Notes: Greatly cheapens the antimatter cost of using abilities, so use it before throwing out other abilities from nearby ships. Antimatter cost is reduced to 25%, or one-quarter of original cost. Great if used in combination with short cooldown type abilities. But it doesn’t reduce level 6 (ultimate ability) antimatter cost.

Marza Dreadnought   *****

Radiation Bomb ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 85
Cooldown time: 12
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure (initial damage), enemy frigates, capital ships and structures (radiation)
Range: 6000
Area radius: 1200 (radiation)
Max targets: 1 (initial damage)
infinite (radiation)
Duration: 20
Pulse interval: 2.5 (radiation damage)
Effect(s):
Initial damage: 125 / 250 / 375
Radiation damage rate: 7 / 14 / 21
Radiation damage duration: 5
(Targeted Area of Effect). Deals damage with follow-up damage to all hostiles affected. Deals 125/250/375 instant damage to the target, and then 7/14/21 damage/s to the target and all nearby ships, for a short period.
Notes: It's difficult to figure out what this power does from the stats, so here's a walkthrough: Radiation Bomb does straight damage to a targeted enemy ship or structure. That target is then considered irradiated, and any enemy ships and structures within 1200 of the target take radiation damage until they either move out of range or the radiation on the target expires. As with other abilities with area effects, this is best used against tight clumps of enemies and also against stronger targets that survive long enough to fully spread the radiation damage.

Raze Planet    (1.1 Fix)   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90 / 80 / 70
Cooldown time: 40 / 45 / 50
Affects: enemy planet
Range: 5000
Effect(s):
Shots fired: 2 / 4 / 6
Damage per shot: 80
Population killed per shot: 10
Direct damage to target planet. Deals 80 damage to a planet, and kills 10 population per shot (2/4/6 shots per level). So total planet damage is 160/320/480, and 20/40/60 population killed.
Notes: Fire off, damage planet. The in-game info doesn't really represent the effectiveness of this ability, as it doesn't mention that you get multiple damaging shots per use.

Incendiary Shells   ***

Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: own autocannon/missile attacks
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Incendiary damage rate: 3.0 / 4.5 / 6.0
Incendiary damage duration: 15
(Passive) Chance for this ship's autocannons and missiles to leave additional damage for 15 seconds. Effectively adds 3/4.5/6 damage to all of the Marza's weapons.

Notes: Since this ability doesn't stack, further hits on the same target with your weapons just reset the damage duration.

Missile Barrage (ultimate ability) (1.1 fix)   *****'
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 240
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 10000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 25
Interruptible
Channeling
Effect(s):
Missile salvos: 20 25    (1.17 Nerf)
Salvo interval: 1.25
Damage per salvo: 150 120   (1.17 Nerf)
(Total Potential Damage: 120X25=3000! Each!)
Fire missiles at all hostiles in target area. Launches a huge flight of missiles to deal 120 damage, 25 times (or 3,000 damage before mitigation), to ALL enemies in the area. A very destructive ability.
Notes: The important thing to note about this ability is that it's channeling, so it will stop if you give the Marza other commands while it's firing, and that it takes a long time to finish. Turn off auto-everything when using this lest your capital ship decide it's a good time to, say, auto-attack a scout in the middle of your barrage. Again, the in-game info doesn't really describe what this ability does. Namely, while it's firing, the Marza shoots missiles at every target within range, each of which does 120 damage. If uninterrupted, the Marza will shoot 25 multiple-target missile salvos over 30 seconds. Obviously, this is best used against clusters of enemy targets around the Marza. Given that the Marza can't really move while firing, an enemy can move their ships out of range (or just interrupt the ability), but enemy structures within range and ships that don't notice the copious number of explosives spewing out of the Marza are fair game.

Note: This ability is fixed in 1.1 and is much more potent. Nerfed slighly in 1.17, and made more noticeable.

Advent

____________________________________________________________________

Radiance Battleship   ****

Detonate Antimatter   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 60
Cooldown time: 20
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure with antimatter pool
Range: 4500
Duration: 12 / 15 / 18
Effect(s):
Interrupt
Disable abilities
Damage rate: 16.67 / 26.67 / 33.33
Antimatter drain rate: 10
Temp. disable target's (not strikecraft) abilities, drain antimatter, and damage target. Deals 200/400/600 damage over 12/15/18 seconds, also interrupting and rendering antimatter-based abilities useless. Drains a total of 120/150/180 antimatter.
Notes: Damage bypasses shields. Both damages and drains an enemy target over time, so this is best used against larger targets so the ability can run for the full duration, although pesky support ships are also a valid target. Also can interrupt other enemy ship abilities, quite a nice ability for a frontline capital ship.

Animosity   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 65
Cooldown time: 35
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 3000 / 4000 / 5000
Max targets: 6 / 12 / infinite   32 (1.1 Nerf)
Duration: 20
Effect(s):
Enemies forced to attack self
Force nearby hostiles to attack this ship. Enemy ships within radius shift their attacks to the Radiance (itself) for 20 seconds.
Notes: Occupy nearby enemy attention while the rest of your fleet hits them. Not the best power to use if your Radiance is heavily damaged (although at that point your enemy's probably focusing their attacks on you anyway). Make sure every enemy you want to affect is within range before using this, as it doesn't affect any enemies that wander within range after activation.

Energy Absorptive Armor   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: self
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Damage converted to antimatter: 5% / 10% / 15%
Armor increase: 1.0 / 2.0 / 3.0
(Passive) Gain Antimatter from damage received, increase Armor. Converts 5/10/15% of energy-based damage to antimatter, adds 1/2/3 armor.

Cleansing Brilliance (ultimate ability) *****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 75 120 (1.1 Nerf)
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: 8000
Beam radius: 1000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 2 (charging), 8 (activated)
Interruptible
Channeling
Effect(s):
Damage rate: 250/s

(Total Potential Damage: 250X8=2000! Each!)
Fire Beam Cannon at target (not strikecraft), also deals (1000? or 2000) damage to any hostiles in-between.

Notes: Unlike most abilities that affect multiple targets, Cleansing Brilliance is in the form of a beam that damages anything in its path from the capital ship to the target. Thus, you want to aim at a target in the back of a group to maximize the number of targets. This combos well with Malice from the Progenitor Mothership, which multiplies the area effect damage for all targets with Malice caught in the beam's blast, although with the shortening of Malice's duration in 1.05, you'll need to cast them at the same time to get the most effect. Cleansing Brilliance is a channeling ability, so don't twiddle with your ship after telling it to fire. The damage rate is 250 per second, after all, so you definitely don't want to break out of firing early.

Halycon Carrier   *****

Telekinetic Push   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90
Cooldown time: 10
Affects: enemy strikecraft
Range: self
Area radius: 4200
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 15
Effect(s):
Pushs strikecraft away from self
Damage: 20 / 30 / 40
Max speed reduction: 25% / 50% / 75%
Thrust reduction: 25% / 50% / 75%
Push away, slow, and damage nearby hostile strikecraft. Pushes away nearby enemy strike craft, dealing some (20/30/40) damage to them and reducing their speed and acceleration.
Notes: Outside of Anima Tempest, this is the only ability the Halycon has that actually uses antimatter.

Adept Drone Anima   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: own strikecraft
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Extra strikecraft per squadron: squadron: 1 / 2 / 3   (1.04E only buff)
(Passive Aura) Increases the number of squads for this Carrier. Each upgrade increases the number of Halcyon's squadrons by one. So it is possible to have 4 squads at level 1, 6 at 3, 8 at 5, and so forth (9/6, 10/8, 11/10).

