Quoting Amatiel, reply 6if anything its nearly OP.
1. double SB all ur frontine gravity wells and pack em with mines
2. build massive fleet
3. build ankylon
4. You win either by going afk and waiting for other player to leave in frustration OR u move entire fleet to enemy gravity well and watch it not die, and slowly chew thru everything.
I am sorry, but by the time you have earned that much money your enemey will have wiped you out with 2000 fleet supply... That nots reasonable in a game against a human opponent. It also can be overwhelmed by sheer firepower... yes... it requires lot of it... but in the end it dies. Not to mention that no sane enemy will focus fire on it....
The Ankylon group shield is only usefull on the higher levels. On low levels, it doesnt make much of a difference in any fight.
The Ragnarov is better in most cases....
in early game... the Ragnarov superior firepower will easily eat through the then not so impressive armor of the Ankylon
In medium game, a few supporting ships will compensate for the Ragnarows fragility, allowing it to dish out severe punishment for a long time.
In late game, the Ragnarov is not fragile anymore.... and its concentrated firepower will make short work of your high level capships. Yes, it dies... but is is easier to replace than the 4 level 8 Cap ships you just lost to it.
In support of allies... is where the Ankylon truelly shines. Unfortuatly that is a rather situational strenght.
The deeper issue at hand is that the TR are only slightly less good at defense than the TL.
Defense Tree - Gaus update -> makes the gaus turrets and the Titan better, for the Rebels.
Twin Fortresses is nice... but by the time you have it the game is often already over. Same for hardened defenses and militia.
I dont know about you, but a find a grav well with a ragnarow + support fleet far less inviting than the same grav well with an Ankylon. Why? Because the Ragnarov will cause heavy losses. You attack hit, kill the supporting fleet, then bomb the planet. By the time the Ankylon did any reasonable damage to your fleet, the planet is gone. Same thing done to the ragnarov well and you can forget about bombing that planet. Not to mention the risk that it decides to pay you a visit afterwards.... even unsupported it does hurt like hell. The Ankylon can do the same, but it will need a lot more time.
Ohh, and there is one final thing. The Ragnarov ranks up considerable faster thant he Ankylon.... so under normal circumstances it will easily be 1 or 2 levels ahead of your Ankylon... making it stand no chance at all.
EDIT: The Ragnarov has basically a fleet supporting ability. It kills your valuable high level cap ships and there is not much you can do about that, besides ridicolous ammounts of hoshikos.
You are missing the point of the ankylon.
It is a FLEET SUPPORT ship
The ragnarov is a DIRECT COMBAT ship
OF COURSE the anky will lose to the rag 1v1 (any other titan will aswell hands down)
however, as long as ur not a noob and are micro-managing, if u take a decent fleet with you, and focus that Ragnarov as you should, (or if late game with multiple dunovs kill them first) your fleet will simply outlast it. The ragnarov is simply too frail to withstand much punishment for long without at least 2 dunovs.
Of course the Ragnarov will inflict heavy losses on its own, thats what its for.
The Ankylon will, on the other hand swing any large fleet battle in your favour.
So you dont rush for the ankylon like you do when ur Tec Rebel going for ragnarov, u need a fleet for it to be any good.\
Throw in a decent fleet with that ankylon (kodiaks, cielos with dmg buff, flak and LRF) and its BETTER than the ragnarov hands down any a fleet situation.
Play to your titan's strengths, dont be naieve and expect it to stand toe to toe without support against the titan and capital killing ragnarov, take a well balanced fleet with ur anky, (dont be nub and spam bombers) and crush it when u have that advantage. If u DONT have that advantage, Stay on the defensive using TEC LOYALS excellent defensive abilites and bonus to ur advantage (and repair bays of course) to ensure that any attack against you can be easily repulsed.
i did this last game as first time playing Tec loyals, against a seasoned tec rebel player (which is what i usually play) and it worked beautifully.
dont expect the ankylon to be an instant solo win button
and dont think the ragnarov is over-powered simply because its more combat oriented, it has weaknesses aswell, so be pro and exploit them.