Skirantra

you do bring up a good point, something I have always thought of as well

problem with the turning it passive is the fact that then you have a Vasari version of Adept Drone Animae

flipside, Im not sure hwo to fix (at first glance, will mull over it a bit and come back)

I said this the very day that the patch notes were released.  This ability is just so weak and needs serious help to be useful.  In my opinion this is the worst capital ship ability in the game, even after the buff it received.

Personally I think that abililty has two issues.  First, its cooldown (even at level 3) is just WAY too long.  It takes virtually forever to actually launch a second squad, by which time the first squad is likely dead.  Adept Drone Anima basically gives you an extra squad at the start of battle, and it's replaced gradually as units are killed.  In a realistic scenario it's actually producing bombers faster (and at no antimatter-cost) then scramble.  The second issue is antimatter cost.  This ability is worse than many passive abilities to begin with, and yet its antimatter cost is actually fairly high for the effect you're getting. 

Now, with that said, repair cloud is one of the most powerful abilities in the game.  The only ability on the other carrier caps that's in the same league is telekinetic push.  The Skirantra is still a very powerful capital ship, but I will agree it got the shaft in terms of buffs to carrier caps.

Didn't know anyone else said it, but glad you agree.

As ever, vasari is the game's red-headed stepchild.

maybe it should scrable 3/4/5 bobmer squads per rank but have the duration of bombers shorter than cooldown?

That's really a bit overstating it, I think. Scramble Bombers is definately not a great ability, but GRG and Magnetize seem a lot weaker. At least level 3 Scramble Bombers costs so little antimatter that it's essentially a free Bomber squad every while. GRG and Magnetize seem a lot more situational and weaker.

However, I do agree that the cooldown is way to long, and antimatter costs are rather high until level 3. After that being fixed, Scramble Bombers will be a fine ability.

The main problem with the Skirantra Carrier is that it's a rather strange utility capital. Sovas and Halcyon fulfill a SC-rush fit, but the Skirantra is used primarily for Repair Cloud (Which is unarguably the best healing ability in the game). The Skiranta is not bad by any means, but it could use some improvements. Especially with Scramble Bombers and Microphasing Aura. The latter especially, because it's such an entirely bizarre passive that's very difficul to efficiently utilize. Otherwise, the Skirantra is a fantastic unit.

While I don't have much love for those two abilities, I think both are definitely a cut above scramble.

By level 3, the antimatter cost isn't that substantial, but I'd still conserve for repair cloud.  The problem, however, is that blasted cooldown.  Twenty seconds?  Give me a break!  I've drawn up timelines and basically it takes 80 or 100 seconds before scramble builds any real advantage over an ADA Halcyon, and this presumes your enemy has no fighter support to kill your bombers as you build them up.

By the time you've brought this ability to a high enough level that its antimatter cost is low and the Skirantra can support it without having a major impact on repair cloud, one or two extra bomber squads doesn't mean that much to the battle anymore.  This ability needs a serious buff; it needs further antimatter cost reduction and an aggressive reduction in cooldown.

If you want to give Microphasing Aura a boost, here's an idea: make it give all friendly strike craft in the area of effect a small chance to evade attack damage against them.

Here's a simple one - what about significantly expanding its radius?  Like, to most of the grav well.

OMG its too OP, either the antimatter cost is reduced or the ability cd reduced how bout increase its repair power or make it STACK with other skitantra's repair cloud?

Not repair, microphasing aura

Unlike the rest of the game, the caps seem to have become more evenly matched, with just a few tweaks needed to achieve balance.  Most of these suggestions are boosts to weaker abilities:

Gauss Rail Gun- lower the antimatter cost further, maybe 50?

Heavy Strike Craft- for this to be in line with the Halcyon how about 20/35/50 bonus?

Target Uplink- add a damage bonus 5/10/15?

Magnetize- the max targets seems odd, decrease the target area but infinite targets?

Incendiary Shells- the chance element seems unnecessarily complicated, and the only 'shells' are autocannon not missiles? 

Missile Barrage- the ability is silly as it is and the complaints about it are legitimate, no crew could attack infinite targets with missiles, either implement a target maximum or restrict to a smaller area saturated with non-homing missiles- a proper 'barrage'.

Vertigo- expand area affected.

Guidance and Clairvoyance- antimatter cost, and shouldn't the Revelation have at least one passive ability, how about allowing it to spy at no cost, as it is called the 'Revelation'?

Shield Regeneration- nerf this to at most Skirantra levels of healing, 20/30/40.  The Skirantra is a dedicated repair/assembly capital, and shouldn't have inferior repair to a colony ship.

Jam Weapons- revert nerf, increase duration.

Microphasing Aura- effect should level more 4/3/2 20/30/40?

Scramble Bombers- to be more nearly equivalent to the other caps you'd need to double the lifetime, especially as it costs antimatter?

