Ragnarov vs Ankylon

The problem is that your tests did not include fleets at all, and therefore are not representative of what happens in an actual game...you also ignored all the mid levels, which are far more relevant to how titans change the game dynamics...

If a lvl 3 Ragnarov gets even one good scattershot on a fleet of LFs, Corvettes, and/or LRFs (something you'll see large amounts of those from the early game), those frigates are going to get cleaned up very fast by the ragnarov and any of its supporting fleet...lvl 4 and lvl 5 makes even HCs very vunerable and thus your only recourse to defeating a supported ragnarov is pretty much bomber spam...

On the other hand, even with furious defenses a lvl 3 ankylon still can get driven off or completely wiped by a large amount of LFs, Corvettes, and/or LRFs....thus defeating an ankylon does not necessarily require a complete rework of your fleet composition inherited from early game...

To compound the issue, the AoEs of the ragnarov are going to help it level up faster...it doesn't need to win, all it needs to do is wipe a ton of frigates, level up, then retreat to repair bays and defenses....the Ankylon however will level up slowly and will always need a supporting fleet to accomplish anything...

It is certainly true that the ankylon is harder to kill, but it doesn't exactly do much to destroy the enemy ships trying to kill it...in general, wiping the sources of damage is more effective than trying to merely reduce the incoming damage, and that is why the ankylon is far inferior to the ragnarov...

I think u need to play TL a bit more or maybe change your play style with them. Ive been doing very well with them and having come up against ragnarov a few times in fleet situations in UNFREINDLY gravity wells, the anky just seems to swing the favour time and time again.

ive also played as TR with lvl 6 ragnarov and two lvl 6 dunovs complete with fleet and STILL had my ass handed to me by a player who knowss how to use TL. i think they are quite balanced, TL just need a different style of gameplay,

Try/consider the following;

-Anky is useless without a fleet, srsly dont even use it unless it has some sort of fleet with it

-Always keep fleet in close formation with anky at centre, to keep group shield working effectively

-Try to position anky (and fleet) so anky can fire 360 degrees at targets (its DPS is actually quite high in this circumstance)

-Try to fight crucial battles in friendly gravity wells (with militia armor and weps upgrades... 30% dmg buff ftw!)

-Dont bother with defensive/utility caps, just get offensive (anky takes care of defensive/utility roles) i start with marza (NOT akkan), then go either another marza or sova third cap is either 2nd marza or maybe a Kol (still experimenting with Kol)

-Anky group shield ability is highest priority, followed by furious defense (and of course AM to keep these abilities running, DONT spend points on weapon dmg upgrade)

-Scout scout scout, always know what your enemy's fleet composition is, and build yours to counter it, done properly you cant lose as your fleet is immensely buffed by anky

-Use starbases! twin SBs are awesome if used correctly and the opponent is stupid enought to try to take em on. good for denial of access keeping you fighting on one front only or surviving at ur homeworld in a suicide spot

-Remeber, the bigger your fleet, the better. Due to anky and militia buffs, your fleets strength increases much more than your opponent when you increase its siza

Counters to the following tough adversaries

-vs strong all round fleet: heres why you need at least one preferably two marzas. MB, rinse repeat watch ur caps/titans ding

-Bomber spam: cobalt light frigates and flak... LOTS of em, srsly its amazing how much cobalts SHRED carriers

-Eradica: OP thing as it currently is, your only hope is to kill it ASAP with a bomber spam, keeping your units group shielded, heavy losses are inevitable but, i have beaten a lvl 4 eradica + fleet with my lvl 5 anky + fleet + 80 bombers in a neutral gravity well, try to burn its AM aswell (if you know to expect it maybe throw in a dunov after a marza or two).

-Maw: dont let it get to the point where it gets that OP fkn bullshit

-Ragnarov: If you have a decent fleet with your anky and are reasonably evenly matched, you WILL win in almost any situation, simple.