Amplify Energy Aura   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: friendly frigates, capital ships and structures with energy weapons
Range: self
Area radius: 8000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: permanent (self)
until out of range (others)
Pulse interval: 2.5
Effect(s):
Energy weapon cooldown reduction: 7.5% / 15.0% / 22.5%
(Passive Aura) Increase friendlies' energy weapon rate of fire. Reduces the cooldown time of your fleets' energy weapons by 7.5/15/22.5%. Altho a small cooldown reduction, it affects all in a relatively large area.
Notes: Every weapon in the Advent arsenal is an energy weapon, so this is effectively a blanket weapon cooldown for any ships near the Halycon.

Anima Tempest (ultimate ability)   ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Effect(s):
Creates 30 strikecraft  60 strikecraft   (1.04E only buff)
Note: will divide strikecraft evenly between existing squads or create one squad of 30 bombers if no squads exist
Lifetime: 75

All of its strickecraft gain a 25% increased chance to dodge for 75 seconds. (1.04E only added buff)

Temp. release strikecraft swarm. Instantly spawns a group of 60 strikecraft lasting for 75 seconds.
Notes: As if you didn't have enough strikecraft in space... The 60 extra strikecraft are split amongst your existing squads, so the ratio of fighters to bombers you get is dependent on the ratio you are already fielding.

Progenitor Mothership   *****

Colonize   *****'
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90
Cooldown time: 120 / 90 / 60
Affects: colonizable planet
Range: 5000
Duration: permanent (colonize), 360/360/600   360/480/600 (planet upgrade cost reduction)   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Effect(s):
Colonize planet
Planet upgrade cost reduction: 20% / 40% / 60%     15% / 30% / 45%   (1.18/1.04E nerf)
Note: there's a short delay before the cost reduction kicks in! (Delay removed in Entrenchment).
Colonize target planet and temp. reduce planet development cost by 15%/30%/45% (kicks in after 30 seconds). This ability alone can give the Advent an economic advantage over other races.

Notes: The cost reduction is perhaps the best of the capital ship colonize abilities, and well worth waiting for, as there's a short delay after colonization before the reduction appears.

Malice   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 50
Cooldown time: 10
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: 8000
Area radius: 3000
Max targets: 8 / 16 / 24
Duration: 10
Stackable
Effect(s):
Damage propagation: 30%
Affects: other enemy frigates, capital ships, and structures affected by Malice
Area radius: 5000
Max targets: 8 / 16 / 24
“Spreads Weapon Damage”. (Targeted Area of Effect) For hostiles affected, all share % of damage taken. Deals 30% of the damage to 8/16/24 enemies within range when one is attacked.
Notes: This power has substantially changed as of 1.05. Malice now gives a straight 30% damage propagation to other targets, but the max targets are restricted. Furthermore, the damage isn't immediately applied. Rather, any damage taken by those affected by Malice is queued up, and after the buff elapses 10 seconds later, 30% of that damage is distributed to other Malice'd targets around each target. The antimatter cost and cooldown is now quite low, allow you to constantly throw Malice out with sufficient antimatter, but the target restrictions means Malice no longer can combo with Cleansing Brilliance to wipe out entire armies in one blast, although using both still works well to multiply area damage to a smaller set of targets.

Shield Regeneration    *****'
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100
Cooldown time: 20
Affects: friendly frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 3000 / 3500 / 4000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 8
Interruptible
Channeling
Effect(s):
Shield regeneration rate: 37.5 / 50.0 / 62.5
Temp. increase shield regen rate for nearby friendlies. The target regenerates 37.5/50/62.5 shields/s for 8 seconds. Total potential shield regeneration is 300/400/500 for each ship!
Notes: Turn it on, and all friendlies around the Mothership start regenerating their shields. One of the few non-ultimate abilities that channels, so be aware that you shouldn't give the Mothership any other orders while this is on.

Resurrection (ultimate ability)   ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 100
Cooldown time: 120
Affects: other friendly capital ship
Range: 5000
Effect(s):
Transfer destroyed friendly capital ship level
Transfer dead Cap ship level to another ship. If you’ve lost a high-level capital ship, this will “resurrect” its level to new capital ship, boosting its level to that of the deceased. Remembers the level from anywhere for a newly build ship.

Notes: As you might imagine, this is useless until you've had a capital ship go down.

Rapture Battlecruiser ***

Vertigo ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75
Cooldown time: 20
Affects: enemy frigates and strikecraft
Range: 4500
Area radius: 2000 / 2500 / 3000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 25
Effect(s):
Weapon cooldown increase: 10% / 20% / 30%
Accuracy reduction: 10% / 20% / 30%
“Ship cripple”. Temp increase target frigate's ability cooldown time and reduce target frigate's hit%. Increases the targeted enemy frigate or strike craft's weapon cooldown by 10/20/30%, and also reduces that enemy’s accuracy by 10/20/30%.

Vengeance   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75 70    (1.1 Buff)
Cooldown time: 30 / 35 / 45
Affects: friendly frigate, capital ship or structure
Range: 6000
Duration: 20 / 30 / 40
Effect(s):
Damage retaliation: 40% / 80% / 120% 65% / 130% / 200%    (1.1 Buff)
Target friendly temp. re-deals damage to every ship that attacks it. When enemies attack the targeted ship or structure, the Rapture will deal a portion of that damage back to the target.

Notes: Put this on a friendly taking fire and watch the attackers crumble. At the higher levels this actually reflects more damage back to the attacker than they dished out. Best used on something that can survive long enough for the duration to be effective, plus something that's of course being fired on in the first place (possibly use the Radiance’s Animosity to draw fire).

Concentration Aura ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75 none/passive aura
Cooldown time: 30 / 35 / 45 none/passive aura
Affects: friendly frigates, capital ships and structures with strikecraft
Range: self
Area radius: 8000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: permanent (self), until out or range (others)
Pulse interval: 2.5
Effect(s):
Strikecraft damage increase: 10% / 20% / 30%
“Battle Mediation”. (Passive Aura) Nearby friendlies do extra damage. Increases the damage of strike craft by 10/20/30% owned by nearby friendlies.

Notes: This doesn't actually affect strikecraft directly. Rather, the effect targets friendly carriers and hangars, which then pass on the damage bonus to their linked strikecraft. You could be huddled with a bunch of Aeria Drone Hosts in a corner and their strikecraft would still be doing more damage. As you might expect, this doesn't do much if you're not fielding any strikecraft, and the Rapture itself only fields a few.

Domination (ultimate ability) ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 90 60 (1.1 Buff)
Affects: enemy frigate
Range: 6000
Duration: 10
Effect(s):
Gain control
Mind Control target frigate. Permanently converts the targeted frigate to your empire.

Notes: Best used on the nastiest enemy frigate you can find, with heavy cruisers making juicy targets. Also useful for taking over annoying support cruisers and turning their abilities against their owner.

Revelation Battlecruiser ***

Reverie ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75 / 75 / 50
Cooldown time: 15
Affects: enemy frigate or capital ship
Range: 8000
Duration: 20 / 30 / 40, or 200 / 300 / 400 damage taken by target
Effect(s):
Interrupt
Disable abilities
Disable construction
Disable Phase Jump
Disable ship engines
Disable regeneration
Disable weapons
“Black Out”. Disable target ship until time expires (20/30/40 seconds) or enough damage done to it. Completely disables the target. However, those affected may awaken if they take too much damage.

