[quote]Your first job should be to tech to the long range frigate, and your second job should be to tech to heavy cruiser.[/quote] This is doubly true for the Advent since the Illuminator's unique damage profile leaves them without a true long range frigate. Fortunately, as Advent, if you last that long, you're in good shape. The Destra Crusader, IMO, is the best of the three heavy cruisers in terms of bang for buck.
[quote]So what then, should the Vasari have as their super thing?[/quote] Since mobility is one of their things, then maybe instantaneous travel by Vasari fleets between all colonies? Or maybe the tech would simply grant a free phase stablizer at all colonized worlds. That'd essentially be the same thing.
Gotta disagree with the OP. The TEC is locked into a life and death struggle with the Vasari who invaded the TEC unprovoked. You're not going to get any quarter there. The Advent is on a holy war of revenge against the TEC. You're not going to get any quarter there either.
[quote]The ship I use most rarely is the Dunov, but I like it quite a bit against Advent in particular where the EMP bomb is priceless.[/quote] In the late game, it's almost necessary against a well prepared Vasari opponent. If he has a dozen or so Overseers, he can repair his ships faster than you can damage them. You need EMP charge just as desperately against Vasari as against Advent. Also, the Cobalt gets sabotage reactor which helps in this role as well.
[quote]People say Advent suck, it's not the way i see it.[/quote] I enjoy playing Advent as well, but they have real problems surviving the early game. The 1.04 patch which will make the Illuminator behave more similarly to LRM on its damage curve will help immensely. Personally, I'd like to some minor to moderate buffs for strikecraft and carriers such that a light carrier actually becomes a cost effective weapon. This would give the Advent an avenue that would allow them to
[quote]Played my first multi-star map. Long story short, when I tried too go to another star and take an enemy world to gain a foothold in that system I go that message. How do I get my culture from one star to another? Or is there something I can research as a TEC to let me forcibly colonize anyway?[/quote] Over a short period of time, your capital ships can repel hostile culture. Basically, you have to camp your fleet out near a world to repel hostile culture until you ca
[quote]So, the 25 points of phase missile damage doesn't really apply against heavier ships, just lightly armored craft and strike forces?[/quote] Thats right. There's a chart floating around somewhere that breaks down the damage modifiers in detail. In fact, I think it might be stickied in this forum. Seeing how a sentinel does antiverylight damage, it will be effective against fighters, bombers, siege frigates, and to a somewhat lesser degree, long range frigates. Against ships li
It's hard to tell if Brilliance propagates through Malice. I've found what works best, if I only have 1 Radiance with Brilliance, is to use Malice on the enemy fleet and then launch a conventional attack against enemy ships. Let damage propagation soften them up a bit. Then after a round of Malice, I use another round of Malice and then use Brilliance. If my shot is well placed, the result is usually the near total destruction of the opposing fleet.
I've played a couple of games where the Vasari player rushes directly to RA and researches no military techs. I've seen players have RA up and running by 30 minutes into the game. If you scout him and see him doing it, and you're TEC, you can bull rush and stand a good chance of pounding him early, but if you make even a small mistake and don't stop him cold, game is over. RA is somewhat equivalent to TEC insurgents and Advent Mass Transcendency. However, it's insanely powerful compa
I agree that for siege work, you're better off building the siege capitals than siege frigates. That said, I think maybe you're misreading the cost a little bit. In addition to the 3000/400/250 that a siege cap costs, you gotta figure in the cost of researching the ship slot. But even with that being counted, I still think siege caps are better. With special abilities, they can destroy a planet as quickly or even faster than an equivalent cost and supply in siege frigates. Plus, unlike sieg
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Gotta disagree with the OP. Granted, TEC cap ship abilities are somewhat lack luster compared to Vasari and especially Advent. But the TEC, in return for weaker cap ship abilities, get stronger ships. TEC ships have far more staying power than Vasari or Advent vessels. My suggestion is to use the special abilities to build on that already considerable advantage. I won a game two days ago by doing this. I played a 1v1. Had two capital ships: a Kol BB and a Dunov BC. With the Kol I
[quote]The fleet based artifacts seem to be the most effective IMO.[/quote] I agree. I once found an artifact that was something like +15% or so anti-matter regeneration, which was quite nice.
