TheRedMaw

As Advent I'm often inclined to get a Radiance, even on the larger maps. It does hamper expansion, and the Radiance actually has a bigger problem with larger militias than the Progenitor Mothership, since it's unable to come in and just keep regenerating it's shields against those nasty multiple Kodiak militias (and against multiple targets the Progenitor can easily just bury itself in the enemy militias and get all it's weapons firing, resulting in a surprising amount of damage). A Mo

Well now I feel stupid. And I'll have to try that, I usually freak out and start clicking a lot when one of my valuable capitals gets in trouble anyway, guess I don't have much luck or don't click the right places...

I do read my own posts if (and read, and re-read, most have a half dozen edits because I have some obsessive tendencies when it comes to my writing) if you really wanted to know. I probably spend far more time reading what I've written than the things I'm replying to, in most cases. But anyway, I don't exactly trust the pathing of my Capitals when they're surrounded by enemies to actually get them to retreat out of a fight in a timely manner. I don't know about you, but I've

That's why Repulsing Capitals seems like a tricky issue. Right now I've used it to cut off a Capital's escape and push it away like the other ships, but if it weren't affected it would seem very easy to just envelop the Capital with my fleet, then just smack Repulsion on and suddenly the Capital is all by it's lonesome. It would still retain it's ability to retreat though, something one being ping-ponged around by Guardian's loses as it waits to die. Upon thinking about it though and

Knowing how Pirates behave tends to go a long way, from my experience. Pirates tend to go for the same planets over and over (usually the closest one with Tradeports) so you should generally be ready for it. Once at the planet, they usually go for the Tradeports (or Refineries) and going for the tradeships and refinery ships. You can counter by grouping up your Repair Platforms around the Tradeports which will prolong their survivability and allow you to fight from strength

Great news, ICO could use a bit of an influx of players. Hopefully it will sell well and digital distribution didn't gobble up too much of the demand, so Kalypso can view it as a profitable venture. Securing good retail distribution over in Europe for the expansion would be a nice thing to have upon release, instead of having to wait for it...

If it's a small map (you and your opponent are 3, 4, 5 jumps away), you can still use the Javelis to great effect. The Illuminator is pretty beastly right now, but still requires three Temples of Hostilities and are not cheap units. Before most Advents can get one out you should be able to get at least a few Javelis out. If you can sidetrack their production with an early attack with your capital and a couple frigates and force them to produce Disciples, this will slow them down fur

Most common counter I've seen isn't one you would like. Even more Heavy Cruisers. If your opponent invested in a decent amount of flak and you didn't bother with strikecraft, you should have a slight edge in production, unless they have a vastly superior economy. Other counters that I've seen work to some effect... Vasari can use Subverters. Their area of effect attack, the Distortion Field and the Heavy Cruiser tendency to bunch up during attacks makes them extremely vulner

Advent are probably the best defenders, having upgrades to give them additional Tactical Slots as well as upgrades to their Hangers (usually the most effective defensive weapon, aside from the Repair Bay). First of all though, you can't rely on static defenses. At best they can stall and augment your defense, but they won't hold off any determined attack (this is true for both the AI and for people). But as a rule, I would say Repair Platforms are probably the most useful of t

That's really fascinating. As a practical matter it makes sense that the Kol and Radiance are blistering with weaponry for all sides, and the Siege Capial has it all front loaded. But aside from combating militias, how often do you bury your Capitals in an enemy fleet? So long as they're close enough they can get the side banks going, but it reduces their ability to really focus the hurt. Does anyone want to get on ICO and see how the balance goes with higher level caps? I

So what exactly would Advent's advantages be after these changes? Malice (which already many people want nerfed) and Culture (elaboration not needed)? Personally, I think Flak should better counter Illuminators, and that Flak should still be a good counter for LRMs in general. The game balance is silly right now where LRMs and Heavy Cruisers do nearly everything. Hurting the Illuminators too much though I think would be a rather large mistake, if you have a TEC two or three jumps awa

Wow, very interesting. In the Revelation vs Marza battle, was the Revelation using Reverie? I also wonder how these same battles would look at Level 6. I guess the raw frontal dps of the planet bombardiers matters much more at the early levels before the Battleships get their better ship-to-ship and defensive abilities. Although Reverie could likely tilt even that battle...

