Sova

Only good for embargo early game against a close (1-3 jumps away) enemy capital planet and for its insta-rebuild strike craft ability late game. Meh

Dunov

Simply a must have if you're playing as Tec Rebel to keep ur titan alive and spamming abilities, and EMP shuts down enemy abilities excellently. 3 of these guys combined with the ragnarov will have your opponent crying OP very quickly ("WHY WONT IT FKN DIE!!") especially if one of them is at lvl 6 making abilities cost next to nothing. One of my favourite DEADLY combos Situational if your'e Tec loyal, but still a good bet.

Marza

I often open with this. No other capital can stand toe to toe with this beast (with a few unique exceptions) so it wins those early battles, demolishes planets FAST and if u get it to 6 its AOE wins games. Need to watch it though as its always focussed especially once it hits 6. (Dont bother with radiation bomb). Tec loyals should have two of these fairly early on.

Kol

Generally useless, very situational, only use if you are fighting masses of strike craft (60+) in which case you will likely need more than one. Under-powered. Too all round. Too weak.

Akkan

Nice "handy" abilities, but cant compare to Corsev, Dunov or Marza if you are on the front line. I only ever get it if im in eco spot, and even then... it kinda just seems like a protov mark II.

Corsev

OP. Open with this and watch opponents leave within 5 mins of facing it in early game fight lolololololol

I only play on random-medium or random-large maps, so I rarely, if ever, am close enough to my neighbors for early game strikes.

Consequently:

As TEC, I usually open with Akkan/Dunov/Sova/Sova, for early economy, adding more capital ships as necessary to combat whatever threats I face.

As Advent, I usually open Mothership/Rapture (for Vertigo/Concentration)/Halcyon/Halcyon. The Halcyons provide unsurpassed DPS, Telekinetic Push, and that rapid-fire aura.

As Vasari, I play a little differently. Since they need Jarun Migrators for starbases anyway, I often ignore the space egg completely in favor of a Kortul Devastator. You'll laugh, but that thing can tank the creeps around desert planets at level 1, its DPS is not bad, and it can win against almost any other capital ship (except a carrier, of course). After that, I get a Marauder (for mobility/crowd control) OR a Rankulas (for healing); then I get (you guessed it) two Skirantras.