Subversion- add a penalty to the planet, trade/refinery and extractors production

Phase Out- why a shield boost/damage if it affects the structure?  Move to ship health, perhaps double the boost/penalty on return- then the Marauder is far more of a combat threat to fleeing caps.  The Marauder still needs a heavy boost.

Also- why allow the Egg 'heavy' plasma cannons?  If 'heavy' weapons does mean +dps, I'd swap these for the ones on the Devastator and Marauder, and allow the Kol and Radiance heavier pulse and plasma weapons as well.   

There may be more than one glaring error in my suggestions, but it might also be an improvement to balance the caps as a set in one thread, rather than several separate threads? 

Wanna talk about capital ships?  I got a list of things I've been pondering that I may as well dump:

Generic Changes:

• Battleship-class and Siege-class capital ships are generally performing sub-par currently; carrier-class caps have really been taking up the spotlight recently.  I propose that the Kol, Marza, Radiance, Kortul, and Vulkoras class capital ships all receive a substantial DPS buff (75%) so that they more seriously match carrier caps as early game rushers. 
  
• Support-class capital ships have always been on the weak side.  I propose doubling the base antimatter regeneration rates and adding 150 more antimatter to their base reserves.  This would apply to the Dunov, Rapture, Revelation, and Antorak.  I realize the Revelation is a siege cap, but it plays like a support cap so I'm going to treat it as such.
• Carrier caps are a little strong for rushing currently; I propose lowering their bombard damage by about 33%.  This would mean you'd probably have to use siege frigates with them when going on the offensive, but I think something needs to be done to deal with the dual-carrier homeworld rush.  This is just way too easy against an opponent who randoms an exposed homeworld (that is, he cannot colonize one of his lanes so it's easy for the attacker to send a stream of reinforcements)

Specific Cap Changes:

• Kol:  reduce cost of GRG to 60 and flak burst to 80.  Possibly reduce cost of adaptive shield?
• Dunov:  increase the maximum number of strike craft affected.  Possibly make it squad-based rather than individual based? (currently affects Vasari better than Advent)
• Marza:  increase incendiary shells damage
• Radiance:  rework animosity.  Possibility:  make all friendly non-strike craft untis within 1500/2500/3500 of the radiance invulnerable to attack and special abilities.  The Radiance itself remains vulnerable.  Multiple Radiances using animosity are not protected by each other's effects.  Lasts 10 seconds.
• Revelation:  fix clairvoyance so autocast doesn't target planets that are already revealed by a special effect (such as lingering presence or clairvoyance itself).  Rework guidance or completely replace it.  Possibility:  retool repulse as a capital ship ability, then create new ability for guardian.  
• Jerrasul:  improve colonize ability to bring it on par with Akkan and Progen.  Possibility:  planet has an extra constructor and pays no underdevelopment tax for the duration of the ability.
• Kortul:  reduce jam weapons cooldown by 5-10 seconds at all levels.
• Skirantra:  reduce scramble bomber cooldown and antimatter cost, improve microphasing aura somehow.
• Vulkoras:  improve phase missile swarm; possibilities include reduced antimatter cost/cooldown, increased maximum number of targets, make it shield bypass (may need a damage nerf in conjunction with this).
• Antorak:  honestly, I don't know what needs to be done to this thing... it needs its own discussion thread IMO.

Specific issues I have with your suggestions, DesConnor

I think heavy strike craft is perfectly fine as is.  The Sova is already marvellously powerful.

This is a can of worms that needs its own thread.  I make a point of not going into it in threads that aren't specific to the Marza. 

I personally think Vertigo is awesome and possibly the game's most underrated abililty.

Yeah, the Skirantra has too many competive demands for its antimatter.  The Advent Carrier cap (the Halcyon) has a definite advantage in less antimatter demands.   In some instances, the TEC Sova also runs into problems with antimatter demands - when you want to use both Embargo & Missile Batteries at the same time.

But making scramble bombers a passive ability would be too much!  But I could see where reducing its antimatter cost would be helpful.

Since a Scrambled Bomber's duration is 120 seconds, and the abilities cooldown is 40/30/20 by level, it means that (if antimatter provides): you can have 3/4/6 extra bombers for each of the 3 levels.  The total antimatter use in each case is: 150/160/180 (derived from 3X50/4x40/6x30).  Theoretically, you should have that much antimatter generally available.  But Repair Cloud is the antimatter hog.  Maybe you should turn off it's autocast, or pick Microphasing Aura before it.

Even as the ability currently stands, a level 1 Skirantra will beat a level 1 Halcyon!  I tested it - the Skirantra with Scramble Bombers won with 280 hull remaining.  Surprisingly, a Sova with Missile Batteries was the ONLY other level 1 Cap ship that could beat a Skirantra with Scramble bombers (with 300 hull remaining for the Sova)! 

