That's actually true. The Kortul/Radiance do have a majority of their firepower facing forward. The Radiance also has no rear-facing weapons, while the Kortul might (Pulse Beams and all). All three battleships can fire forward/left/right, but the Kol has weapons that stick out ALL AROUND. The Radiance has about half its damage sticking out to each side (it's lasers are its most powerful weapon), while the Kortul has a good amount of damage to the front (Wave Cannons/Phase Missiles) and sides (Pulse Beams).

In all reality, very few ships can ACTUALLY SHOOT BEHIND THEMSELVES. Some examples of ships that CAN are the- Kol, Dunov (it's there, just hard to see), the Sova (REALLY hard to see), the Egg (rear Pulse Beams), and the Revelation (a little difficult to notice). I think that the Advent Rapture might also have rear guns.

actually, the Kortul does dish out quite a bit of damage (READ THE OP MAN!), and can dish out an OBSCENELY high amount with Power Surge.

Volt actually noted that the Kol has the best defense because it can shoot all around itself, the Radiance has the best anti-single-target weapon (Cleansing Brilliance), while the Kortul is built for pure damage dealing.

I'd have to say that because there is such a debate, there's no best; it's all based on your playing style:

Kol:

- Best hp and armor

- Flak bust for anti-fighter defense; gauss gun for single targets

- Finest hour is a really nice ability; considerably raises firepower, rate of fire, and regenerates anti-matter

- Adaptive forcefield for defense

Radiance

- Highest shields, weakest armor

- Animosity useful, as Advent ships tend to be weaker and more fragile

- Detonate anti-matter can be very useful against anything with anti-matter, including other capital ships

- Final ability, Cleansing Brilliance is an awesome ability; very good vs capital ships and any supporting targets nearby

Kortul

- Most weapons are designed to face the front

- Power surge is useful for engaging both enemy fleets and enemy capitals (especially at level 3)

- Disarmament is good for taking out enemy strike craft (keep Sentinnels nearby to support the vessel)

- Disruptive strikes I think is useful in that it slows down cooldown, but not so good for anti-matter depletion (too slow)

- Nanites is also good as a multi-use vessel

All in all, I'm not sure which one is best. If you're talking about who would win at say, level 10 with a pair of bombers, well, I would actually have to lean in favor of the Kortul, although I'd need a test to see. You see, the weapons on the Kortul are forward facing, so that makes it more likely to win.

Could somebody test the following in controlled conditions:

- Kol vs Radiance (both lvl 10)

- Kol vs Kortul (both lvl 10)

- Radiance vs Kortul (both lvl 10)

If you're looking for sheer weapons and health... well, you probably should be buying frigates and not capital ships

Although I love the Marza in combat, I've taken to viewing it more like a super-siege frigate, for blowing up planets quickly and keeping up momentum.  I will often fork out a huge sum of money to get level 2 raze planet so I can quickly take an enemy world and keep up my push.

To be honest, I'm starting to think that the Kortul is the most underpowered of the 3 battleships. It has the weakest anti-strikecraft ability, a low DPS, a low armor rating (vs the Kol or an upgraded Radiance), and the final ability is not as good as Finest Hour or Cleansing Brilliance.

Do check this out:

Kortul: 2650 hull base, +115 per level = 3685 at 10.
          1425 shield base, +165 per level = 2910 at 10.

Kol: 3000 hull base, +120 per level = 4080 at 10.
       1250 shield base, +135 per level = 2465 at 10.

Radiance: 2200 hull base, +90 per level = 3010 at 10.
               1750 shield base, +180 per level = 3370 at 10.

Maybe to beef it up:

- Improve armor to the same degree as the Kol (by 1 point) and allow another point of upgradeability

- Double the frontal phase missile rate of fire (keep the damage per shot though)

- Improve the final ability - maybe make both the damage buff and the damage 2000 radius, plus say 300 damage

- Slightly beef up the ability against strike craft. Maybe also cause the ability to cause fighters and bombers to slow down somewhat to make them easier to hit (improve accuracy of the Kortul and supporting friendly vessels)

- Some more gains to hp and shields per experience upgrade, say, +125 hull, +180 shield per level

- If these suggestions make the Kortul overpowered somewhat, push up the price tag a bit

Oh definitely; the only reason it gets used online is for jam weapons, since Vasari really has no other alternatives to deal with swarms of strike craft.  It does this role effectively, but its other abilities just don't stack up to the "great" capital ships like Kol and Radiance. 

As for how to buff it... well, that's a subject of fierce debate.  There's a thread in the general discussion forum about all capital ships in general, including Kortul.  If you haven't already, you should place your comments there. 

The big problem is the crew upgrades.  Those push up the price of any new capital ship (replacing an old one is another story) and make it impractical in most cases.  I will almost always put out the cash to replace a dead capital ship, but choosing to build a new one is a big sacrifice. 

Another issue you overlook is command cost.  Frigates, particularly long range frigates, are very efficient in terms of the performance they give for command slots.  If staying at a reasonable upkeep level is high priority for you, this is another reason to hold off on the capital ships.

I personally like to buy my capital ships early on.  This means there's still militia close to home to kill and level up my capital ships.  You just send them off to clear a planet, send them off to repair and repeat.  Clears worlds with minimal effort and you get a mid-level capital ship out of it.  I know this is a risk militarily and economically, but if it pays off a high level capital ship can really tilt the game.  You have to pick the right one, though otherwise your lovely caps can just become bomber chow.  This is why Kortul/Halcyon/Kol are superb second choice capital ships, because they counter their own hardest counter!

The Radiance will only get off one shot of CB before its AM is wiped though...

I do agree. I suppose it is worth it if you've got a level 10 battleship. In that case, you're in great shape, both in terms of bang for buck, and if you will, bang for supply.

One solution may be to escort your capitals with flak units early on. Any frigates are going to get chewed up by the capitals, and so are heavy cruisers.

My experience is that the Kortul often wins killing other Battleships...it kills the enemy ship's Antimatter, and then it is able to keep running Power Surge which turns the tide of the fight back in the Kortul's favor.  This isn't to say that it is the best Battleship, I think it is probably the least useful, but it is pretty good in long 1v1 fights because of Disruptive Strikes. 

A Radiance might win if it starts the fight with full antimatter, it isn't like I have done controlled testing. 

Well, over time, odds would favor neither as it is random.  Besides, I would think that DS would wipe way more AM than EAA would give...

Darvin, I agree completely.  Maybe this is the area that needs to be tweaked to lower capital ship costs.

Leveling up can be difficult.  I think they should buff durability increments for each level somehow, to help increase surviveability of higher level Cap Ships (i.e.: buff something in the above [prior post]).

Ok, Yeah, I agree.  I should have said: The Kol has the highest total Hull+Armor+Sheild, rather than the "toughest", at all levels.  And I'll concede that stats-wise, they are all roughly comparable at level 10, not one "easily" ahead.  (And, as I mention at the link, shields regenerate faster than hull, so this is another unseen component).

Energy Absorbtive Armor adds 1, 2, & 3 armor.  Thus add 3 armor, or +15% hull to a level 10 Radiance.   So its total armor would be 11.10 or +55.5% hull at level 10.  That would make its total stats quite comparable to the Kol. 

But then we would need to consider the effect of the Kol's Adaptive Forcefeild, which further complicates things, and tips the scales back toward the Kol in total 'toughness'.  Not to mention the Kol's Finest Hour hull repair rate of 10/sec for 60 seconds (600 Hull).  AND, lest we forget the Kortul, Power Surge's extra shield regeneration rate is also a factor.  So yeah, "it depends on the situation".