Notes: While this can't target a structure like Ion Bolt from the TEC Akkan Battlecruiser can, in most respects this is a better ability, costing less antimatter and lasting longer, although the damage limit means the ability will quickly drop if you're trying to focus fire the target. Very effective if you use it more as a way to take a particular ship out of the battle for a long period of time while you clear out other enemies. Interrupts enemy (and friendly) abilities.

Guidance ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75
Cooldown time: 20
Affects: other friendly frigate or capital ship with antimatter pool
Range: 6000
Duration: 15 / 30 / 45
Effect(s):
Ability cooldown rate reduction: 40% (1.04E only fix)
Reduce nearby friendlies' cooldowns. Reduces the target's ability cooldown by 40% for 15/30/45 seconds. Or increases rate of fire by 1.67 times. Cannot be self, must have antimatter. Fixed to autocast when needed.

Clairvoyance   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 80 / 70 / 60    70 / 60 / 50   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Cooldown time: 20 / 15 / 10   15 / 15 / 15 (1.18/1.04E buff)
Affects: planet
Range: infinite
Duration: 50 / 100 / 150       90 / 120 / 150   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Stackable
Effect(s):
Planetary remote sensor
“Far Sight”. Temp. view target planet system, infinite range. View any planet of your choice.

Notes: Great scouting tool, as it has unlimited range (assuming you know a planet even exists). While the effect lasts (90/120/150 seconds), you'll have real-time knowledge about the target planet.

Provoke Hysteria (ultimate ability) ****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: enemy planet
Range: 5000
Duration: 5 (charging), 40 (activated)
Interruptible
Channeling
Effect(s):
Damage rate: 1%/s
Population kill rate: 0.75%/s
“Planet Mania”. Health and Population DoT against target planet. If uninterrupted for the full 45 seconds, reduces planet health by 40% and population by 30%. Takes 3 shots of -40% to kill any planet (7.25 minutes).
Notes: Unlike the other planet-killer abilities, this one does damage based on a percentage of the planet's max, so it's more effective against fully developed, heavily populated planets compared to, say, asteroids. Again, be careful not to interrupt this channeling ability. Interesting special graphic & sound effects.

Vasari

___________________________________________________________________

Kortul Devastator   ****

Power Surge   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 60
Cooldown time: 30 / 35 / 40
Affects: self
Duration: 20 / 25 / 30
Effect(s):
Weapons cooldown reduction: 25% / 50% / 75%
Shield regeneration rate: 0.75 / 1.50 / 2.25      25 / 35 / 45     (1.18/1.04E buff)
Temp increases this ship's fire/shield regen rate. Reduces the Kortul's weapon cooldown by 25/50/75%, and its shields regenerate by 25/35/45 shield points per second, both for increasing durations (20/25/30). Therefore total shield restored is 500/875/1350. Effectively boosts weapon damage all of the time (to 125%/150%/175%), except for a 10 second remaining cool down at each level.

Jam Weapons   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75 70   (1.1 Buff)
Cooldown time: 15    40/35/30   (1.04E only nerf)
Affects: enemy strikecraft
Range: self
Area radius: 3500/4500/5500   3500/5000/7000 (1.1 Buff)   4500/5500/6500 (1.04E only buff)
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 15 / 25 / 35    30  (1.1 Buff)    20 (1.04E only buff) on all that move into range
Effect(s):
Disable weapons
Temp disable nearby hostile strikecrafts' weapons. All strike craft that move into an increasing range cannot fire their weapons for 20 seconds.
Notes: Only disables the strikecraft weapons rather than outright destroying them. On the other hand, the area is quite large, and the duration is decently long.

Disruptive Strikes   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: own wave/beam attacks against enemies with antimatter pools
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Chance: 35%    25%  (1.18/10.4E Nerf)
Antimatter removal: 8 / 12 / 16   10 /20 /30 (1.1 Buff)      12 /24 /36   (1.18/10.4E Buff)
Ability cooldown increase: 10%/20%/30%     15%/30%/45% (1.1 Buff)   16.7%/33.3%/50% (1.18/10.4E Buff)
Disruption duration: 10    15   (1.1 Buff)
Interrupt     (1.18/10.4E Added Buff)
Passive buff: 25% chance to temp increase target's cooldowns and remove antimatter when this ship damages it. This ship's energy weapons can increase their target's ability cooldown by 16.7/33.3/50% and decrease the target's antimatter stores by 12/24/36. Now also acts as an interrupt.
Notes: Nice permanent self-buff, that's free to use (no antimatter cost).

Volatile Nanites (ultimate ability)   ****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: 6000
Area radius: 2000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 60
Stackable
Effect(s):
Incoming damage increase: 30%
Damage to enemies on death: 150
Damage on death area radius: 1000
Temp increase damage nearby hostiles take and cause them to do damage to others on death. Targets suffer 30% more damage and deals 150 splash damage upon death.
Notes: This ability has two effects: one, it increases damage done to affected targets; and two, any of those targets that blow up cause damage to nearby enemy ships and structures. While the damage increase is nice against anything, this is most effective against groups of lighter targets that you can quickly destroy, to take the greatest advantage of the death damage.

Skirantra Carrier   *****

Repair Cloud   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100 / 90 / 80
Cooldown time: 12
Affects: friendly frigates, capital ships, strikecraft and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 3000 / 3500 / 4000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 10
Effect(s):
Hull repair rate: 20 / 25 / 30
(“Nano Hull Repair”) Repair nearby friendlies' hull points over time. All nearby vessels heal at 20/25/30 hull/s for 10 seconds (200/250/300 total).
Notes: Repair Cloud is an instant-use ability, so all friendlies you want to repair will need to be in range the moment you use it.

Scramble Bombers   *****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100 / 75 / 50    80/65/50  (1.1 Buff)    50/40/30  (1.18/10.4E Buff)   50/50/50 (1.19 Buff)
Cooldown time: 60 / 60 / 60    60/50/40   (1.1 Buff)    40/30/20  (1.18/10.4E Buff) 35/35/35 (1.19 Buff)
Effect(s):
Creates bomber squadron    Now spawns 1/2/3 squad per use instead of just 1 (1.19 Buff)
Lifetime: 120
“Spawn Squad”. Temp. deploy extra squadron of bombers for a short period of time.  Deploys an additional bomber squadron for 2 minutes, at level 1. 2 squads per activation at level 2, and 3 at 3.
Notes: As you might expect, extra bomber squadron appears when you use this. The bomber squadron is no different than any other. The benefit to increasing the level of this ability is the lower antimatter cost, and shorter cooldown time. Meaning, antimatter permitting: up to 3.43 extra bomber squads at level 1 (120/35), then 6.85 squads (120/35 x 2), and as many as 10.29 extra squads, as early as level 5 (120/35 x 3).

Microphasing Aura   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: friendly strikecraft
Range: self
Area radius: 8000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: until out of range
Pulse interval: 4 / 4 / 3
Effect(s):
Chance: 20% / 30% / 30%
Teleportation range: 750
Invulnerable
Teleportation duration: 1
“Fighter Blink”. (Passive Aura) Nearby friendly strikecraft have chance of teleporting out of attacks, or teleporting into better attack position. Renders nearby strike craft invulnerable during teleportation.
Notes: A rather bizarre ability, this permanent aura gives any friendly strikecraft within range a small chance to teleport 750 towards their target. During the second-long teleport, the strikecraft is immune to damage. This is the only ability where upgrading affects the pulse interval; normally, you only get a chance to teleport every 4 seconds, but when fully upgraded, you get a check every 3 seconds.

