It sounds like it might be a valid point, but isn't it a bit too theoretical? Has anyone actually seen a huge carrier fleet fight multiple Akkans where they used this ability? Has it caused giant swings in many of the games they play that seem imbalanced?

I've never seen such a situation, I have seen a very large number of Strikecraft run into a decent number of Flaks in a mixed fleet; the outcome was slaughter, in case anyone cares. The strikecraft got one capital in two attack runs, but after that their numbers were so severely depleted that they had little effect on the battle (I had a Halycon with Telekinetic Push in the battle, but it was turned on Autocast and apparently caught very few fighters, I didn't even notice it's effect).

On paper the area of effect anti-fighter abilities might seen very powerful, but really I don't know if anyone has a ton of experience in game breaking battles with them to say so. And making changes based on that would be a bad idea (especially with how questionable the use of many capital, and how easily it is to kill them by the time they get their abilities). Ultimately too, the range of these abilities, last I checked, isn't that impressive, especially due to the way Strikecraft move in battle in and out of the effective range. What power it does have, I think they deserve, it sounds like a smart way to deal with someone relying on massing one unit.

I can only really comment on the Guardian and the Subverter, since I have seen these units in action a decent amount.

The Guardian's Repel ability is fairly strong (under the right circumstances) but is far from overpowered I think mostly because although you from attacking them (except with LRMs) they cannot attack you (save with Strikecraft which are very cheaply nullified by flak, or with their Illuminators, which have the worst range and can be beaten by your LRMs). Situationally useful, and neat to have (with flak and carriers it can be a pain to kill) but not exactly a game breaker.

Subverter's Distortion Field attack I have seen in a few situations, and it does trouble me at times. The size of the area it can impact can make it scary good, particularly against an Advent fleet that is clustered (can essentially force them to use Guardians Repel to keep the Subverters away until Strikecraft can hopefully neutralize them). Guardian's Repulsion may be situationally useful, but who doesn't want an area of effect attack that will cripple all of the ships in it?

So that's my take. Magenetize Hull and the other Anti-Fighter capital abilities I really haven't seen employed with much effectiveness in games, so changing them based on theory doesn't sound so great (especially since the true nemesis of Strikecraft are the dirt cheap flaks). Guardian's Repel can be useful in some situations to the Advent, but since at best it makes it so neither side can attack one another (although more often LRMs will just put the pain into the Guardians from outside the effect) it doesn't seem like a big deal. Subverter's Distortion Field seens like it may be a bit too powerful compared to the others due to it's area of attack and how easily a single Subverter can disable significant portions of a fleet, but I think it needs closer examination.

Lemme add : they dont directly die but you could damage massed strike craft heavyly and repetion would kill em off, its just that the effect scales.

example: avdvent strike craft squad = 7 units. lets say telekinetic push does 20 damage per unit. 7x20 damage.
tec have less fighters in the squad and vsarai even less. thus they are less effected.

I could be wrong here and the damage is actually just 20 per squad and then spread out evenly to the units but i really don't know. I believe strike craft are treated individually.


if you hit 10 squads in range of the ability its 10 times as much damages the ability does compared to one squad.
if you hit 20 squads its 20x
30 30 times.

it scales.

Advent bombers have 75 hit points each and 1 armor. Should be equal to 78.75 hitpoints
A telekintic push on level 1 does around 20 damage i think. 4 pushes times right could wreak havoc on the strike craft fleet.

Something could happen that might cause an imbalance if someone does it, but they mysteriously haven't done it ever. The best time to post a thread.

Actually the horses to tanks comparison is a bit extreme IMO,

Think of it more as mounted cavalry vs. pikemen

It's the exact battle between one force and something designed to counter it, the only way the cavalry will win other than sheer numbers and brute force would be to diversify their forces....

trying to kill several of these caps with only strike craft is like trying to ram a mounted cavalry unit straight into a nice wall of pikemen

At least, that's the way I think about it... I mean, if the opponent swarms strikecraft, you build flaks, so if he masses these carrier cap ships, you get some flaks or you do the same thing and use the abilities too and it ends up in a nice stalemate unless you have some other support...

@carbon16. If i get 17 strikecraft suqadrons in a 1v1 (+ other stuff of course, caps illums, disciples, iconus ) then i can get twice as much easily in a 2v2 and even more in a 4v4.

No one uses strike craft because they are garbage. Before you start complaining about the specifics, maybe you should realize that anything vs strikecraft is "OP."