This presumes your enemy has no fighters.  That presumption holds about as much water as a sieve.

Of course, if two carrier cap players encounter each other, they swap immediately to all fighters.  They don't go bombers at all until they have other units in support.

According to the game manual, the Antorak is supposed to be a raidier. I propose replacing one of its abilities with a passive ability that reduces enemy trade (maybe even stops trade) in the same grav-well that the antorak is in. Also, this ability should greatly increase the time it takes for destroyed enemy trade ships to be replaced.

This will mean that using the Antorak as a raider behind enemy lines will cause significant economic damage to the enemy which is the whole point of raiding. This change may be too big for a patch, but I stand by my idea. Any feedback on my proposed change?

As for the Skirantra, imo scramble bombers should spawn several squads all at once so that they actually have a chance to seal serious damage. Buff to repair cloud sounds good to me.

I hated the marza as much as anyone else.  I think case against the marza was laid out and thrashed out very well on all sides, with vigorous and heated debate.  The devs certainly read the main post on it, and other posts, but only opted for a very slight nerf, along with red missle trails.  So I think we'll just have to live with the marza as is.

Interestingly, with the latests patch I don't see the marza nearly as much anymore.  TECs open with akkans and sovas a hell of a lot more than they used to.

I have always thought that the skirantra heal was subpar to the mothership shield regen, but I didn't touch that in this post because so many people talk about how the skirantra has "the best heal in the game," blah blah.  But it takes me two skirantras side by side continuously alternating repair cloud to try to equal one mothership sitting there shield recharging.

I don't want the mothership nerfed as you suggest.  But I WOULD like to see skirantra repair boosted to the level that the mothership recharges shield, which would give us the same effect, yes?

Arguably, the skirantra repair should be even MORE than the mothership shield recharge, because shield recharge can be used right away as soon as a ship starts taking damage, and the sooner you can start using antimatter abilities, the sooner you can start recharging that antimatter so a to get off another shot.  But you have to wait to use repair cloud until something has no shields and starts taking significant hull damage.  Meanwhile you've had to sit there and hold your antimatter, while the mothership might have gotten off 1 or 2 shots and is recharging to get off another one.

Bottom line, shield recharge is inately a better (more useful) ability than repair cloud, and furthermore the "heal" with it is bigger.

Thanks for maintaining the capship stats sticky  Sage, I've often referred to it.

After Sage's analysis, I'm not in favour of any improvement to the Skirantra, its already a powerful ship- as is the Sova as Darvin pointed out, so no improvement to heavy strikecraft. 

No to improved Vertigo as well then.

Yeah, the Marza was discussed at length and Missile Barrage is a Level 6 ability, and as soon as there were TEC alternatives they have been taken up.  I suppose doubters will have to suffer?

On Darvin's changes-

Yeah to battleship dps+, I suggested making the forward weapons heavy.  The Marza needs no other buff especially if incendaries are improved, and I wouldn't improve the Vulkoras either if it is to get better phase missile swarm.

No to support antimatter increase, alter the abilities themselves instead where necessary.  If you were going to reduce carrier caps bombardment I'd add in the colony caps as well.

Kol: all the Kol's abilities use antimatter, how about adaptive as a passive?

Dunov:yeah, I had improved magnetize.

Radiance: could you explain further why Animosity needs a rework?  I'm not sure that friendlies should be immune to special abilities- and wasn't the original supposed to ensure that enemies turned to face the Radiance as well?

Revelation: it might be enough to limit the range and cone of effect of Repulse and exclude capitals.  How about clairvoyance as an ability that cost no antimatter, and you could spy on 1/2/3 gravwells at the same time?

Egg: no buffs to the Egg, it's still one of the best capitals, and Vasari have a combat use for their colony ships.

Antorak: having the phase out ability directly affect health would be a buff, perhaps it should scale 200/300/400.  You could also allow Subversion to affect trade, perhaps to destroy any trade ships in the well through mutinies, that would be enough for a very strong power?

No to boosting Skirantra repair- the object should be to encourage diversity in capital choice, not to strengthen the existing stronger choices?

Well why shouldn't it's heal be on par with the mothership?

Also it heals the hull, when there are antimatter draining abilities you could be out of antimatter even before you can use it once. The motherships ability kicks in right after the battle has started.

Well why shouldn't it's heal be on par with the mothership?

That would make them exactly the same.I kinda like astax idea and maybe drop the am for hull repair down to 90 or 80.

Generic Changes:

• Battleship-class and Siege-class capital ships are generally performing sub-par currently; carrier-class caps have really been taking up the spotlight recently.  I propose that the Kol, Marza, Radiance, Kortul, and Vulkoras class capital ships all receive a substantial DPS buff (75%) so that they more seriously match carrier caps as early game rushers.  
  
