Why would anyone get THREE extra cap ships before Vorastra titan? And one of them is a MARAUDER???

I find gravity warhead to be one of the best ship-disabling abilities in the game... it stops phase jumping for >15 seconds AND slows down ship speed. That is more than enough time to kill a level 6 cap mid game. 

Repair cloud is nice and all but in most situations overseers are the superior healer (unless mass vette swarm). RC takes huge amounts of AM which means you can only cast it like twice before running out. Plus, with the way the AI works in this game, it doesn't spread out attacks over multiple targets, instead just targeting 1-2 ships. That means most of the fleet is likely not damaged at all, wasting much of the RC. Its basically a crappier version of the repair bay.

The two main uses of the kortul is bleeding enemy titan/cap AM reserves and countering late game strikecraft swarms. Its ultimate doesn't really ever come into play because by that time nobody will build any frigates besides flak so it will be useless against carriers or HCs (not to mention the game is probably over if you get your 3rd cap to level 6). Plus you already have a titan that eats frigates for breakfast, why would you need the ultimate?

Lol? You do know that phase out hull renders a ship unable to move, right? It also resets the ship's speed, which means it has to accelerate all over again, costing a few precious seconds. Meanwhile, the enemy ships catch up to your cap. Its actually counterproductive in making the ship able to retreat.

How often do you get a marauder past level 3???

No, he is likely to thank you for wasting valuable resources on a shit ship and making it easier for him to kill your cap...

Also, if you opponent isn't paying attention in a critical time like that he is probably a noob or AI.

Meanwhile, the enemy fleet focus fires your maruader, killing it, while his own cap is invulnerable...

Or you could avoid this disaster by just grav bombing the prog...

You do know that subversion has a range limit, right? Meaning it has to be close to the enemy planet to work. That is not really practical considering how easy it is to snipe the maruader. I could see this becoming useful in late game when you have mass caps but by then your opponent is likely to have multiple factories on multiple worlds, limiting its usefulness.

I agree the nullification of PJI is an often overlooked feature of distort gravity.

Or you could just get a titan that is infinitely more useful at level 6 than this crap ship.

Forgive me with quoting, not so good with using it yet.

1) I get 4 caps before titan because the research for max cap slots goes 1>1>1>2, so it just makes, to me, economical sense at the time

2) I dont have the best experience with gravity warhead, it just never appeared to do what it needed to do for me, will try it out a few more times and re-make a conclusion. This does sound inviting.

3) I never have repair cloud on autocast in general cases, and only fire it when there are several ships needing repair (using the phase out hull to redirect enemy fire can lead to every single one of my capital ships with hull damage after a prolonged fight, that is the time to use it). I always have overseers with me once I get the tech.

4) I forgot to mention jam weapons, and that is really quite silly of me. Yes Jam Weapons is incredibly important, and having the sentinels to back you up always helps. as for the titan vs frigates, I usually play VL, so the Maw is only lv 6. Also, this could work with other questions you asked about why I get the marauder before the Vorastra, I use the titan for guerrilla warfare, hitting undefended sectors and micro phasing out when it gets dangerous to level him up, and I call the titan in to help my main fleet when the extra support is needed. This makes the Kortul ultimate quite useful, but is always situational.

5) Instead of retreating the capital ship, I phase it out, so its invincible for a few seconds, enemy changes target, and the capital ship comes back online to continue fighting. keep repeating the phase out if the enemy keeps targeting it, only needing to retreat once the Antoraks antimatter gets low. Phasing out one of your own ships while it tries to retreat is stupid, although I did do it once (allied Marza was on 60 hit points getting chased by a projenetor on ~800 hit points, I phased the Marza out while he tried to retreat, engaged the projo 1v1 with my marauder, phased the marza out a few more times before the projo decided to try and run, I phased the projo on ~120 HP after it turned around, marza came back online, turned around and we both finished it off in a single volley).

6) My marauders get past level 3 pretty much all the time, In fact I cant remember the last time I lost a marauder before it got to level 5.

7) I have played against very good players, and the damage sharing phase out hull allows has saved me several times, you asked how my marauder got past level 3, to be honest I hardly ever lose capital ships, because of that antorak. Facing AI with an antorak in my mix makes fighting a joke

8) this scenario is the enemy is in full blown retreat, so you let the rest of his fleet run away, but you trap the projo, gravity warhead does sound like a better option now from what you have said, phase out hull is ultimately self preservation and cancelling channeled abilities like missile barrage

9) hence why I said I rarely use subversion, phase out hull and distort gravity are just much better, I usually go 4:4:0:2

10) a lv 6 titan of any race is better than a lv 6 capital ship of any race to be honest

Fixed.

I love the Marauder. Phase Out Hull is hilarious to use to prevent focus fire nearly indefinitely, especially since the Marauder is a low priority target since it's not a big damage dealer.

Yes

Oh of course competent players re-focus fire and they have, I watch them.

But the Antorak has a great antimatter pool, and can repeatedly cast Phase Out Hull for a considerable period of time.

What this allows for is a little merrygoround like this.

1. Phase ship out, enemy ships change target

2. Ship phases back in, get an overseer or two to cast their healing on it, repair cloud if enough of your other ships are damaged too (repair cloud isnt channeled, so it will continue to take effect even when the ship phases out again)

3. if the enemy redirects fire to it, phase it out again.

4. Repeat, you will have a full strength capitalship in no time.

Benefits of doing this instead of simply pulling the capital ship out:

> Ship still gets experience

> enemy wastes valuable DPS, while your fleet kills them.

> Engagement formations don't go full confetti as the enemy fleet tries to hunt down a fleeing ship, so you can keep that under your control.

I will comply with you saying ICO games go too quickly now, this is sadly true, and hinders micro on all fronts

In a close fight against a high skill player, it isn't going to work like you theorize....first of all, Vasari are outgunned by both Advent and TEC due to the comparative cost of Vasari ships.  Vasari usually have to rely on their starbases to back up their fleets in the early and mid game.  By building 4 cap ships, you have only worsened your DPS disadvantage versus another player who built 1 cap and frigates. 

When you phase out whatever ship is taking damage, it isn't contributing to the fight...and the Marauder doesn't do much damage, and you are trying to do Repair Cloud instead of Scramble Bombers on the Skirantra.  So you pretty much have 2-3 cap ships that are trying to stay alive while not contributing much to the fight beyond soaking damage.  While soaking damage is important, you are seriously outgunned because frigates have a much better DPS / cost ratio, and your opponent has an extra 40 or so frigates.  The scales are going to tip against you very quickly as you start losing your fleet while the Marauder and phased out cap add squat in return fire.  Because you have 4 cap ships, at the time of the first engagement, they are likely to be about level 3-4.  Your enemy has a level 6 cap ship by now, which could very well give a nasty advantage depending on the ship.

If you tell me you have some fabulous strategy where you use a Marauder and an Evacuator to colonize really fast, or you use a Marauder and 3 Skirantras to do hit and run attacks with a bunch of bombers, I'm willing to entertain your madness and say I don't know exactly what will happen.  Phase Out Hull is not going to decisively win you any battles you weren't going to already win.  It is a nice ability to have handy if you can afford it late game, but not something you can base your core strategy around.

Four carrier caps of any race can project a lot of power, you just have to be ready to do some hit and run sometimes, and it isn't going to work on everyone.  That is why I said maybe combining a Marauder with 3 Skirantras for raiding tactics if you want to get some use out of the Marauder.

I don't know Sin, HuyMac has.......

as for my ICO name, it should be JAV1L15

its wasnt me but u  guys know i love me maruder