I am sorry Twilight_Storm, but you are totally wrong.

BTW, I did a similar test earlier. 

Generaly, the TEC Loyalist suffer from being UP.

To make a long topic short, you could compare TEC factions something like this:

Offensive:

TEC Loyalist: 100 %

TEC Rebel: 150 %

Defensive:

TEC Loyalist 110 %

TEC Rebels: 100 %

and that pretty much sums up their entire misery.

But now to the Ankylon:

Please note that text in CAPS is not meant as an insult, but just a way of quick formatting! 

Some of the information that I will explain below comes from the awesome Sins Data Spreadsheet done by Mallek3.

A few sad facts:

• The Ankylon ALWAYS needs to be in an owned gravity well, not to win but to STAND A REMOTE CHANCE!

• Even in an owned gravity well, the Ankylon looses 8 of 10 times against the Ragnarov on the same level.

• The Ragnarov ranks up at easily 1.5 times the speed. That means in reality your Ankylon will be AT BEST Level 4 by the time the Ragnarov hits Level 6..... have fun watching the execution.

• Group shield is NOTHING against the firepower that your enemies can and will trow at you. A single level 2 scattershot will pulverize your fleet, group shield level 2 or not. And that even assumes you have it active at the right moment...

• Inspire and Impair DOES NOT affect Titans. That means in your above duel it didnt do ANYTHING. The Ragnarov level 6 ultimate DOES affect Titans.... and everything else.

• The Anlylon is ONLY SLIGHTLY more DURABLE than the Ragnarov, however the Ragnarov has much more firepower.
  TEC in general have the most durable ships and the best repair ships and abilities.... the Ragnarov is the SECOND most durable Titan.... with the best focused firepower...

• The only weakness of the Ragnarov is the - somewhat - lower durability. There are however SEVERAL EASY ways to make that not an issue at all. A few Hoshikos or 2 Dunovs.... and the Ragnarov just refuses to die while it blows your entire fleet to pieces. The Ankylon on the other hand has no durability problems to start with, however there is VERY LITTLE you can do about its pathetic firepower. That is a BIG issue because it means that the Ankylon will rank up VERY SLOWLY. And the 20 % increase with Battlefield promotions is not enough to change that. 

• Scattershot does lower armor by a huge margin, nearly making the small durabilty advantage of the Ankylon totally nonexistant.

• This also has the side effect, that a SMART player will simple IGNORE your Ankylon. Lets imagine a general situation here, one that happens in every game sooner or later. 
  
  Planet "My Castle":
  owned by you
  Titan + supporting fleet there
  
  Invasion force (fleet + Titan) is attacking that world
  
  You are: TEC REBELS:
  
  Invasion fleet enters weapons range, all ships are opening fire.
  
  Knowing about the lethal threat of the Ragnarov, the hostile fleet fires everything it has at the Ragnarov, while stray shoots and ability damage damages your ships.
  
  Ragnarov shield are weakening, but two Dunovs bring them back to good strenght.
  
  At the same time the Ragnarov keeps pounding the invaders Titan... soon depleting its shields
  
  The first scattershot barrage puts the invaders fleet into a world of pain.... and lowers the armor value of ALL ships by a good margin.
  
  The invader Titan. now shieldless and with reduced armor braces for impact as another massive rail gun slug hits it with the force of gods.
  
  The Ragnarov is barely visible below all that firepower that is directed at it.... but it still alive.... something that cant be said about the weaker ships in the invaders fleet after a second scattershot barrage....
  
  The invader Titan attempts to retreat.... but the Ragnarov has a very nice 20 % range advantage over all other ships. Still, it is in pursuit. When it passes the lines of the remaining enemy fleet the gaus guns are silent for a moment.... only to be replaced by a broadside of heavy auto cannon fire that rips into the already damaged enemy ships.
  
