Hmmm well I play advent quite a bit.  To be honest, compared to the cost of other HC's and their effectiveness, the Destra is quite cheap and pacts quite a punch conisidering it's shields.  However, it's kinda tough to get them earlier in the game.  You are better off just sticking to illums early on in the game, mixed with guardians, since they are on the same research tier.  Destras can become effective later on in the game.  If you are playing the AI, destras could be useful, however on MP, don't bother, just use illums.

dresda

It's a heavy cruiser, and it gets the job done well.  Its special ability isn't that great, and it doesn't share its damage upgrade with any other units, but if you can live with that there's nothing wrong with it.  Certainly late game when you have the time to sink some cash into its damage upgrade it becomes very good, and when fully upgraded it's easily the most dangerous heavy cruiser of them all!

One consideration to make is that against Vasari you should have at least +20% hull point researched, since otherwise nano-disassemblers can kill them on its own.  Easy way to lose quite a few valuable units.

Hells yes.

My basic sector fleet consists of two Radiances and approx 50 destras.

That is the answer to carrier spam or illum spam. When only one of those fleets can take out a novalith cannons or a kol in literally ten seconds, it is definitely beneficial to use destras.

In fact, once they get up into the hundreds, they are near unstoppable.

i'm pretty sure a hundred of anthing can kill anything else.  that's kinda a poor strategy.  if you want to get rid of SC, use lrms and flak

@ Azrak

I've never had a problem. I had a fleet of 125 Destras go up against three Halcyons, five Drone hosts and a couple dozen illums. They got hammered, about 25% casualties to the loss of all but one halcyon and a handful of illums. This was on multiplayer too, against one of my friends who's proficient with this game.

Some people carrier spam, some people scout spam. I prefer heavy frigate spam, with a side of bacon.

Couple dozen meaning in the 50s and higher. I didn't count. I think it was around 60-70, but it might've been slightly lower. It was hugely laggy. I can't check on my recorded games, cause my graphics card asploded.

Even with that many illums the maths is on your side - your friend's fleet was 1/2 your size in slots...

your friend was a noob. 8 guardians with repulse would take out your fleet completely

I second that. You say you had 125 Destras, i.e. as already mentioned 1250 supply. He had 3 caps, 5 hosts and let's say 60 illums. That' 610 supply, not even half your fleet. Plus he lacks repulsion, which I said earlier would leave your Destras at the edge as useless decoration. Obviously you had a better econ or he just didn't bother building more ships, idk, all I'm saying is that your fleet composition was awful. That doesn't mean you can't win against someone who's playing even worse. Just for the fun of it: grab that friend of yours and spend equal amounts on ships, you build Destras, he get's Dronehosts (with bombers). Or let your imba-r0xx0r-fleet of 125 Destras attack him while he has a dozen guardians, 1 mothership, 1 halycon and the rest illums. Always pay heed to spending the same amount of money. You'll see just how easy Destras are to beat. Hell, with guardians present and if he's good enough to keep repulsion up all the time a dozen illums could handle your fleet given some time (a lot of time).

Meh. All my games I play are always large custom maps, with at least five stars and around 50 planets. I like the crusaders, because they're fast and mobile, and I can use them as fast response units.

That's just me.

Oh, and about my friend's fleet, that was a scouting fleet. Later that game (I was talking to my friend last night, and I mentioned that same game because of this post, and he reminded me of something else) I attacked one of his planets with only about 50 Crusaders. I usually send in an attack fleet until the defenses are gne, then send in my siege frigs. That planet had six hanger defenses surrounded by a couple of beam cannons, at least five or six. He had the fully upgraded hanger cap, and all his garrison were bombers. I escaped with thirteen Destras, because halfway into the battle a level 6 halycon jumped in.

I will concede the point that Destras alone will not make a good fighting force. Combine them wth a carrier and a Rapture, along with a few anti-strikecraft frigs, and they pack a punch.

But, lesson learned too late. That was the last game before my graphics card asploded, so no more sins for me for a while.

Cadalan:  OH, so the Destra is soooo powerful they blow up your card!    I better be careful using them.

Quote: "I will concede the point that Destras alone will not make a good fighting force. Combine them wth a carrier and a Rapture, along with a few anti-strikecraft frigs, and they pack a punch.

But, lesson learned too late. That was the last game before my graphics card asploded, so no more sins for me for a while." 

Yeah, this discussion is so horribly old as to be moot.  Heavy cruisers have all received buffing since this thread was made, and the illuminator has been substantially weakened, so the relative standing of the destra within the Advent faction is now vastly elevated.  The introduction of faster speed means it's much easier to reach T5 than it once was, so the unit is more realistic earlier.  It's basically become the bread-and-butter of Advent fleets.

My earlier comment regarding the Jarrasul is also no longer an issue (though hull upgrades versus Vasari is still a very good idea).  The Jarrasul is unlikely to be able to hit level 5 while fleets remain small, so insta-kill nanos against bigger units is almost never seen anymore.  Your bigger threat is the Skirantra, whose wicked bomber forces will scale in power anyways as the Vasari researches phase missile upgrades.

Essentials: Crusaders + Guardians + Fighters (fighters will counter repulse and illums) + (Shield repair and malice)

1.Heavy cruisers are primarily designed to take a beating so as to stay alive long enough for repairing to take place. If you gonna spend a hell of amount of money why don't u purchase guardians as well to take away that 33% of damage done to your ships and a handful of drone host with fighters.

2. A fleet of illums is more than the equivalent of a fleet of 100 light frigates with malice turned on. why? well because the illuminators have side beams so in numbers while u focus fire there tearing your fleet apart firing at every ship they can get an angle on.

3. Solution: A mass of Crusaders needs Guardians and  mother ships in your case packing malice and shield regen, carriers, Halcyon with fighters and push. How u micro the abilities is up to u.  Cost is obviously meaningless to u since u can afford 125 units !  I only add 50, full armor, full shield upgrades with 18 guardians and 3 mother-ships, 2 halcyon , 5 carriers with fighters and i did ok vs a horde of a Javelis fleet.

Malice will take care of your focus firing problem and fighers will take care of u and his illums. Against many illums would i have survived? Dont know but i was bent on surving a beating so i probably wouldnt have lost miserably. (i think i would win  )

Honest truth.. doesn't matter how u see it. advent is lacking something in every fight in this game.

Fleet composition is the key and the guardian is the  key- the most powerful cruiser its class.