Replicate Forces (ultimate ability)   ***
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 125
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: own frigate
Range: 6000
Effect(s):
Creates three copies of frigate
Lifetime: 150
“Clone Frigates”. Produce 3 copies of target owned frigate. Instantly produces 3 fully functional copies of the targeted allied frigate, which remain for 150 seconds (2.5 minutes).
Notes: This ability is only as good as your surrounding fleet. Much better to copy a heavy cruiser rather than a scout, right? Also flexible enough to copy support cruisers for instant-use abilities, although the clones only come with half of their antimatter pool to start. The Bombardment Platform is also a valid target if you need to speed up your planet bombing and your Skirantra is hanging around a Vulkoras Devastator. Siege frigates will do in a pinch.

Jarrasul Evacuator   *****

Colonize   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90
Cooldown time: 120 / 90 / 60
Affects: colonizable planet
Range: 5000
Duration: permanent (colonize planet), 240 / 480 / 720 (structure build time reduction)
Effect(s):
Colonize planet
Structure build time reduction: 20%
Colonize target planet, and temp. reduce Structure build time by 20%, with longer duration at higher ability levels (kicks in after 30 seconds).
Notes: The small (-20%) buid time reduction is of dubious value. The duration goes from 4 minutes to 12 minutes with a full upgrade. Remember, you need to wait a bit before the bonus kicks in after colonization.

Gravity Warhead   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100
Cooldown time: 25
Affects: enemy frigates and capital ships
Range: 6000
Area radius: 3000 / 3500 / 4000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 12 / 15 / 18
Effect(s):
Max speed reduction: 30% / 45% / 60%
Thrust reduction: 60% / 80% / 120%
Disable Phase Jump
Temp. slow target ship and prevent it from phase jumping. Has an AOE, and “gravity” affects all those around it. The target ship suffers a 30% speed penalty and a 60% acceleration penalty, and in addition, the target's phase jump drive is disabled for 12/15/18 seconds.
Notes: Mainly useful to prevent enemies from fleeing a system so you can finish mopping them up.

Nano-Disassembler   *****'
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 75
Cooldown time: 12
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure
Range: 6000
Duration:   20 / 30 / 40       25 / 35 / 45   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Effect(s):
Damage rate: 30   25   (1.18/1.04E nerf)
Armor reduction: 2.0 / 4.0 / 6.0     1.5 / 3.0 / 4.5     (1.18/1.04E nerf)
(Total Potential Damage: 30X(20/30/40)=600/900/1200   25X(25/35/45)= 625/875/1125   bypasses Shields!)
Temp. reduce target's armor, inflict direct damage on hull. The target ship's armor is decreased by 1.5/3/4.5, and takes 25 ‘pure’ damage/s for either 25/35/45 seconds.
Notes: Best used against a hard-to-crack target that you can then focus fire. While the damage rate stays the same, the higher armor reduction and longer duration at higher levels makes the overall damage higher. Damage is applied directly to hull, without being reduced by shields or shield mitigation, making it more effective.

Drain Planet (ultimate ability)   *****'
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 180
Affects: enemy planet
Range: 6600
Duration: 5 (charging), 30 (activated)
Interruptible
Channeling
Effect(s):
Damage rate: 45
Population kill rate: 2
Resource rate: 15
“Resource Drain” Deal damage and steal resources from target planet. The target planet takes 45 damage/s, and the Evacuator siphons 15 resources/s from it for 30 seconds. Meaning a total of: 1,350 planet damage, 60 population killed and 450 of both metal & crystal stolen from the planet, if uninterrupted.
Notes: As with other channeling abilities, ordering your capital ship to do something else breaks this ability's use. The resource theft rate is for both metal and crystal and is a flat rate, rather than depending on how productive the target enemy planet is.

Antorak Marauder   ***

Phase Out Hull   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 60 / 50 / 40
Cooldown time: 5 / 3 / 2
Affects: friendly or enemy frigate, capital ship or structure
Range: 7000
Duration: 6 / 8 / 10
Effect(s):
Damage: 200 or Shield restored: 200   (1.04E only added buff)
Interrupt
Invulnerable
Disable abilities
Disable construction
Disable Phase Jump
Disable ship engines
Disable regeneration
Disable weapons
Phase out (cannot be targeted)
Temp. phase out target friendly or enemy, prevent it from moving, attacking, or taking damage. The targeted enemy is rendered invulnerable, but is completely disabled. Enemies now take 200 damage upon return from phase space, in Entrenchment only. Freindly targets gain 200 shield points upon return (1.04E only).
Notes: This acts differently than Ion Bolt and Reverie because the target is essentially removed from the battle temporarily rather than crippled and vulnerable. With the short cooldown, you can use this to keep multiple enemy ships on the sidelines or to delay the destruction of some of your own ships. Be careful about putting this on auto as you can quickly drain your antimatter due to short cooldown.

Distort Gravity   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 65
Cooldown time: 45
Affects: friendly frigates and capital ships
Range: self
Area radius: 5000
Max targets: infinite
Duration: 30
Effect(s):
Phase Jump Inhibitor immunity
Increased turn rate: 25% / 50% / 75%    (1.18/1.04E added buff)
Max speed increase: 33% / 66% / 100%
Thrust increase: 50% / 75% / 100%
Gravity well range to Phase Jump reduction: 8% / 16% / 24%
“Speed Burst”. Nearby friendlies: temp. immune to phase inhibitors, increased: turn rate, speed, and acceleration. All nearby ships gain a speed and acceleration bonus, a reduction to the radius at which phase jumps are possible, and are rendered immune to the effects of phase jump inhibitors.
Notes: Great for chasing down fleeing enemies, closing on soft targets in the rear of a formation. Or conversely making your own getaway. Or simply making your own travel go faster (for 30 seconds).

Subversion   ***
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100 / 90 / 80   100 / 100 / 100 (1.1 Nerf)
Cooldown time: 50 / 45 / 40   75 / 75 / 75         (1.1 Nerf)
Affects: enemy planet
Range: 5000
Duration: 300 / 450 / 600
Stackable
Effect(s):
Structure build time increase: 15% / 30% / 45%    50%/100%/150% (1.1 Buff)
Ship build time increase: 15% / 30% / 45%        50%/100%/150%    (1.1 Buff)
Planetary remote sensor
Temp. increase ship/structure build time of target planet. The target planet suffers a substantial penalty to ship and structure build time, taking 1.5/2/2.5 times as long to build ships & structures.
Notes: The penalties are no longer modest, the duration is quite long, and the sensor allows you to spy in on the enemy the entire time. You can also stack multiple instances on the same planet to increase the penalties. It has been suggested as a potential rushing strategy.

Stabilize Phase Space (ultimate ability)   ****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 100
Cooldown time: 120
Affects: self
Range: 6600
Duration: 75
Interruptible
Channeling   (1.17 Buff) no longer Channeling (Entrenchment)
Effect(s):
Creates a Phase Stabilizer
The Marauder creates a (unseen) phase gate for 75 seconds. Allows jumps to another distant phase stabilizer.
Notes: Powerful, but you need to be prepared: you need to have Phase Stabilizers built and a fleet ready to send over if you're bringing in reinforcements. Also useful as a way to quickly send a defense force back to any of your planets with a Phase Stabilizer.

Vulkoras Desolator   ****

Phase Missile Swarm   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 90
Cooldown time: 15
Affects: enemy frigates, capital ships and structures
Range: self
Area radius: 5000
Max targets: 3 / 5 / 7
Effect(s):
Damage: 200 / 400 / 600
Fire Missiles at nearby hostiles, except strikecraft. Generates a sizable volley of missiles, dealing 200/400/600 damage to 3/5/7 nearby enemies. Maximum total potential damage is 7X600= 4200, but is reduced by shield mitigation, and spread across many targets. Short cooldown.
Notes: Doesn’t actually shoot phase missile, so damage dealt isn’t improved by researching phase missile shield bypass technology. Remember, don't waste it by being impatient and firing before you get multiple nearby enemies in range (a relatively small 5000 range).