[quote]also unlike tec, advent/vasari actually get abilities that work extremely well vs mass units and in some combinations can wipe out over 100 cobalts instantly.[/quote] I can attest to that. I've got replays where I was against the AI and pretty much smoked an entire TEC fleet using Malice / Cleansing Brilliance. Use Malice in the opening phase, then let your Destra Crusaders wail on them with damage propagating. Once Malice expires, use it again and then use Cleansing Brillianc
My solution has always been to defend in depth. Don't stake the defense of the empire on just a few chokepoint systems; put at least some defensive works on planets with connections to your main chokepoints. Light defensive works won't stop a determined attack, but they probably will delay it. Usually long enough for you to bring in mobile forces to engage him. Light defenses like this will also discourage raiding with siege frigates and light carriers. Phase jump inhibitors also he
[quote]In short, the Advent are screwed on defense, they're screwed on culture, and they're screwed on offense. It's still doable (I tend to play Advent anyway), but it seems to be inherently starting you farther behind the other players. Which is a shame - they're my favorite race![/quote] Agreed wholeheartedly. And there has to be a re balancing that will get the Advent back into the game. Since the Illuminator already has a strange damage curve, maybe it should be given an armor ty
[quote]Defense Vessels do 15% more damage than Flag Frigates...but I think both of them aren't an optimal counter to LMRs.[/quote] No, they're not optimal. Thats why I don't use just flaks or defense vessels for this work. I think that putting in a few light carriers, plus interceptors from your capital ships, plus flaks makes a good counter.
[quote]There's not really any furiously dexterous CTRL/TAB/hotkey wizardry going on at any time.[/quote] And that's why, IMO, this game is a better RTS even than Starcraft. And keep in mind, I love Starcraft. Still play it. But a player who can memorize ridiculous amounts of hotkeys has a measureable advantage...Sins eliminates that as a game skill and makes tactical management and strategic planning far more important, IMO.
[quote]Most ships shoot out of their front arc. If you move your carriers, you will evade this front arc, saving them from taking damage. At the worst, the enemy will be forced to divide his fire among the ships he can hit. Split up your carriers. Race around the gravity well. Make the enemy take 3 times as long to take them out. This is a MAJOR factor that NONE of these posts have even mentioned yet.[/quote] Thats true, but it requires a lot of micro. I'm already spending most of my a
Also, the size of the map controls to some degree what kind of cap to get first. If it's a small, cramped map there is wisdom in getting a battleship or planet killer first, as these tend to be better in ship to ship combat than the other types. The special abilities of the other types might be more useful once they get leveled up, but on a small map you won't have the opportunity to get there before the shooting starts.
When I play TEC, I usually don't get the colonizer cap first. I really prefer the special abilities of the Dunov to the Akkan. However, as Vasari or Advent I usually do get the colonizing capital first. Especially as Advent. The Progenitor is one of the best cap ships, special abilities-wise, in the entire game. Progenitor + Halcyon + Radiance with Cleansing Brilliance and you can destroy an entire enemy fleet with special abilities if you play it just right. For Vasari, the Evacua
I have observed something related to this issue, and I was hoping someone could confirm it for me. Flak frigates work against LRMs, but they tend to take a while to actually destroy a LRM. Advent Defense Vessels, however, seem to be significantly more effective. I'm not sure if this is because their low cost means you can build more of them easily or if there is something inherently different about them (maybe their firing arcs are more favorable for LRM suppression than flak frigates
For tech research, I usually start with getting volcanic and arctic colonies, then I tech to defense vessels and sometimes illuminators. My early fleet consists of Progenitor, Radiance, Halcyon, and a horde of Disciples and Defense Vessels. I try to get trade ports early as possible, and once that's done, I gun for Destra Crusaders as fast and hard as I can.
[quote]Are you 100% positive on that assertion? Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like each ship was individually produced at a quicker rate.[/quote] What can happen is if you queue in a single ship, and one of the factories starts working on it, then a bit later you queue in a second ship and a second factory starts to work on it. They won't finish at the same time because they didn't start at the same time, but they'll finish pretty close together. Depending on how you queu
I usually split the difference between LRM vs Flak and LRM vs CVLs. I get flaks whether my opponent is using LRM / Assailant or not. Obviously, if he is using LRMs / Assailants then I'll get a lot more than I normally would. Flaks also make good meat shields. Event though light frigates are effective against them, they tend to have enough hit points and shields that even light frigates take some time to destroy them. The one-two combination of interceptors and flak together seems to work no
Good post, Tarl. I feel semi cheap because the last MP game I played was a 3v3 where I was Vasari. My opponents were proving to be a tough nut to crack, so I went full bore for RA while my remaining ally defended. About a half an hour after getting 6 phase gates setup and pumping ships, I landed on my opponents with 70+ Enforcers plus escorts. But I guess it's not the cheapest tactic, either. You just can't let a Vasari opponent on a sizeable map live long enough to get it.
