The Antorak should be set to actually DO restore shield points or DO actually damage targeted enemy ships. Right now all it does is shift the target into phase space. When the damage and shield restore is properly implemented it would actually make ths ability a lot more useful.

I just ran a small test on this and came to some unfortunate conclusions. I was on Point Blank with no AI using pirate attacks to level up my 2 Dunovs and my Sova. After a bit of this and researching armor/shields, I warped my caps into the pirate planet so they would take damage.

My Sova warped in first and soon the pirates all gathered around it, shooting. Once its shields died I activated Shield Restore autocast on the Dunovs. They both activated at the same time (at level 2, +500 shield points) - but it seems that since the two buffs were applied to the Sova instantaniously, the Sova only received a single +500 even though it should have gotten +1000! If the Dunovs are synchronized with their Shield Restore, one of the Dunovs will be mostly useless!

Another similar problem is just the fact that the abilities automatically activate at the same time once a hurt ship falls below some determined number of shield points below the max. I also had Hoshikos: I noticed that when the Sova dropped to something like 1100 of its 1600 shields, *both* Shield Restores would activate, which would have mostly wasted one of the abilities even if the duplicate buff target bug hadn't existed. And with the Hoshikos, as soon as the Sova started taking a bit of hull damage, once it dropped below some level, the Hoshikos used Repair Drones - at the same time. I had 3 Hoshikos and all 3 of them used Repair Drones on the Sova at once, completely wasting 100 antimatter. So that's another related bug.

The Dunov is nice in long AI games where you have a lot of caps and don't like retreating them. Hoshikos can only repair so fast: having 2 Dunovs which can give your other caps +1500 shield points every 11 seconds can be very useful, especially with cultural antimatter upgrades.

Of course, none of this works in competitive games.

Give the Advent something that acts opposite the Energy amplification... Suppression -area affect that nerfs enemy weapons within radius.  slower weapon rate of fire & less range.

It really depends on what sort of game style you like. I personally hate hate hate losing any ships at all which is why I use caps/Dunovs if I'm TEC, but Darvin is making a good point in that you could probably do anything at that point and still win.

If you can get the enemy to focus-fire on them, yeah, that'd work, hopefully in combination with Overseers so your caps don't have to retreat.

I understand. Although the last campaign I fought ended with a very big battle and, while I had more than enough capital ships to deliver a crushing blow, so did they. I probably would have won without the Dunovs, but not without taking some serious losses. In other words, they hit me pretty hard. I'm a fan of anything that can keep my ships alive even for just a little while longer - especially in the late game when I'm dealing with more firepower. On the other hand, you and Darvin have a lot more experience, so you probably lean on other ships and tactics which is good. I'll learn and develop other strategies too, meaning I won't always depend on a pair of Dunovs, but all I can say is that they've served me well, even in the late game, so I'm a strong advocate of having them around.

That makes sense. 

I just had a thought. A self-assessment suggests that I rely heavily on my caps which is something I do in other strategy games (I rely on heavy firepower). I need to diversify my strengths. For my next campaign, I plan to focus less on my caps and more on frigates and cruisers. I'm not against going cap-heavy. I'll still have strategies that involve a strong capital front, but I need to become more familiar with non-capital ships and their different strengths and weaknesses.

I was substituting the term heavy ships with heavy firepower. Heavy ships in terms of hull and shield strength (attrition), but also superior firepower (yes, except against higher level caps, but also not against a high number of bomber squads, or a fleet of heavy cruisers) with the added benefit of special abilities. I agree that the level does make a difference. You mentioned using the Marza for bombardment. I agree and have also found it to be a very strong asset in battle. Further, a friend was recently telling me how effective the radiation bomb proved to be against lighter ships.

A cap heavy fleet has worked for me and it is a strategy to consider, but like I said, I need to diversify my strengths, because it's not the only strategy. I like your idea with an LRM/Garda/Hoshiko combination and I will try that in my next campaign (in addition to ideas that Wrath e-mailed me) as well as some of my own ideas. Thanks for the suggestion. 

Having 3 or so capital ships is nice if you have a strong supporting fleet as well, and if you're good at micromanaging retreats. If you can lure the enemy into attacking your capital ship(s) rather than your frigates, and if you're good enough to retreat your caps in time when they're under heavy fire, you'll have saved yourself a few frigate losses.

At the risk of rebuke, I've found that even an Easy AI has been a challenge, but that's probably because I've only been playing for a few months (not solid due to work and other interests). As to the value of a cap heavy force, I still have to disagree (or agree to disagree) in light of the success I've had with them (particularly in the late game).

I've not experienced that, but again, I'm fairly new and still playing at an easy level. My Dunovs have been the reason why I'm able to keep my caps alive. My success so far has involved the following: my capitals inflict damage and draw heat away from my non-capitals, my non-capitals inflict further damage, and longevity is increased by the combined touch of two Dunov support caps and several Hoshikos. My success has also been significantly greater thanks to 50 or more bomber squadrons that I've sent after priority targets (e.g., a strong starbase).

I did like something you said: "For the price of your level 1 capital ship, you could instead have 12 Javelis." That's very true and one more reason why I need to focus on non-capital ships. Not just to better understand them and develop additional strategies, but for cost efficiency. I will experiment with your suggested combo soon. Right now, I'm trying out a method of quicker expansion involving a cap and scout combo that Wrath suggested. So far, it's been very effective, but still evaluating.

Cool. Well give me time, buddy. I'll try to catch up and hopefully be another good challenge or ally for you. I'm determined to become a better player and hopefully master each empire.

My final thoughts are, I plan to lean on the non-capitals a lot more, but I will still probably have a high number of capitals at my beck and call (even on an unfair difficulty), but we'll see. The next few months of developing new strategies and experimenting at different levels may produce experiences that reinforce my love for capitals or change my mind completely.