The Advent are overpowered no matter it be SP or MP. The problem is, its more obvious in MP because of the stress the gamers put on the actual factions/units/capabilities. When you face an AI the AI is pretty much set in a pattern that doesnt seem to deviate when the player changes tactics. Nor does the AI think ahead or even properly counter player actions. So its harder to see the Advent being overpowered in SP.

This is not the case in MP where players exploit the slight differences between units and use things like spamming to overcome each other. Instead of building up to a balanced fleet like you would in SP. The MP counter each other with spam against spam until both sides are forced to balance out their fleets in an attempt to outmanuever each other.

The AI doesn't take advantage of everything the advent has to offer and use it to optimum effect so any perceived imbalance is moot against the AI.  Most would say advent is the strongest race but each race has its own advantages, strengths and weaknesses.  The big thing is learning what those are and how best to exploit them.  Playing and learning in multiplayer is the best way to learn what is effective and what is not.  There is something to be said for playing a game or 2 single player though just to learn what abilities are there.

[_]-Greyfox

You know, that's a really subjective call.  It really depends on how much experience with other RTS games you have, how quick a learner you are, and your own expections of the gaming experience.  It's very difficult to jump into multiplayer without taking your lumps.  One way or another you'll be the unknown newbie who everyone is reserved about playing with, and you'll often encounter players who vastly outclass you.  It's just the reality of the situation. 

I think if you know all the units and what they do, and have a general feel for the pacing of the game you can probably give multiplayer a shot.  However, it's up to you to decide when you're ready to make that jump... because very few people pull their punches online. 

This can happen, but a good TEC player shouldn't fold unless there was something else working against him.  My bet is that the hard TEC AI invested all its money in trade ports and prioritized siege frigates as its main combat force.  The Advent AI probably prioritized a disciple swarm and completely slaughtered the TEC which essentially had no defenses. Unfortunately, the AI strategies are not context sensitive, so you may see one build a huge fleet on a multistar map (useless, it can't get to the enemy) and another build trade ports right next to its nearest opponent (also worthless; they'll be destroyed LONG before they even pay for their own cost).

The biggest difference is that AI's do not know how to regroup.  They will get their units slaughtered rather than consolidating back into a single powerful fighting force.  Worse, they don't build repair bays, which means damaged units remain damaged and don't recover.  Perplexingly, they love to build turrets, but then will sally out and fight you outside of turret range, which makes those turrets completely worthless.  All these things together mean that the AI is an atrocious defender and once it starts losing it very rarely can turn things back.

As a counter-example, I made a big screwup in a TEC vs Advent matchup and lost my capital ship while the Advent player advanced on me.  I fell back and even abandoned my homeworld (he had very little bombard capability, so he actually ended up leaving it intact and I reclaimed it later) to get some breathing space, but came back with heavy cruisers and hoshikos and pushed him out and back to our original lines.  An AI would have lost the initial battle and then kept losing its units rather than consolidating and building them up, preventing any chance of a recovery.  A human player like me knows how to give ground, regroup, and then counter-attack to retake the lost ground.  If he gets siege frigates to bombard, he's weakened his combat fleet, if he doesn't he can't exactly take down those planets very quickly.

hmm. ok. ive played starcraft and command and conquer online so i think im about to try my first multiplayer map today.

and you said they play quickstart? another thing im wonderin about..... i saw someone say somethin about "dont encourage advent bias, dont play quickstart" haha. what was that about?

Some people claim that Advent benefits disproportionately from quick-start.  There's no question that it's easier to put up 3 labs near the start of the game and bring out illuminators.  However, in the same breath TEC can do this with hoshikos, which is arguably even more dangerous.  It's also true that quick-start has also made the "2 of each" start viable, a setup that greatly favours TEC and Vasari but not so much Advent.

I argue that Vasari still hasn't lost the advantage of needing only one military lab for assailants.  The thing is, I can get two civic labs and spend my third lab on assailants.  I now have access to ice/volcanics and I have my LRF.  For TEC, you'd need 4 labs and for Advent you'd need 5 to do this.  Yes, Vasari have lost some of their advantage as a result of this, but it hasn't completely disappeared.

The big ticket item is that they've lost their long window of opportunity to claim and hold neutral extractors with their scouts.  It used to be that it would be a LONG time before players could afford to send colony frigates abroad to compete with the Vasari for these resources.

Nothing special, just add hoshikos to an otherwise balanced TEC fleet.  The enemy has to add a lot of disciples to counter this, which means fewer illuminators.  Getting the Advent to cut down on the illuminator presence (especially since you already have hoshikos) means they'll have trouble taking down your capital ships.

Oh, and for the record, scout/disciple with Halcyon is MORE deadly on normal-start.