Deploy Siege Platform    (1.1 fix)   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Antimatter cost: 100 35  (1.18/1.04E buff)
Cooldown time: 55  20   (1.18/1.04E buff)
Affects: enemy planet
Range: 2600
Effect(s):
Creates Bombardment Platform (frigate)
Lifetime: 180   65   (1.18/1.04E nerf)
Hull points: 735
Hull repair rate: 1
Armor: 2.0
Armor class: light
Range: 3000
Bombardment damage: 20 / 26 / 32
Population killed: 1.1 / 2.2 / 3.3
Build siege turret near target hostile planet with 735 hull, 2 armor, 20/26/32 bombing damage, depending on ability level for ~1 minutes. Total potential planet damage is quite high, and multiple siege platforms can be deployed.
Notes: The platform itself is a siege-frigate-on-a-stick, although it has no shields, making it more fragile than a real Karrastra Destructor despite its higher hull points. No longer need to deploy extremely close to the planet keep the platform within its range (fixed).

Assault Specialization (1.1 fix)   ****
Level available: 1 / 3 / 5
Affects: own phase missile weapons/bombardment
Duration: permanent
Effect(s):
Phase missile damage to enemy structures: 8.6 / 17.2 / 25.8
Bombing cooldown reduction: 25% / 50% / 100%
“Bonus Module Damage”. (Passive buff) This ship does extra damage against structures and planets. Its bombing damage gains a shorter cooldown. Its phase missiles will deal additional damage to structures. The in-game description says it adds 60/120/180 damage (over 7 seconds, at the abover rates).
Notes: The bonus damage to structures is in addition to the damage the missiles themselves will do.

Disintegration (ultimate ability)   ****
Level available: 6
Antimatter cost: 150
Cooldown time: 120   90   (1.1 buff)
Affects: enemy frigate, capital ship or structure (damage), self (hull repair)
Range: 6000
Duration: 2 (charging), 8 (activated)
Interruptible
Channeling
Effect(s):
Damage rate: 200 150 (direct to hull only)  (1.18/1.04E buff)
Damage rate:   150 (direct to shield only)    (1.18/1.04E added buff)
Depletss Antimatter:   20 per second from the target  (1.18/1.04E added buff)
Nanite hull repair pulses: 6     8       (1.18/1.04E added buff ) see explanation
Repair pulse interval: 1.5
Hull repair per second: 187.5 120  (1.18/1.04E nerf)
Shield restore per second:    120     (1.18/1.04E added buff)
Antimatter restore per second:    15  (1.18/1.04E added buff)
Leech hull points from target hostile. The target takes 300 damage & looses 20 antimatter per pulse, and heals the Vulkoras of 240 damage and restores 15 antimatter per pulse.
Notes: 8 pulses means: 2400 damage and 1920 points of repair, as well as: -160 & +120 antimatter, if Disintegration is uninterrupted.  You need high health (900+ hull) targets to gain the full healing effect, and you may want to wait to use untill the Vulkoras has suffered damage to benefit from full healing effect as well. Damage is direct to hull, bypassing shields, but is reduced by armor. Typical observed damage is around 900 hull damage, with a similar amount against shield. Again, “channeling” means that if you issue new orders, or it automatically starts a new order, the ability will be interrupted, and won’t complete its full effect.

' denotes exceptional (6 star?) abilities

Note, the Cap ships are ordered by Race as:
1. Battleships
2. Carriers
3. Colony Ships
4. Support Ships
5. Planet Killers

April, 2011; I tried to edit the above for 1.2 changes but had so many problems that I gave up. The following is a list of the 1.2 changes to Cap ships. I tested each, and found that none were significant changes, except for the Skirantra Scramble Bombers nerf.

Kol:
- Gauss Blast: Reduced AM cost from 75 to 50/55/60; increased damage from 325/650/975 to 400/725/1050.
- Flak Burst: Range changed from 2400/3000/3600 to 3000/3300/3600.
- Finest Hour: AM regen reduced from 5 to 3; HP regen increased from 10 to 15.
Dunov:
- EMP: Range increased from 4500 to 4500/5000/5500; AM cost changed from 100/90/80 to 90/90/90; cooldown reduced from 50/45/40 to 40/35/30.
- Magnetize: Max affected strikecraft increased from 8/12/16 to 12/20/28.
- Strikecraft destroyed by the Dunov's Magnetize ability now give XP as intended.
Marza:

Incendiary Shells: Stacking limit increased from 1 to 3.
Missile Barrage: Range reduced from 10,000 to 8,000.

Advent Balance

Radiance:
- Animosity: Increased max targets from 8/16/32 to 12/24/36; effect now channels every second over 20 seconds instead of being an instant action so new targets entering the AoE are hit; auto-cast will only activate if 3 or more enemy ships are in range.
- Absorptive Armor: Increased armor bonus from 1/2/3 to 2/4/6.
Rapture:
- Vertigo: Increased range from 4500 to 4500/5000/5500.
Revelation:

Guidance: Now a triggered, caster-based area of effect that affects friendly capital ships, frigates and structures. AM cost is now 90/100/110; range is 8000/8000/8000, cooldown is 50/50/50; buff applied grants 25%/25%/25% boost to ability cooldown rate, duration 20/30/40.
Clairvoyance: Duration increased from 90/120/150 to 90/150/210.

Vasari Balance
- Jarrasul:
  - Colonize: Now grants additional constructor frigates instead of a structure build rate bonus. Gives 1/2/3 constructor frigates for 360/480/600 seconds.
  - Jarrasul capital ship's colonize ability adjusted to avoid crash issue. Thanks to ZombieRus5 on this.
- Skirantra:
  - Scramble Bombers: Reduced expiry time from 120 to 75; reduced cooldown time from 35 to 30.
- Antorak:
  - Distort Gravity: Reduced cooldown from 45 to 40.
- Vulkoras:
  - Phase Missile Swarm: Increased range from 5000 to 6500; increased max targets from 3/5/7 to 4/8/12.
  - Assault Specialization: Increased bonus damage from 60/120/180 to 90/180/270.

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DrazharLn
Veqryn
ArcadiaNemetai
Scott_the_Snow

Thing is, you take the nano 1st and immediately jump into an ice or volcanic well...there are enough nuetral ships in that well, that you will get 200 exp and level up before you even need to use the colonize ability. Then you tech the colonize ability at level 2. An egg with level 1 nano can take out 6-8 small ships easily by itself.

Yep, I do that too sometimes, situationally.

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6/28/09, Updated to version 1.17 changes. Including:

TEC Marza's Missile Barrage was nerfed slightly to deal slightly less damage over a longer period of time, and made graphics more noticeable, allowing afflicted units a greated chance to interupt or run away.

In Entrenchment: the Vasari Antorak Maurader's Stabilize Phase Space ability is no longer channeling. And there is no longer a 30 second delay for some abilities to kick in, like the Advent Progenitor Mothership's Colonize ability.

The complete patch details can be found here: Sins 1.17: https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/354826

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The following is a copy of a good comprehensive roundup by Transitive which was buried in the middle of an older post that didn't get much recognition. I think it is worthwhile repeating. (Note: again, I reordered the ships to match the above order: TEC>Advent>Vasari with Battleships>Carriers>Colonizer>Utility>Seige.