• Support-class capital ships have always been on the weak side.  I propose doubling the base antimatter regeneration rates and adding 150 more antimatter to their base reserves.  This would apply to the Dunov, Rapture, Revelation, and Antorak.  I realize the Revelation is a siege cap, but it plays like a support cap so I'm going to treat it as such.
• Carrier caps are a little strong for rushing currently; I propose lowering their bombard damage by about 33%.  This would mean you'd probably have to use siege frigates with them when going on the offensive, but I think something needs to be done to deal with the dual-carrier homeworld rush.  This is just way too easy against an opponent who randoms an exposed homeworld (that is, he cannot colonize one of his lanes so it's easy for the attacker to send a stream of reinforcements) 

The Skirantra repair is already exceptionally powerful.  If you want to buff the Skirantra (and I agree with DesConnor, that's already an iffy proposition since it's a powerful capital ship), focus on its lesser abilities.

Its antimatter cost already does reduce to 90 and level 2 and 80 at level 3.

Personally I think SOMETHING must happen to improve the Dunov, Rapture, Antorak, and Revelation in general.  I proposed giving them higher antimatter regeneration to let them spam abilities (they are supposed to be SUPPORT capital ships anyways).  The difference between lowering ability antimatter costs and raising their antimatter reserves is that the latter allows them more ability usage after multiple phase jumps.  Perhaps you're following now: this buff is most applicable in the early game, a time in which they are least useful currently.

As for colony capital ships, I think they're fine for bombard damage.  The problem with carrier caps is that they can make a stand alone rush AND they can fight and use special abilities while bombarding.  This problem doesn't exist with any other capital ships.

The problem if you do that is that all Kols then become GRG/shield or Flak/shield.  I personally think all capital ships should have a maximum degree of freedom in terms of viable skill selections.  By keeping an antimatter cost on shield, it means that no matter what skills you pick they're all going to drain antimatter, and that gives the Kol some more oomph.  It also justifies making its abilities that much stronger since it's not very useful once out of antimatter.

The Evacuator's colonize ability is a distant third for quality among colony capital ships.  I'd like to see some REASON to actually get level 2 or 3 of this ability.  Currently the "egg" is so one dimensional: colonize, nanos, nanos, gravity, nanos, drain planet, gravity, gravity, colonize, colonize... every single time.  I'd like some more variety in there, and the best way to do that is to give it a good colonize ability that's worth adding to.

Moreover, it's worth keeping in mind that I'm proposing buffing EVERY OTHER capital ship in the game, so a minor buff to a tertiary ability is quite justifiable even if the target is a fine overall specimen.

The Marza is a lot weaker than it used to be. It's not because of actually balancing the ship itself, but TEC and Vasari both have incredibly reliable ways to handle Missile Barrage; Ion Bolt and Disruptive Strikes. Missile Barrage just isn't as deadly as it used to be.

With cap balance, the only ones that need serious help are the Kol Battleship and Dunov Battlecruiser. The Antorak also needs some buffs (Though it's actually not nearly as bad as people make it out to be), and the Advent Battlecruisers could use some changes.

Well I think "powerful" is all relative to the shield restore on the motherhsip.  That's what we should be comparing against.

Well if it is a powerful capital ship, it can only be considered powerful because of its heal, because everyone speaking here pretty much agrees that the other abilities (microphasing, scramble bombers) aren't why you get a skirantra.  So if we are talking about a powerful capship that is only considered powerful because of its heal, why shouldn't it's heal be as powerful as the mothership heal?

What you are saying is, it is powerful because of a heal that is outclassed by the mothership heal.  In that case, I guess it is a "second rate" power.

The Vulkoras and Marza are already scary at bombarding, they need no help in this category.  That's why I'd say add to their combat presence like the battleships.  For the Revelation, my recommendation was to treat it like a support capital ship.  Now, of the "siege" caps, I do agree it's the worst at bombardment, mainly because it doesn't get a special ability in this field until level 6.

The problem I've always had with MB is that if you can cancel it, it's positively worthless.  That long cooldown means that you'll be waiting positively forever to get a second shot.  On the other hand, if you can't stop it, it's completely overpowering.  I want to see the ability changed such that it's harder to completely negate but not so overpowering if you can't.

So your "help me" list is: Kol, Dunov, Revelation, Rapture, Antorak.  I mostly agree that this is the list of capital ships that need help.  There's one thing worth pointing out: you've listed all the support caps, reinforcing my point that the support caps as a group need help.

I disagree that it's outclassed by the mothership heal.  Honestly I think in many situations that repair cloud is the stronger of the two.  It's only when you combo it off with guardians that the Progenitor's outclasses it.

Idea: Scramble bombers antimatter cost reduced by 50% at all levels (from 50/40/30 to 25/20/15). It will still cost nergy, but will no longer force you to decide between repair cloud and bombers scramble.