  Before it can jump out, a final rail gun hit transforms the invaders titan into an expanding gas cloud. In the meantime, the enemy fleet is now behind the Ragnarov, the only weakspot of the beast.
  
  Finally, battle damages takes it toll and the Ragnarov is destroyed shortly after it made an 180 degree turn... not before however it nailed 2 more of the invaders capital ships. The remaing invasion fleet commences bombing the planet.... a time consuming process due to few capital ships surviving.
  
  Only shortly after the planet has fallen, the rebuilt Ragnarov enters the system, scaring the enemy away.
  
  Your losses: Titan, fleet + planet:
  Their losses: Titan, majority of fleet - unable to attack for quite a while
  
  And that with the ALL offensive TEC Rebels... TEC Loyalist should do even better, should they?
  
  
  Planet "My Castle":
  owned by you
  Titan + supporting fleet there
  
  Invasion force (fleet + Titan) is attacking that world
  
  You are: TEC LOYALIST:
  
  Invasion fleet enters weapons range, all ships are opening fire.
  
  Knowing that the Ankylon can withstand incredible amounts of punishment when in an owned gravity well, the enemy ships are focusing their entire attack on your capital ships and frigates.
  
  After a short delay due to Ankylon disruption matrix and group shield effect the frigates are torn apart by the firepower of your enemy. Only more durable ships survive and are now totally outnumbered.
  
  The enemy fleet still focuses all of its attacks on your fleet, ignoring your titan totally.
  
  All your capships are dead, your fleet is in ruins and all you managed was to destroy 20 % of the hostile force by now.
  
  The Ankylon looks still brand new though.
  
  Enemy fleet commences planetary bombardement. Finally the Ankylon has managed to drop the shields of the enemy Titan..... after firing on it for the entire battle. Still, the hostile Titan keeps bombing your world.
  
  Your world falls to the enemy, while your Ankylon did nothing more than destroy a few frigates here and there and to damage the enemy Titan.
  
  With your world dead, Milita is no longer in effect, neither is the better version of furios defense.
  
  The Ankylon has no choice but to retreat to friendly territory, or it will be destroyed. The retreat is no problem, the Ankylon is durable enough to withstand the entire enemy firepower for long enough.
  
  The Ankylon jumps to the next friendly world, where a small fleet is waiting on it (You had far less time to rebuild than the TEC Rebel because they could bomb the planet with far more firepower).
  
  The enemy jumps after the Ankylon.... crushing the pathetic defense fleet within seconds. Again, totally ignoring the Anylons angry but ineffective fire, they BOMB the second planet into oblivion. Again the Ankylon has to retreat.
  
  And then the third planet....
  
  and then the fourth planet....
  
  and then you are dead....
  
  A few starbases will only delay your enemy.... unless you receive major support from any allys, you cant hope to win this. An there is no way you can have one or even 2 powerful starbases at every of your planets, that just way to expensive.

• The Ankylon suffers more severe from Antimatter draining or ability disabling abilities. An Ragnarov without antimatter is still a juggernaut of destruction, an Ankylon without Antimatter is just a flying brick.

• The Ankylon is POOR at pursuing fleeing enemy ships. Because for maximized firepower, it needs to enter broadside mode. That takes time, and your enemy will probably have jumped by then. But even in broadside mode, its firepower and ability damage is often not enough to finish of leaving ships. So even less XP for your Titan. 

• Below Level 6, the Anylon has NOTHING to support an offensive.... which I am fine with. Totally fine actually. IF and that a big IF it does excel at defense.... which is doesnt, see green text.
  
  The Ragnarov has excellent 360 degree coverage and by the layout of the weapons it can more often have 2 sides firing at the enemy. Under those circumstances it may have as much as 3 times the effective firepower of the Ankylon.
  