TEC:

Kol

Gauss Gun - pretty good ability, great damage and rate of fire balanced by high antimatter usage

Flak Burst - extremely good ability, best anti-squadron tool available to TEC. especially brutal against Advent squadrons which have more ships but lower hull per ship.

Adaptive Shield - the ability itself is very strong but getting enemies to fire at your Kol in preference to other ships is difficult. this doesn't work as well for "tanking" purposes as it should. I'd like to see some kind "draw their fire" effect added to this similar to the Animosity ability of a Radiance.

Finest Hour - fantastic. i love this ability, its perfectly balanced, fun, flavorful, powerful. great all around

Sova

Missile Battery - sort of like a portable LRM on the spot. not a terrible ability but kinda bland.

Embargo - great ability, the only thing really worthwhile about the Sova

Heavy Fighters - boring and weak. this is the last ability taken whenever i build a Sova.

Rapid Manufacturing - this ability is awful, it basically does nothing unless you've got a Sova parked at one of your manufacturing bases. generally speaking this is stupid, especially since Embargo encourages you to go on offense with the Sova. this ability should be scrapped and replaced with something completely different.

Akkan

Colonize - not as good as the Jarrasul or Mothership colonize abilities. could use a small buff.

Ion Bolt - very good disruption ability, the best ability on the Akkan

Targetting Uplink - hard to judge whether or not this actually does anything that matters. the range boost seems unimportant. the hit% boost is alternately extremely bad or extremely good, depending on circumstances. this makes this ability kinda inconsistent. i don't like this one very much.

Armistice - meh. this doesn't seem to do much in terms of helping you actually win. i'm not that impressed by abilities that make it harder to lose.

Dunov

Shield Restore - I personally dislike this, though some players swear by it. The Dunov can't target itself so it just ends up becoming the target instead of whatever you were trying to save. on the other hand some see this is a great way to save a more important ship (a level 6 Marza, for example) from dying to focus fire. in any case the ability is good enough and doesn't need anything changed.

EMP Charge - a fantastic ability. i love this one. against ships with full shields this has a gigantic damage potential. this is also one of the best antimatter drains in the whole game.

Magnetize Hull - another very good ability. pretty good at destroying squadrons (but not as good as Flak Burst) but its also a very nice interrupt/disable sort of ability to use against enemy cap ships.

Flux Field - this is a great ability in every way. its fun and flavorful and you can do some really powerful things if you combine this with the right ships. amazing with a Kol, you can just spam Gauss cannon shots and Flak Bursts and kill everything near you.

Marza

Radiation Bomb - an average quality direct damage ability. nothing special, but not terrible either.

Raze Planet - extremely good bombing ability. one of my favorite powers in the game.

Incendiary Rounds - an average quality passive ability. modest damage boost but convenient in that you don't need any antimatter to get the extra damage so its good if you're jumping around alot.

Missile Barrage - controversial to say the least. personally i think its grossly overpowered and needs a big nerf. others will disagree with me on this point though. in any case, its EXTREMELY POWERFUL.

Advent

Radiance

Ignite Antimatter - extremely strong ability. best "abilities disabled" power in the game. makes the Radiance a real beast against enemy cap ships.

Animosity - pretty meh except against AI. the issue is that this ability doesn't in its own right grant added durability. you can get Animosity and the Armor passive and then stack it with a healing power (Perserverance or Extend Shields+Shield Restore) to soak up alot of damage, but then if you already had that level of healing power Animosity is kinda redundant.

Energy Absorbing Armor - pretty good passive. even just absorbing some AoE or stray shots will keep the Radiance with enough AM to cast Ignite very frequently. the added durability is just a bonus.

Cleansing Brilliance - an above average "super beam" weapon. a nasty shot to the junk of an enemy capship or starbase and it also causes some bonus damage to anything in the way. its also really cool and flavorful and fun to use. i like this one. still works well with Malice by the way, just not the "instagib entire fleet" level that it used to have.

Halcyon

TK Push - a very strong anti-squadron ability. really helps maintain squadron dominance, fantastic support. also makes it very difficult for your cap ships to get strafed by a big column of bombers. good stuff all around here, sort of combines the best of both Flak Burst (the AoE damage) and Jam Weapons (preventing instakill bomber strafing runs).

Adept Anima Pilots - very bland and weak passive ability, like Heavy Fighters on the Sova. last thing i put points in.

Energy Amplification Aura - this is ridiculously strong. makes all your ships do much more damage but is particularly brutal with Illuminators and Destras.

Anima Tempest - this is actually extremely powerful. can be used to give some nice burst damage on your strafing runs but is even more useful as a way to nearly instantly regenerate the ships in squadrons that have taken alot of damage.

Progenitor Mothership

Colonize - best colonize ability in the game. the only colonize power i ever put more than 1 skill point in. fantastic.

Malice - i like this ability alot. i usually get it later on though since its not actually powerful until you've got a pretty big fleet backing it up. can pump out serious pain if you've got something good to use with it like a bunch of Illuminators or Destras.

Shield Restore - the best ability on the Mothership and the real heart and soul of every Advent "battleball" fleet. this is one of the most powerful abilities in the game. must have material.

Ressurection - the mothership itself is probably the first ship your enemy will try to kill, therefore making this ability almost useless. i'd like to see this changed to a Reincarnate style ability that allows the Mothership itself to come back in some way.

Rapture

Vertigo - pretty good debuff. could use a slightly bigger radius and its a shame it doesn't affect cap ships or starbases, but its generally very good at containing the damage output of LRFs.

Vengeance - kind of a cute combo with Animosity but ultimately this isn't that great. maybe i'm wrong and somebody has gotten REALLY good at using this and can do savage damage with it. myself, i'm not so great with it so i usually skip it and get Vertigo which is easier for me to manage.

Concentration Aura - very strong ability. if you've stocked up on Aeria Drone Hosts then you really owe it to yourself to go get a Rapture for Concentration. big damage boost.

Dominate - this is pretty good. basically one shot kills any enemy frigate, taking it over for your own fleet is just gravy. note that you lose any researched special abilities so there's no point in using this on support cruisers. best targets tend to be Heavy Cruisers and Carriers. its also damn cool. this is how Professor X would fight if he had a space ship.

Revelation

Guidance - helps the Mothership spam more Restore Shields. that pretty much the only thing i ever use this for. i don't actually like this ability very much.

Reverie - this is an average crowd control ability. its really a whole lot like Phase Out Hull. nothing wrong with this ability, its useful, just not tide turning all by itself.

Reveal - i never get this ability. there's nothing wrong with scouts.

Incite Hysteria - this kinda sucks actually. compared to Drain Planet its pathetic, doesn't stack up.

Vasari

Kortul Devastator

Power Surge - a very strong ability that provides a great boost to both offense and defense. great synergy with Disruptive Strikes as well.

Jam Weapons - an average quality anti-strikecraft ability. i typically don't get this until later on because its really only important when very large quantities of squadrons are involved. still, its good at what it does.

Disruptive Strikes - a very good passive ability that makes the Kortul absolutely brutal against other cap ships and support cruisers.

Volatile Nanites - a very good debuff that can result in some serious carnage if you manage to set off a good chain reaction with it. works especially well with other AoE damage abilities such as Charged Missiles. i like this one.

Skirantra Carrier

Repair Cloud - fantastic ability, the main reason I ever get a Skiranta. this is the only ability in the game that can repair squadrons directly. this adds to fleet durability by a huge amount and also helps with squadron superiority.

Scramble Bombers - pretty mediocre. uses too much antimatter. you get more benefit by just bringing an extra Lasurak along with you, why waste your antimatter and skill points on this?

