Generally speaking if you want to kill capital ships, the most cost effective way to do it is to build a heavy cruiser/long range frigate combo as specified, and a flak frigate (maybe more vs carriers). Credit for credit, supply for supply, the capital ship simply isn't competitive. I suppose that in terms of metal and crystal, they are more competitve somewhat.

One solution may simply be to just lower the credit and supply cost (to say, 30 supply and perhaps 1,800 credits per ship) and see how that works out. The cost of upgrades should also be halved. Level 1 capital ships are target practice.

I think that there also needs to be a greater buff each time that a capital ship gains a level. Say, each time a capital ship gains a level, maybe +20% on shields, hp, weapons, and armor. It will make level 10 ships terrifying to fight true, but that may add to the game. If it proves too much, the experience to gain a level can be somewhat pushed up.

Nine increases of 20% (that is, 120%*120%*120%*...) would amount to a level 10 capital ship having 5.2 times the hull, shield, and armor of a level 1 in your proposal. You're looking at hull and/or shield figures that have five digits.

Realistically, capital ships are mostly valued for their abilities, rather than direct combat.

well, we could just buff hull/shields/armor, and not dps. theoretically, if a good number could be found, this would create capships that are hard to kill (unlike caps now), but are not game changers because they still don't dish out that much damage. but if they were to last longer, it might just be worth it to buy that next capship upgrade

My take- capitals should VARY in cost/supply requirements. Carriers should have the highest supply cost, closely followed by colonizers; colonizers would have a higher credit cost though (gotta pay them colonists).

The cheapest ships would be the support ships; after that, the siege caps with the battleships occupying the middle ground of cost.

carriers should have the most? as of now, they are arguably the worst class of ships. unless you mean with deceiver's mod, which gives them 11 sc i think

On a realistic basis, carriers might cost more (with material to build strikecraft, training crew to pilot them), but as it stands, carrier capitals aren't a formidable force until their abilities get up to scratch.

Actually, as far as Skirantra goes what you need are antimatter upgrades to fuel continual use of its repair cloud.  This is an awesome support capital to throw into the middle of a fleet, particularly when facing illums which are bound to damage lots of targets.  The Halcyon is another capital ship which is absolutely awesome from the word "go", with telekinetic push and energy amplification it's also a staple to stand in the center of your fleet. 

Sova is really the only lackluster carrier, and even then embargo is definitely one of the game's most powerful abilities.  It's just the only useful one on an otherwise useless capital ship.

The numbers do not compound, so we're actually looking at about 3 times the amount at level 10.

Base of 100% + 20% x 10 = 300%

Capital ships at that level should be valued for both their firepower and abilities to help justify the initial costs of building and maintaining them. A level 10 capital ship will be the center of any battle, more so than before.

Correct.  At level 10, they should be just as if not slightly more efficient at dealing damage than frigates as getting a capital to that high a level is almost impossible.  Sure, the enemy will FF it immediately, but it still ought to be good.

well, with my suggestion, a general buff to carrier caps that need it (like replacing Scramble Bombers with an interrupt), as well as a general buff to Vas caps that are woefully underpowered to their contemporaries (in most cases).

i know the halcyon is good, but i dont think that the skirantra is. it is merely average, IMO. sure, repair cloud is pretty good, but its other abilities offer very little

Meh, a one trick pony isn't bad so long as that one trick is pretty good.  You pick the Skirantra because you want repair cloud, and that ability on its own is worth it.  If you don't want repair cloud, the Skirantra is not the right capital ship for yoru situation.  I agree that it could use some changes to round it out better, but strictly speaking it's not underpowered.

Yeah, it all depends on what you want...a Skirantra is a great ship for when you need repair.

I really don't think Embargo is that great. It's extremely situational ability. I mean, the only time I've seen Embargo being great is on extremely small maps. Otherwise, the Sova's only real purpose is for a feeder trying to disrupt another feeder.

I REALLY wish that the Sova's abilities would be changed so it'd be a general SC support ship. TEC needs something that boosts their lackluster SC.

Perhaps if RC was changed...  What if it was changed so that it healed, say 50/100/150 to SC, 100/300/500 hull to frigates, and 300/500/750 to capitals/structures.  It would not be hard...  Just give it three buffs with each having a target filter so that the capitals receive the larger heal.

Now, if you wonder why, this is a repair cloud.  Capitals are huge.  As such, they have more surface area than frigates and thus would be healed more than their smaller counterparts.  This would also provide more healing to the capitals which you know will be FF'd.

Why are you talking about buffing repair cloud?  It's already a very powerful ability; the problem with the Skirantra is that its OTHER abilities suck.  You don't fix a one trick pony by buffing the thing it already does well and leaving its other features worthless!

Well, at least it would be good one trick pony...  

But you are correct...  Scramble Bombers needs to be wiped...

Sad, but I can't remember the other two abilities on it...

ultimate is replicate forces. let me look up the fourth (first, actually)
aha! microphasing aura

Microphasing aura isn't bad; the problem is that if you micro your SC it interferes with this ability's effect.  If there's a big fighter skirmish going on right overhead the Skirantra, it's actually a very powerful ability.  Otherwise, it's poor at best.  Scramble bombers is useless, replice forces is decent.

ahh yes...  MA is actually pretty good, but RF needs a buff somehow...

Buff the enforcer so it's actually a good unit.  Bingo, RF is now useful because it creates enforcers.

Another possibility is to make it replicate strike craft as well when it targets a carrier.  If you RF on a carrier, you get six empty carriers that need to build up their squads.  It'd be nice if we had the squads (the same kinds as the target) already built for us so carriers were a viable target.

Or, make it so that if you target frigates instead of cruisers you get more bonus units.  I've used RF to create some extra flaks in a pinch before, but it always feels like something of a waste because I know I'm replicating a pretty inexpensive unit.  If we got more frigates to compensate, that would add more utility to it.

If those changes were made, RF would be a pretty solid skill, all without really increasing its strength that much.  Scramble bombers is the one that really needs help.