  
  

COMPARSION: ANKYLON VS RAGNAROV:

Durability:

Minimum Starting Survivability Rating:

Ankylon: 10957,5

Ragnarov: 8542,5

Maximum Starting Survivability Rating

Ankylon:  12082,5

Ragnarov: 9450

Average Starting Survivability Rating

Ankylon: 11520

Ragnarov: 8996,25


The Ankylon is arround 28 % more durable than the Ragnarov

Now lets compare the durabilty of all Titans:

Maximum Starting Survivability Rating:

Ankylon:  12082,5

Ragnarov: 9450

Coronata: 9699,05

Eradica: 10166,31

Vorastra: 11319,35

Kultorask: 10804,19

However, is isnt much more durable than any other Titan. Notice also that while the Ragnarov is the lowest, the difference is only small. Probably so small that you wont kill it much faster than any other Titan.... and so you have to endure its tremendous firepower for quite some time.

Firepower in DPS:

Ragnarov:

Forward: 150

Left: 73,4

Right: 73,4

Aft: 32,7

Maximum available firepower (if totally surrounded by enemies): 333,82

Usually useful firepower: 150 = 44,94 %

Ankylon:

Forward:45,76

Left: 99,02

Right:99,02

Aft: 42,57

Maximum available firepower (if totally surrounded by enemies): 286,37

Usually useful firepower: 99 = 34,57 %

27 % increased durability < 50 % more firepower where it counts.... Furios Defense just cant compensate for that.

That was level 1.... now to maxed out levels:

Maximum available firepower (if totally surrounded by enemies)

Ankylon:  558,42
Ragnarov 718,39

Usually useful firepower:

Ankylon: 186,13 = 34,57 % of the total firepower

Ragnarov: 322,85 = 44,94 % of the total firepower

The Ragnarov has 173,45 % more EFFECTIVE firepower.... and that naturally totally crushes the Ankylon. Only under heavy support from own gravity wells Furious Defense and Militia the Ankylon stands a chance. Should he leave an owned gravity well - for example to pursue a fleeing Ragnarov - it will die to it because it has now way to defeat it when outside of an owned well.

In my earlier test, I was shocked to note that the broadside damage of the Level 10 Anlyon is only slighty larger than the PASSIVE Regeneration of a Level 10 Ragnarov: As you no doubt have noticed in your test, the few times where the Anklyon defeats the Ragnarov it takes AGES. This is the reason.

Both the TEC Loyalist and the Ankylon need a buff.

The TEC Loyalist in a way that makes anything but Novalith rush (which is easily countered) a viable strategy against human enemies.

And the Ankylon:

• Increase the firepower of the Lasers back to Beta values.
  
  History lesson: The Ankylons ability Furios Defense was INCREDIBLE OP in the BETA. A level 1 Ankylon could take down about anything by sheer endurance alone and never ever died. So they - rightfully - nerfed it to the imho fine values it is now. They however drastically reduced the firepower of the broadsides lasers, too. That was probably to hard. The Ankylon was OP because of the OP Furios Defense, that made it impossible to kill. It was never OP because of its firepower. Even back in BETA, its EFFECTIVE firepower was the lowest of any Titan. Which I am fine with. Really. But it needs at least enough teeth to deal with an enemy Titan on the same level.
  
  Right now, I doubt that a Eradica on the same level with "Protection of the Unity" will even loose shieldpoints to an Ankylon. And that is just bad.

• Make Group shield more useful.... the ability itself has extreme OPness potential so of course we should be careful.
  The MAIN WEAKNESS of group shield, is its PATHETIC effect on lower levels. So a good increase on the lower levels and a slight increase on the higher ones would probably do wonders.
  