Microphasing Aura - very good squadron support ability. this is particularly great for establishing air superiority, this makes it very easy for your fighters to shoot down enemy squads and very hard for enemy squads to shoot yours down.

Replicate Forces - pretty nice ability. its not particularly powerful but its a nice boost, especially if you've got something good to clone like Skarovas Enforcers. its also fun and flavorful. i like this one.

Jarrasul Evacuator

Colonize - pretty good bonus ability (20% faster structure build rate). the bonus is particularly nice when the first building you build is a Repair Bay or Frigate Factory because there's a fight still going on in the grav well.

Gravity Charge - very good ability for cornering damaged ships with as they try to escape. not very many good uses besides that though, but it makes it very scary to go toe to toe with a Jarrasul since you probably can't get out alive if it goes badly.

Nano-Dissasembler - probably the best single target direct damage ability in the game. absolutely lethal and it scales well with your fleet size due to armor debuff. great ability.

Drain Planet - the best planet bombing ability in the game. indispensable for Vasari on offense, kills planets very fast.

Antorak Marauder

Phase Out Hull - a pretty good crowd control type ability. also interrupts channeling and phase jumps, and can even be used defensively on your own ships. its pretty versatile. not extremely strong though, just versatile and useful.

Subversion - pretty awful. this has an extremely minor effect unless you can somehow manage to get your Antorak into a major production facility of your opponent and then somehow not get killed. the risk:reward ratio on this seems off. compare to similar ability Embargo and it really comes up short.

Distort Gravity - uses too much antimatter. it would be useful but it seems like after just a couple of jumps you can't even power it up anymore. for an ability thats supposed to help get behind enemy lines this can't be used often enough to actually accomplish that task.

Stabilize Phase Space - very impressive ability. lets you fly in reinforcements from anywhere and totally blindside an enemy. would be EVEN BETTER if Distort Gravity worked better and you could get further behind enemy lines.

Vulkoras Desolator

Phase Missile Swarm - above average AoE damage ability. kinda boring but functional.

Siege Platform - a very good planet bombing ability. lets you keep hammering the planet even if your Vulkoras has to do something else for a couple of minutes.

Assault Specialization - a very good passive ability that makes the Vulkoras a champion at destroying orbital structures and blasting planets. the combination of this with Siege Platform makes the Vulkoras the fastest planet killer in the game.

Disintegration - an average quality "super beam" weapon. not quite as good as Cleansing Brilliance, but still a big kick in the teeth to an enemy cap ship or Starbase. its pretty good overall but its nothing special.

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#28 :

A nice quick summary...I like it, thanks Sage.

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SageWon,

Disruptive strikes should get a even lower rating because its broken(it only affects wave cannons, not the flashbeams)

Also, you should mention that reverie(blackout) makes it harder to target/attack the ship under its effect(caused by entity modifier ChanceNotToBeOptimallyTargetted)

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Concentration Aura is passive, so it should not have an antimatter cost, cooldown time, and as far as I know, a pulse interval (the ability works constantly as long as the host ship is within range of this ability).

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Volt_Cruelerz

Join Date 06/2008

+115

@Ovi. Perhaps... As is, it disables whatever cap you aim it at, so I don't see too much problem with it. These ratings are based on what they do rather than what they could do, so if it got fixed, it ought to go up a star...

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Thanks Ovi. Nice catch. I see that this [bug] is also appropriately mentioned in the Beta forum. Hopefully it will get fixed in the next version.

Pawelo also found a bug in the Sova's 2nd & 3rd level Embargo ability, where it no longer stops trade ships.

Thanks again InfiniteVoid. Don't know how I managed to miss that obvious one! I made the corrections to the original post.

Thanks Volt. You made some interesting comments in the "Best Capital Ship" post. N3rull also made some very interesting, albeit melodramatic observations. Later, I may copy some of those summaries here.

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Lately, there has been some really good discussion about Capital Ship Abilities, including "The Best Capital Ship" post, mentioned above.

Two more conversations of interest are:

"The Best Capital Ship Ability Set EVER!!" by Captain Aanderson
"Making Cap abilities viable" by Kitkun, who is also creating an Abilities mod!

The first gives a good presentation of which abilities people think are the best. And the second lists those than need improvement, and gives ideas on how to correct them.

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Heh, I guess you have some updating ahead of you. Probably we'll have to re-evaluate the star ratings across the board. Since most capital ships in the game got buffed, this has raised the bar as to what "average" actually is.

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Ok...lets update this for the latest patch. This is about the only reference that gives you a detailed description of Cap Ship abilities. I dont think the in game descriptions of the Cap ship abilities come close.

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Heh, I guess you have some updating ahead of you.

Ok...lets update this for the latest patch.

Yeah, I will definitely update it. But only after I've had a chance to gain a complete understanding of all of the 1.18/1.04 patch changes.

Probably we'll have to re-evaluate the star ratings across the board. Since most capital ships in the game got buffed, this has raised the bar as to what "average" actually is.

Yep, almost all of the two stars have gravitated towards three stars or better!? Which is awesome. Exactly what was needed. I'm excited about all of the changes. But I still need to get a handle on them. Also, now I can say that I understand some of the old abilities much better, than I did 9 months ago (in Jan. '09). After looking back at the 1.1 changelog, and comparing it to the current 1.18/1.04 changelog, it really hits home how "this patch is definitely the capital ship patch".

Suffice it to say, the ratings as of the moment are still for 1.17/1.03, and I will edit those posts to note that. But eventually, I will upgrade my ratings as well, to reflect the changes. As always, I would appreciate anyone's input on the ratings.

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Going on the following scale
- awesome; top-of-its-class, the stuff dreams are made of
- great; not necessarily the best, but definitely a strong pick
- average; nothing to scoff at, but not going to change the world
- below average; probably not worth your time in most cases
- bugged or useless

Some of my concerns may address previous ratings that I disagree with (for instance, I feel that four stars for "heavy strike craft" is completely inappropriate. Even after the buff it's three stars at best, probably two). If I don't list a proposed star rating, it's because my vote goes for "unchanged".

Kol:
No change; I think your star ratings remain valid. The new GRG is much improved, but it's still in the 3 star range. Until you combo it off with other abilities, it just costs too much antimatter to be effective. The other abilities remain the same as they were.

Sova:
Missile Platforms ***
Heavy Strike Craft ***
I haven't seen enough of the new missile platforms to merit a decision yet, but they certainly are much better. I've often seen a Sova casually deploy three or four of these with the new patch. As a conservative estimate, I'd put it at three stars. Embargo remains a five star ability, easily one of the game's most vicious. Personally I think your original heavy strike craft rating was way over the top; it was a 2 star ability at best before, and the overall improvement has probably put it in the three star range now.

Akkan (****)
Colonize+ *****
After crunching the numbers, I'd say the Akkan has succeeded the Progen as the best colony cap. The Progen remains better if you want to spam a bunch of upgrades on a terran world, but for your average early-game colonizing needs (bare minimums population upgrades and extractors) the Akkan is now king.

Dunov
No Change
I don't see any reason to change the overall star ratings here.

Marza
Radiation Bomb ****
I've never really considered rad bomb a five star skill, and now that everything else has been buffed around it I could easily see bumping it down to three stars.

Radiance
Animosity **
Energy Absorbsion ***
Cleansing Brilliance ****
It's not that the Radiance is any worse than it used to be, it's that everything else is so much better. Still a four star ship overall (detonate antimatter remains awesome), but it's no longer top of its class. The Kortul definitely eclipses it now in the role of disabler.

