Well, Seleuceia and I played a couple games on the latest version.
We had two Vasari vs Advent games and one Advent vs TEC game. The first game was on a random map and really came down to early expansion. The map was basically a giant ring with a connection at the middle through the sun. Our first major conflict was over the last colonizable planet. We'd already starbased one front-line, and we were both struggling to come out one planet ahead on this side.
I found my Kortul was absolutely invaluable here, and I was able to chase down his Progenitor and force it to leave the system. The newly improved battleship was wickedly powerful, and I'd go so far as to say it's now the strongest Vasari capital ship. I brought out a second Kortul with jam weapons and managed to break his hold of that planet. When the dust settled, I controlled 10 planets to his 6 and he wasn't in a position to counter-attack any time soon, which was pretty much game. However, we both agreed that battleships are definitely working now.
The second game was a long drawn out Advent vs TEC. In this battle, we discovered that LRF just weren't useful, especially if LF weren't around in large numbers. The game eventually became one of bombers, fighters, flaks, and heavy cruisers, with a host of capital ships supporting the mix. Eventually he had novaliths while I had mass transcendance and quite a few high level caps. I'd anticipated the novas so most of my planets were starbased and I quickly got enduring devotion operational everywhere. The game ended once I introduced a large bomber force of my own and slaughtered Seleuceia in a fight on open ground.
In this game, we discovered that bombers seemed a bit strong (or perhaps fighters were too weak). We also found that LRF just weren't very effective anymore. As well, capital ships had become incredibly difficult to kill, even with swarms of heavies and bombers on the field (I quite liked this). We bantered a bit, but generally agreed that flaks and bombers are on the strong side, fighters and LRF on the weak side. Heavies and light frigates seem about right. Repulsion worked very well, and I'm quite happy with it. Stilly a potential cap-killer, but unless the guardian is actually blocking their escape route they can easily move around the effect of repulsion now.
The third game was Vasari vs Advent, where I was testing how well he could deal with a Vulkoras rush. It was actually quite an even battle, and it went back and forth. We got confirmation that LRF just weren't doing their job, and swarms of LF were dominating in this close-quarters game. Eventually, Seleuceia charged a starbase he shouldn't have and got his fleet scrapped, but until that point I found his LF were doing a great job of keeping my Vulkoras at bay.
So, here's my thoughts:
1) Capital ship durability seems perfect right now, wouldn't change anything in that regard. LF are keeping them in check early, while late game bombers and heavies aren't overpowering them.
2) LRF appear to be underperforming right now. The problem is that small numbers just get minced by fighters, while large numbers will prompt the enemy to HC or flak-spam which will just roll them. I don't know what to do about this, but it seems we've marginalized this unit.
3) Bombers were outperforming fighters as far as strike craft went. More flak resistant, more firepower, and great staying power. Even matching his bombers 1:1 with fighters and a Halcyon with TK push, I found myself struggling to suppress his massive numbers. When I swapped in some bombers, I won handily. It seems more effective to out-bomber the enemy than to try to counter with fighters.
We discussed this a bit, and agreed to think on it. It seems that the fighter vs bomber balance is too far in favour of the bomber currently. This is probably a very sensative balancing act, but the fighter does need more presence. On the other hand, the LRF are getting chewed up, by fighters, flaks, and heavies in particular.