I think Advent varies so much because of how even the same units preform differently in battle, depending on the ability and experience of the player. Advent, more than the other factions, depends on units complimenting each other in battle, micromanagement and different abilities being used in tandem to achieve results. Malice and Cleansing Brilliance is the most popular of these, get it with an inferior fleet and you can nearly wipe it out, botch it and you get rolled. So in the rig

I don't think anyone has tested all of the Capitals, but it just so greatly depends on the experience level and abilities chosen (even Level 1 abilities can sway battles). A Radiance with Animosity won't be that great a threat, but put that into Detonate Antimatter and suddenly it's dealing more damage and preventing whatever damage the enemy has from it's special abilities from coming to it. From what I've seen, the Radiance and the Kol seem to be the best Capital sluggers. The Rad

If I see a 2 vs 2 or a 3 vs 3 come up, then it immediately fills with half the players needed then just sits at that number, I won't touch it. That usually means it's three people all working together to stomp the random people who join, some of which may not even speak the same language. I don't blame people for wanting to play with friends and people they know, and wanting to win. Just not my cup of tea to be on the receiving end of such things. Personally I don't get too

Drexion, therein lies the rub, right? I wouldn't expect Ironclad to balance for a group of a couple dozen players out of their couple hundred thousand customers. But you also have to acknowledge that in most games, the best players are essentially the trend setters/early adopters/lighthouses, whatever term you prefer. They tend to find what works, what works best, use it, abuse it and if it's effective, it trickles down to the rest of the player base. Most good tactics that work d

Jinx, it depends on the LRM from what I've seen. The Javelis can do so handily without issues, upgrades or support and can better handle the suicide Guardian runs to push them away. Assailants can often hit the Guardians because of how inconsistent the Repulsion field is but have trouble with the aggressive Guardians going towards them. And Illuminators cannot reach the Guardians. So that's probably the main problem I think, that the long range units still don't have the range, and t

The change log omitted the change to Drone Hosts. The patch notes read " -Slight cost reductions for all carrier cruisers", but in actuality TEC and Vasari had some small decrease to the costs of their carriers in all areas, while the Drone Host's costs in Crystal and Credits both increased (Crystal went up 35, no small thing) and it had a small decrease in it's metal price (10). It's been posted that this was not a mistake to increase the price, just a mistake in the notes.

I can only comment at length on the Guardian from having a good deal of experience trying to use it most effectively. My only experiences with the Subverter have been on the receiving end, which aren't extensive enough or from the right perspective to really intelligently weigh in on it. So, I hope what I have to say on how to handle the Guardian is listened to, but also of course taken with a grain of salt because I mostly play Advent and am protective of my most effective abilities. <b

I agree, Advent can do well with 5 (although I've done as many as 8 in a very long game). In general I prioritize the Progenitors, Radiance, and a Halcyon. Revelation and Rapture are good ships for some situations, but I find the Progenitor and Radiance more useful, and the one Halcyon for it's aura. To be on topic though, quantity does trump quality. Capitals are usually best used as support ships, backing up larger fleets (usually composed more heavily of LRMs and Heavy Cruisers).

Not really necessary because of how impractical it is early game, but Steal Antimatter doesn't even work on enemy Capitals. It can only steal from Frigate/Cruiser class ships and structures, although it can give to any class of friendly ship, as well as structures. So even if you have the time, tech and resources to try it, it wouldn't be effective at stopping the Sova from using Embargo. And I would do Defense Vessels (in limited numbers) because they're still are respectable, althou

Your target may have died before Cleansing Brilliance was able to fire. Cleansing Brilliance fires from the bow of the Radiance, but the Radiance must be facing almost directly at it's target. So if the Radiance has to turn (which it does quite slow) there's a chance that by the time you click a unit in the LRM blob and by the time it finishes turning, something killed the original target, so the Radiance didn't fire. Tips in general on Cleansing Brilliance... Without

The range of the Illuminator is less than the range of the Guardians Repulsion (the Illuminator has the least range of all the LRF's, after all). As a practical matter though, Illuminators can sit just sit near the Guardians and be firing off their beams because many ships will be able to get a bit into a Repulsion field (they just have difficulty really getting in close to the Guardians usually). The Illuminators will usually not be able to use their greatest advantage, bringing all three wea

12 Drone Hosts? That sets you back some 5,820 Credits, 1080 Metal, 1020 Crystal. For the straight up cost, that would buy a TEC 21 Javelis with a nice junk of Crystal and a bit of Metal to spare. Or if they scouted you and decided to forgo some Jaevlis (maybe just 15) they could throw in enough Flak to neutralize the Drone Hosts fairly efficiently. The 10 Disciples are another significant investment considering that they are fodder, even suicide mission after the Fl

The Aeria Drone Host, and the other Carrier Cruisers require antimatter to construct their Strikecraft wings (about 8 Antimatter for each fighter, 18 for each Bomber). This usually isn't noticed though because upon construction they have considerable Antimatter stores which they can use to load up on their ships. During prolonged battle though this can be noticeable, because when they're out of Antimatter ship production becomes very slow. For the fun of it. Vasari Lasurak Transporte