Halcyon
Telekinetic Push *****
Honestly, I've always considered TK push a five star ability. It's always been a crazy strike craft killer, dealing copious damage (if less than a Kol) and disabling them at the same time. The other abilities retain their current ratings, in my opinion.

Progenitor
Ressurrection ***
Honestly, I'm mulling over whether colonize is now four star, but to date it doesn't seem to have even dented the popularity of the Progen. I think your 2 star rating for ressurrection is inappropriate. Yeah, if you have nothing to ressurrect the ability is patently useless, but if you have a dead level 6 capital ship this ability is crazy. It's not appropriate to talk about the best or worst case scenario. This is a three star ability, possibly four.

Rapture ****
Vertigo ****
Vengeance ****
I personally view the Rapture as one of the game's most underrated capital ships, and vertigo as one of the game's most underrated abilities. Definitely four stars all around.

Revelation
No change
Don't really have much to say here. It remains pretty average.

Kortul *****
Power Surge *****
Disruptive Strikes *****
Volatile Nanites ****
Okay, Power Surge and Disruptive Strikes are now fricken amazing abilities and this capital ship is going to become one of the most feared with the new patch. I'm not quite sold on the new jam weapons. I still think it's the weakest strike-craft control ability, and unfortunately it's easily solved by just moving away from the Kortul. If you stray too close to a Halcyon or Kol, it makes you regret it.

Skirantra ****
Microphasing Aura ***
Microphasing really always has been a three star ability. As for scramble bombers, I think it's still too weak to be seriously considered a three star ability. Unless your enemy literally has no fighter support, these things just get torn apart early game and never build up in considerable numbers, and late game they don't deploy fast enough to have a big impact. So, I think it's two star.

Jerrasul
No Change
Nanos got slapped on the wrist; it's still a poster-boy for a five star ability. This capital ship is still the grim reaper, spitting death sentences at targets with impunity.

Antorak
No Change
Very minor buffs, not enough to increase the (generous) star ratings you gave.

Vulkoras
No Change
Your ratings were somewhat (and in the case of disintegration, exceedingly) generous before. They're now accurate depictions of this capital ship's power.

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Quoting Darvin3,

reply 38

Sova:
Missile Platforms ***
Heavy Strike Craft **
I haven't seen enough of the new missile platforms to merit a decision yet, but they certainly are much better. I've often seen a Sova casually deploy three or four of these with the new patch. As a conservative estimate, I'd put it at three stars. Embargo remains a five star ability, easily one of the game's most vicious. Personally I think your original heavy strike craft rating was way over the top; it was a 2 star ability at best before, and I think it's still two star now.

Heavy SC is an incredible improvement in the recent patch. Not just because of the Armor/Damage increase, but the Sova gets enough squadrons to make it worthwhile. Having several squadrons now makes Heavy SC a much better investment. It's actually worth getting a Sova just for the hard-hitting SC and Missile Batteries.

I mean, shouldn't Heavy SC now get at least a 3?

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Good point, I'll edit that in.

Any other remarks?

Oh, and I should add that I got to use my Kortul in an anti-strike craft role today. Really disappointed. The bombers could easily just stay aruond my Kortul and wait for it to time out to get an attack run in. I had about 30 flaks and a repair bay there, and the Kortul died before the bombers. You wouldn't be able to do that to Kol or Halcyon... you'd lose all your bombers in a heartbeat.

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Quoting Darvin3,

reply 40

Good point, I'll edit that in.

Any other remarks?

I just did some tests with the Sova, and Heavy SC is a good ability and Rapid Manufacturing is now incredible. I did some tests with my Sova with level 2 Heavy SC and four Bombers against a militia HC... The Bombers dropped about all of the target's shield in one strike (About 600 points). And no research was conducted. Also, the Bombers squads never did die against the three Flak Frigates, though a couple individual ships were shot down.

And Rapid Manufacturing might be one of the best level 6 abilities in the game now. Checking the build time for units (With no research), here are some examples. Scouts take 3 seconds to build, LFs and LRFs 5 seconds, Flak 7 seconds, and Carriers 12 seconds. TEC players can build a massive fleet in minutes!

EDIT: And if I'm not mistaken, Rapid Manufacturing also works on allied planets. So a TEC feeder can bring their Sova to one of their allies, feed them an enormous amount of resources, then Rapid Manufacture on their planet to create an enormous fleet.

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Rapid manufacturing kinda presumes you have the money to produce many units at once. More often than not you're producing units a few at a time, not in huge quantities. Until I see it a bit more in practice, I wouldn't give it a rating higher than 3 star.

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Volt_Cruelerz

Join Date 06/2008

+115

Although, if you were switching from economy to military due to a large fleet attacking, it could prove invaluable...

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The best case scenario isn't the one by which a skill should be rated, otherwise ressurrection would easily rate seven stars and we'd be screaming for its overpowered ass to be nerfed. What we need to consider is the average case; what does this ability offer most of the time? I think ressurrection and rapid manufacturing, as far as ultimates go, are average. Their best cases may be godly, but their average case isn't.

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Volt_Cruelerz

Join Date 06/2008

+115

Yes, I certainly agree with you there...

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Pbhead

Join Date 12/2008

+77

well... we need to update the op still somehow... :-/

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Sagewon will hopefully get around to that soon.

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OK, OK. Some of us have to work too. It is tedious editing the message board posts, but I got started.

Currently, TEC has been updated.

I will keep chipping away at it. Some corrections are still needed, including additional observations. But I would appreciate comments on any errors that you note. And I will add more observations on improved abilities later.

For reference: current 1.18/1.04 changelog

Edit: Now, Advent has been updated too.
Edit: Vasari finally updated.
Edit: The ratings (stars) have now been updated too. Thus completed. Please comment if any errors are noted.

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I did some 1v1 LAN testing again. But this time, with bombers chosen, rather than fighters. Thus the results may not be truely representative of typical gameplay, because this is probably not the typical configuration, and rarely will level 1 Cap ships meet in 1v1 battle without other fleet involved. But it did show the power of the new Carrier Caps.

Within each race, the level 1 Carrier Capital ships handily defeated the other level 1 Cap ships. They did so in ALL match ups, with more than 1000 hull left! Except for the notable exception of the level 1 'Egg' with Nano Disassembler. The Skirantra with Scramble Bombers had 'only' about 500 hull remaining after it defeated the 'Egg' in this case.

Carrier Caps now start with 3 squads of strikecraft each, and level up to a maximum of 8. New squads are aquired at every other level, except for back to back at levels 5 and 6. So the new progression goes: 3 squads at level 1,
4 at level 3,
5 at level 5
6 at level 6
7 at level 8
8 at level 10.

The Halcyon with the Adept Drone Anima (ADA) gets 1 extra squad, as soon as levels 1, 3, & 5. So: 4 squads at level 1, 6/3, 8/5, 9/6, 10/8, 11/10.

The Skirantra with Scramble Bombers can deploy a maximum of 3 extra squads at level 1. Up to 4 extra squads at the second upgrade (as early as level 3). And up to 6 extra by level 5! So a maximum of 6 squads at level 1, 8/3, 11/5, 12/6, 13/8, 14/10.

The Sova doesnt get extra squads, but it can deploy multiple missile batteries. Up to 4 at level 1, and progressively more lethal turrets at higher levels.

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No surprise that the carriers won in a bomber-fest. However, if you threw one fighter squad in there it would ruin their day.

I'm still not sold on scramble bombers because of its long cooldown. Seems to me in any real situation if the enemy has some fighters floating around your squads will get shot down faster than you can deploy them.

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