Untrue; all capital ships need about the same micromanagement, and very few abilities should ever be left on autocast.
I agree that most abilities should be used manually, but I can't say all capital ships need the same amount of micromanagement...
The Skirantras scramble bombers simply is...you can leave this on autocast and more or less get the full effect...this isn't the only ability...Kortul's Power Surge, Kol's Adaptive Forcefield, Skirantra's Scramble Bombers, Halcyon's Telekinetic Push, Sova's Embargo, Progenitor's Shield Regeneration, all these abilities work well on autocast...I'm not saying manual use isn't better, but autocast works very well...might I note that of these 6 ships, 5 of them were listed in your top 6...
Some abilities however, are often not used on the best target when set on autocast and therefore require micromanagement to be even close to optimal use...these include Radiance's Detonate Antimatter, Jarrasul's Nano Disassembler, Dunov's Magnetize, Rapture's Vengeance, Antorak's Phase Hull, Revelation's Reverie...of these 6 ships, 5 of them were listed in your bottom 7...
Abilities aren't judged just by how powerful they are, but how efficiently they can be used...some abilities simply aren't used to their full potential unless manually controlled....other abilities work pretty well even when left on autocast...Carrier caps are excellent not just because their abilities are good, but because they don't require micromanagement...sure, you could micro embargo, or scramble bombers, or telekinetic push...but your manual control isn't going to be much better...
The less time I spend microing a battle, the more time I have to manage my resources...sure, you can stockpile, then que up frigates, stockpile, que of things, and repeat this cycle, but the more continuous and smoothly you use your resources, the more efficient your empire...really good players who are serious about the game can manage a battle while doing everything else with hotkeys and the empire tree, but even a good player can benefit from having to do less micromanagement...
On normal or slow speed, carrier capital ships are even more powerful and I would never consider anything other than a carrier or colony capital ship. The reason is that carrier cruisers and larger fleets come out later in the game, and this gives a carrier capital ship a lot more punch in the early stages of the game.
If you were to take the typical MP game setup (usually quickstart, 4v4 or 5v5, large or huge single system) and simply put the speed on slow or normal, then yes, I'd agree with you...but I'm not talking about just a change in game speed...
If you reduce the number players, meaning there is more room per player, then colonizing capital ships become more powerful relative to carriers...in addition, rushing no longer becomes a feasible early strategy, weakening the power of carriers even more...also, more expansion combined with slower gamespeed means your flagship will see more combat with militia before you face a real enemy...lvl 5 and lvl 6 potential becomes more relevant, and this is where the non-carrier capital ships become a bit more competitive...you also have a lot longer to scout your enemy and prepare for whatever they are doing...this means that more, shall I say, unique ships become more useful...for example, most everyone would agree a marauder as a first choice is suicide, but on a map with more room, the distort gravity would allow you to rush a core enemy world when normally such would not be a possibility, even with a carrier cap...
Slow/normal games also tend to result in more frigates and less capital ships...at first this may seem like picking the best capital ship is even more important, but what if you combine this with the fact that fewer players means more room and the first skirmishes take place later?...if you were to play a 2v2 or 3v3 on a large or huge single system map, its likely that players are going to have carriers, anti-SC, and maybe even support ships (at least hoskikos) by the time of the first skirmishes, and HCs may follow shortly...the number of strike craft on your cap ship becomes less important, making carrier caps less significant...
I'm not saying these settings make other cap ships better choices than carriers or colonizers...I'm saying that more room and slower game speeds make non-carrier caps more viable (key word being more) than they'd be on typical MP games...
Advent is now gimped; without their illuminator they have a very hard time surviving, and the scout-nerf has crippled their alternate opener leaving them with few options in the early game.
Ditto to that...unless really unlucky, a TEC/Vasari player should be able to wipe out an Advent player every time...illuminators are too little too late, and Halcyons simply aren't as good at rushing as a sova or skirantra...hell, with kanraks and LRMs both much better than illuminators, you're almost better rushing destras and forgetting LRF's entirely...