  Current values:
  Damage reduction : 18% -> 33% -> 54% -> 82%
  
  Suggested values:
  Damage reduction : 35% -> 65% -> 85% ->100 % (100 % means in Sins math that only half the damage is done)

• Make Inspire and Impair affect own, allied and hostile Titans. Serioulsy:
  Ragnarovs Overcharge: Works against Titans
  Coronatas Supression Aura: Works against Titans
  Eradica Chastic Bursts: Works against Titans
  Vorastra actually has MORE FRONTAL FIREPOWER than the Ragnarov... ouch
  Kultorask: Ability affect hostile titans
  
  If Inspire and Impair would affect Titans, it would not only give the Anklyon some badly needed teeth, but also help your fleet to survive much longer. Reducing the damage of the enemy fleet is very nice.... but pointless when the unaffected Ragnarov keeps sniping your caps and scattershooting your frigates into oblivion like nothing.

• Generally one could make it more defensive oriented. Better flak would certainly be fitting and helpful. As would stronger shielding.

• And make it more manoeuvrable. It is one of the smallest Titans.... what about a second level of advanced manoeuvering + a general buff? .

I love the Ankylon, I love the design, the voiceover and how it dishes out broadsides. But for competive online play... TEC Loyalists  and the Ankylon are just not good enough. Unlike the AI an human enemy wont do you the favour of flying right into your 2 Starbases + Anyklon combination of doom.

I really hope for some changes.

My answers are in red for easier reading:

Then there is another problem. TEC Loyalist economy is not better than TEC Rebel economy.... actually probably it is worse.

For a faction that is supposed to "dig in" the Loyalist have nothing but "War measure act" for increased eco behind the walls.

A defensive faction either needs to make similar ammounts of money as an agressive one or needs to have a defense that is truely frightening.= more cost effective.  Right now their defense is at best slighty better against an human opponent.... and hardly game deciding.

All other races have more or less deadly defenses:

TR have Ragnarov.... that will nail your beloved level 10 capship within 30 seconds.. should it be so foolish to enter its range. Not to mention, that should your attack fail, the Ragnarov might pay you a visit afterwards.... even without fleet it does hurt like hell.

AR have Wail and possible an angry Eradica waiting for you

AL have Supression Auro and high shield mitigation - although that does help mostly against TEC.

VL have mobile starbase and mobile fleet.... no matter where you attack them... their entire fleet will be there within 2 minutes... and their starbase will join in on the defense.

VR: Currently op... not playable in competive multiplayer.

TEC Loyals are poor on the offense.... but for that to be balanced their defense needs to be much more powerful. And they need a competive economy, even with fewer planets.

Again, CAPS and red text just for easier reading. No offense intended!

The biggest problem with the Ankylon is that it is almost useless early game, it's actually very powerful if used correctly late game, but often times it won't get this far. I personally think Group Shield needs a moderate buff to damage reduced, since it doesn't actually reduce 82% at rank 4 like it says it does. I think Group Shield applying to all ships within the radius, and not being targeted, would be better and make more sense than the current implementation. To compensate you could have it reduce its own shield mitigation while it is active in order to make it less pointless to focus fire on the Ankylon while it has a fleet with it, since the damn things are almost impossible to destroy otherwise.

Group shield needs to be a fire and forget AoE with larger radius....not the target ability it is now that affects a small cluster of ships...a better duration/cooldown ratio would also be nice...

That's basically what I was saying, and yes I agree on the duration/cooldown, at least for lower levels of the abil.

Group shield should be a passive, large radius, titan-centered, grant higher max shield mitigation, shield regen, and increase mitigation spontaneously even without combat, and reduce max mitigation of enemy ships in range.

There's a reason for the Ragnarov's other moniker...

Rape-arov.

The Ragnarov is a giant gun with more guns attached to it. And I kinda agree with Joe's idea... though I'm not sure if he's serious lol cause that might be overpowered, though I suppose it wouldn't be that hard to balance.

I'm serious. I don't mean OMFG LEZ BUFF TO INFINITY of course. It just has to tip the scales to the TL side better than it does currently.

That's precisely why I din't attempt to bake any numbers, since I don't know the mechanics deeply enough to know what is OP and what's not. 

It should increase phase missile block too, since it's all about defense.

