I've been trying to keep an open mind on reading this. My initial instinct is to say nerf the damn thing, it's ridiculous, but the points about needing it versus superior fleets from other races do make me pause for thought. Dolynick's points, on the other hand, seem to be the most well-reasoned so far.
I've yet to see any convincing breakdowns of why the Marza should have such unconstrained potential when none of the others do. In game, I've seen TEC players do fantastic without the use of it, which makes it all the more convincing that it should be nerfed.
Now:
That combo is CB + Malice before it got nerfed. And as soon as the problem showed up DEVS were quick to reply that they were commign with a fix for this. Since thsi fix people have stoped using the combo even thou it'S still extremly potent and powerfull. Not to mention is much mroe spamable then MB is. Now the reason they moved quickly to nerf it was becaus eit was a game breaking combo. Why? Because their was absolutely no counter possible that could be used to survive or defeat it. When you got hit you were dead everythign was dead. Absolutely no chance. That'S why they nerfed it.
This puzzles me. I agree that MALICE was overpowered in the original version, 30 seconds was just too long (though the pitiful duration and unit cap it has now is just a joke). The combo itself, however, seems far more reasonable than a marza MB.
It requires two capital ships to pull off instead of one, so that requires much more of an investment. Even so, the damage and range is still nowhere near that of a MB. Malice propagates 30% of the damage and Cleansing brilliance is already 1.000 less than a MB. That's 2,000 to the five or so ships that directly get hit, and 600 to those from malice. MB, on the other hand, does 3,000 to every target in range.
How is it much more spammable? You could get 3 marzas to level 6 much easier than you could get 3 radiances to level 6 AND field 3 progenitors beside them.
You say it was uncounterable. This puzzles me further. Why can't you use the exact same tactics against CB + malice as you can against MB? As far as I know, Cleansing Brilliance is channeling and interruptible (see https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/335807 ) so you could use ion bolt, detonate AM, phase out hull, etc. Surviving the damage should be even easier because the opponent needs two caps and it does less damage. Finally, CB is much more noticeable WITHOUT a mod, so you can always run from that too.
I'm not trying to flame, I'm just trying to get a solid answer so I can feel certain in my opinion.
On another note:
If I get the get the bailknight mod, will I still be able to play against people who don't have it? And, where can I get it from?
