(which is to say I hadn't noticed the duration increase from 10s to 10/12/14/16 sec & the fact that absolutely no effect was lost at ranks 2 & 3 as many abilities suffered with the conversion to 4 ranks)

Kind makes me a little peeved.  Of all the abilities that could have recieved substantial buffs during the conversion of capitalship abilities from 3 ranks to 4 stardock chose repair cloud of all things?

What about all the pathetically weak skills no one bothers with? Vengeance? Animosity? Microphasing Aura? Subversion? half of the Kol's kit? 

Heck, The Radiance was already an underused capitalship in trinity and they substantially nerfed the damage on it's only good ability(Detonate antimatter lost a good 10-15 shield piercing DPS at rank 4 as compared to trinity rank 3).  And Stardock decides to buff one of the good abilities on what was already one of the best capitalships in the game.

It was already better, but now Repair cloud makes the progen's Shield regenerate(which is a very strong ability) look kind of pathetic by comparison.  Sure shield regen restores about twice as much per second, but Repair cloud at max rank lasts twice as long, costs 30% less AM per cast, has a 40% lower cooldown, doesn't require a channel, and restores hull(which depending on armor can easily be worth 20-30% more per point then shields, not to mention hull restore helps against shield piercing damage).  In a 20 second period(cooldown of shield regen) Repair cloud repairs more effective damage(after effects of armor are taken into account) for a lower antimatter cost without requiring a channel.

It's just frustrating when there are so many underpowered abilities and capitalships that go more or less ignored by patches besides perhaps a token but meaninglessly small buff.

Anyway done with my little rant now.  Of course we all know Repair cloud is not anywhere near the core of any balance issues for the Vasari.  I'm not even really looking for a nerf- I was just incredulous when I realized of all the options repair cloud got buffed in the 3 rank to 4 rank conversion and his post is probably just me venting my frustration.   I applaud your patience if you've read this far and my apologies for venting like this.