Agreed.

Phase missile block would do little good though... TEC generally dont suffer half a bad as Advent from them. Yes, it would help, but it is not the issue. Ankylon just needs to stand a better fighting chance against all races.

Imho better flak would be a idea....

I vote for Joe's idea, with the addition that it also reduces shield mitigation on the Ankylon for the duration due to "overstressing" on the shield generators, to make focus firing on an Ankylon serve a purpose other than JUST wasting time.

I like Joe's idea, though I think it should also be able to share damage with its fleet, similar to the Advent's guardian vessels.  Furious defense should then be adjusted to compensate for the sudden massive damage increase being delivered to it.

Actually, something along these lines would be quite interesting.

As has been pointed out, often invaders won't focus an Ankylon because it'll just sit there and take the damage, and its a better idea just to kill the supporting fleet, kill the planet, then kill the Ankylon. If the Ankylon were able to give some of its survivability to its fleet in this sort of way, it becomes far more formidable not as a Titan, but the fleet it is a part of. Dependent on how its balanced it could end up being having the same effect for the attacking fleet as simply focusing the Ankylon would have had, making it a harsher target.

I'm not entirely for making it passive. Joe's idea on its own works as a passive, however adding to it changes it enough that it really should be an active if damage sharing is included, or 'over stressing' as suggested by Senza. In this way Furious Defence and this ability would have a level of synergy. I'm not sure whether I'd change how the ability is activated, however. A target ability that spreads from the targeted unit, like it works now, allows the Ankylon to sit in the middle of the enemy fleet and use this ability on its own fleet - dependent on the range of casting - whereas having it as a non-targeted ability that spreads from the Ankylon, like Disruption Matrix, means it would be better for the Ankylon to be positioned in the middle of its own fleet, so that the shield actually buffs its allies rather than hitting empty space.

I'd probably increase its spread range so that, when cast in the center of a large fleet, it is able to place the buff on most, if not all, of the fleet it is protecting, and increase casting range so that the Ankylon truly can sit in the middle of the enemy fleet where it maximises its DPS, whilst also maximising the effectiveness of Furious Defence and Disruption Matrix, and allowing it to use its shield to effectively protect its fleet.

Is it all that's needed to balance the Ankylon?

That'd depend on how it was implemented, though it sounds like a decent start.

Generally, seing that the Anylon is a defensive Titan and is somwhat smaller than other others, what about giving it considerable better speed an agility?

I'm not sure if making the Ankylon faster is a good idea. The thing is already almost impossible to destroy without completely and totally overwhelming force once it hits high levels, and making it faster would just compound that. Then again, I suppose the Vorastra is already that way..... and the Advent Titans are pretty fast for Titans. Perhaps just buffing its speed slightly?

Would buffing speed even do much of anything? Point of the Ankylon is to try and get into the heat of things and stay there while giving support to your fleet. Not run away taking pot shots.

The problem is that the Ankylon cannot escape the forward gun of the ragnarov...which naturallys leads to it loosing in 90 % of all cases.

Not a whole lot can escape the Ragnarov's foward gun anyways in general for a cap ship or titan unless you are the VL with Microphase jump.

The passive group shield ability I suggested would do great lengths to help the Ankylon versus not only the ragnarov, but all-around.

Group shield as an active means there will always be a window where it will not be any good helping defend, which will be the preferred time for the enemy to use their abilities. A passive is always on, thus not suffer from this limitation. 

Passive raising of shield mitigation is perhaps the most dramatic effect of my suggested changes, because the alpha strikes usually find shield mitigation at level 0 and there is plenty of AM to spare on abilities on both sides. If the TL get into the fray with mitigation already up, that may be a significant change.

Forgot I posted this, will go over all this later.

-Twi /)

I did do a fleet battle, in round 2, and doing the mid levels is pointless if a max level test is being done, as it doesn't lose any abilities.

Your tests had the same results as mine(The ones I did anyway, you did a lot more of them than me, but they proved my point as well.)  Ankylon is just as effective as Ragnarov, if both have similar fleet support.  People need to stop comparing ship stats one to one, and look at what the ship is made fore.  Ankylon needs a fleet to kick ass, Ragnarov doesn't, but would be wiped out if it was against a fleet on its own.

-Twi /)

Your one fleet battle is not even remotely realistic...unless someone is a suicide player clinging on to one planet and got feed for a titan, no player with a level 10 titan is going to be tied to only the 3rd fleet upgrade...furthermore, they most certainly will not be using LFs and LRFs against a level 10 titan...including a single level 1 Kol as the only capital ship seems more of a troll than anything else.....

I also think it's rather unusual you have lvl 10 titans with only level 3 of their abilities....you are far better off with level 4 of at least 2 normal abilties...

In reality, level 10 titans are going to be coupled with massive swarms of bombers and/or fighters...a fleet with an ankylon will be more inclined towards bombers while a ragnarov fleet will probably be more inclined towards fighters (or a mix)...both fleets will have lots of hoshikos, and in very late game you may even see someone trying to use a cielo with designate target...

Expect multiple caps which will most likely include a very high level akkan, marza, or corsev that was built at the beginning of the game...don't be surprised if you see a dunov "spam" with lots of EMP action or a kol "spam" with lots of flak burst...

Most likely you aren't going to see much in terms of LFs, LRFs, flak, or corvettes...you may see some HCs if they are left overs from mid game, but that's a rather unwise ship to have when facing dem bot spam (which late game TEC will have)...it'll basically be SC, support cruisers, and caps...

If you are toying with level 10 titans, you probably should assume at least 5 or 6 fleet upgrades with 2-5 capital ships (levels depend on composition, timing, and total number)...that'll make a substantial difference...

It's also rather unfair to give the TL all the militia techs without giving TR savage thrill and having them bomb the TL planet during the battle...that's a ~30% bonus to DPS for the TR...

My tests were Titan only tests....

I invite you to a friendly test game.... just us two.... you choose TEC Loyalist and I choose TEC Rebel. We could coordinate the game so that we have the same tech level and then have several test battles. Please post here if you are interested.I will make a replay out of it to settle this issue. Should you be right, the TEC Loyalists fleet should hold its own in battle. In that case, I will withdraw my complains.

Playing against an human player should show the Ankylons weaknesses to a far greater extent, because unlike the AI a human enemy wont do you the favor of targetting the Ankylon first. Instead he will scattershot your fleet into oblivion... something group shield does a very poor job at protecting you from. Similar result for an Eradica. The Coronate will just snipe your capships with Unity Mass and steal your fleet. The Vasari Loyalist will at first outgun you by conventional means and then consume your fleet... group shield or not.

You have to keep in mind that the Ankylon's effective capability is linked to how large a fleet it is supporting. I will agree that the Ankylon is not as bad as people say it is (I actually prefer it to the Ragnarov), but that dependance on having a supporting fleet can be detrimental. Its kind of like your greatest strength and weakness. If u can keep ur fleet alive, Ankylons are gonna make people pull their hair out, but if u can effective eliminate the fleet, Ankylons will die really quickly. Its also safe to say that Ankylons are less useful in attack situations.

This usually means that unless paired with other factions that have a better suited attack Titan, life can get difficult for TEC Loyalist players. Their main role in team matches is not to take to the front lines, but rather to support an attacking allied force, and once the planet or system is secured, assist in its defence while your team does mop up duty or continues the attack to prevent any nasty surprises e.g. being backstabbed by incoming enemy forces from the rear.

This also means in 1v1 maps, TEC Loyalists are going to be in quite the disadvantage since there is no other player to support. This may be why the Ankylon is seem as underpowered, because it can't take on another player's Titan in a 2 player match on even ground.