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Depends on the map.  Generally on more spacious maps you want to go with colony capital ships, and on close-range maps you want to go with carrier capital ships.

Again, depends on your situation.  Generally the high priority techs are ice/volcanic colonization on the civic side, and repair platforms and long range frigates on the military side (carriers and flak frigates are also useful).  Otherwise, you only pick up your techs marginally and instead focus your cash into building units and colonizing planets.

Basically as fast as you are able.  Early-game colonization is big.

Again, repair platforms, long range frigates, and maybe flaks and carriers are your top priority.  For TEC the hoshiko is also high priority.  On the civic side, ice/volcanic colonization.  You may want to skip civic labs (particularly if the enemy is close-by or if you're on slower game-speeds) and go pure military.

thanks a lot

also another thing, where do i find a colorful space background (for example as seen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E34f0lGxj2o) as opposed to the plain black one? 

and how powerful are the starbases and which upgrades should i buy for them 

btw i'm playing diplomacy if that makes any difference

 

In one of the options tabs there is a bunch of checkboxes, two of which say "Use Deep Space Skyboxes" and "Use Color Skyboxes". I am actually unsure what effects each does but just switch them on and off until you get a skybox you want.

Starbases can be quite powerful. The best upgrades depend on what you want them to do and especially which race you are playing as.

You probably have sky boxes turned of in the "Effects" options for the background.

Star bases are the best for choke points and continuing a trade lane. Upgrade weapons and hull 1st or they're an expensive target.

"Color skyboxes" are pretty much all color in the background...purple, green, red, orange, light blue, blue..."Deep Space skyboxes" are mostly black, with some added color (like a blue streak to represent a nebula) but are mostly just black space...if both color and deep space skyboxes are turned off, you'll just get plain, black space...you can play with both on, both off, or just one on (I personally like the colored ones, but not the deep space, so I turn just the deep space ones off)...

GoaFan77 is correct...each time you turn the colored skyboxes off, then on again, a different skybox comes up...so if you start a game, and hate the light green skybox you started with (or whatever), toggle the colored skybox thing until you get a colored background you like...

As for starbases, remember that you can only pick 8 upgrades, and you can't change your mind, so choose carefully...

In general, you will almost always eventually want all of the defense upgrades (3 for TEC/Advent, 4 for Vasari)...starbases are big investments, you don't want to risk losing them...

The other upgrades are highly dependent on the position you are defending, and if the starbase will be on its own, or supported by some fleet...

I can't address every situation for every faction, but I can tell you what three setups I generally go with...

TEC - 3 Defense, 2 Repair, 2 Weapons...the repair ability is great at healing defenses (which don't benefit from shield mitigation or have shields) and supporting your fleet, so I almost always go with it...a construction upgrade is a good choice if the starbase is in an uncolonizable gravity well or ally's gravity well, since it will allow you to build ships there...

Advent - 3 Defense, 2 Meteor Storm, 2 Mass Disorientation...the 3 culture upgrades, in certain situations, can be really good if the starbase is close to an enemy gravity well with few logistic slots (such as an asteroid) since the starbase culture is very strong and can overrun enemy planets that don't have much culture...

Vasari - 2-3 Weapons, 3-4 Defense, 1-2 Deflector Shield...Deflector shield lvl 2 is very powerful, and arguably more useful than getting the 4th defense upgrade...the phase stabilizer upgrade also isn't bad for starbases in uncolonizable or ally gravity wells, as it allows your fleet to get there quickly...

Trade upgrades are not a bad choice for any starbase in an uncolonizable gravity well...the upgrade that prevents loss of a planet through bombardment also isn't a bad idea if you play with pirates, but otherwise its generally looked down upon...

Pound for pound, starbases offer unmatched muscle.  They're exorbitantly expensive to fully upgrade, but once upgraded the things are virtually impregnable powerhouses.  The flipside is that they can't be redeployed into another gravity well, so they don't do a lot of good against an enemy who ignores and bypasses them.  This makes them more useful against the AI than a human player.

With few exceptions, starbase upgrades are all worthwhile.  The first two weapon and health upgrades are agiven for a combat-oriented starbase, and in many cases you can stop there.  However, each faction has their own goodies.  You have to be careful with security override protocol (TEC) but it's a real game-winner if you pull it out at the right time.  Meteor control and mass disorientation (Advent) are both awesome, and Vasari can get a lot of mileage out of frontal deflectors and debris vortex.  The only ones I'd avoid are Induced Reverence (for Advent) and Colony Pods (for Vasari); if you want an economic upgrade on your starbase, get trade ports.  

For a typical starbase, I'll stike with 2-4 upgrades, occasionally going up to 6.  You rarely want to fill out all 8 slots because it's a good idea to keep a slot open in case you need a specific upgrade later, and it's just a bad idea to sink so much money into a single structure.

The most important thing when using starbases is to ensure you build some repair platforms nearby.  This has a big effect on their longevity in battle, and I'd make sure to always have at least two repair platforms right up against my starbase.  Some people like to add in turrets and hangers, personally I only do this when I'm in panic mode and need to really fortify the location in question.



With respect to the questions you've asked, no.

 

Oh, Darvin 3, You are so wrong, to my opinion. Why do you get rid of Other three types? Especially if you play advent - level2 of Radiance allowa you to get a squad,

He is not wrong at all.  The carrier caps are sadly the most OP for all 3 races due to well intentioned but unneeded buffs due to community nagging.  The other 3 types of caps have their uses but far and away the carrier caps are better for the resources spent.  Yes a level 2 radiance allows 1 squad but a level 1 halcyon can have 4 squads.  A skirantra(the most OP of the 3 carrier caps) can spam HUGE amounts of bombers.  A radiance is a distant 3rd place to the halcyon and progenitor.

 

[_]-Greyfox

Even that's arguable; many people value the Revelation and the Rapture higher.  The Radiance is a one-trick pony with its detonate antimatter ability (which is at least a very slick trick), so you could argue that the more versatile Rapture or the equally type-cast Revelation are its superiors. 

Frankly, that's the issue with Advent balance right now; the Progenitor and Halcyon are clearly a notch above the other three, which are relatively well balanced against each other.  Greyfox and Cykur are of the opinion that the Halcyon (and perhaps Progenitor?) should be nerfed down to their level.  I'm the opinion that they should be all buffed up to the level of the Halcyon, and the only capital ship that needs a nerf is the Skirantra.

Anyways, the bottom line is that carriers definitely outclass battleships and siege capital ships, and vastly outclass support capital ships.  The only battleship capital ships that even come close to the strength of carriers are the Kortul and the Marza (which strictly speaking is a siege-class), and even those are risky and difficult choices to pull off.  With the  Skirantra buff of 1.19, the Kortul opener (and every other conceivable Vasari opener) is effectively dead, while anything weak to bombers (like the Marza) is borderline suicide.

 

Since we're on the topic anyways, here's my personal opinion of capital ship ranking (from overall best to worst; situation obviously changes these rankings somewhat):

1. Skirantra (Vasari Carrier)
2. Halcyon (Advent Carrier)
3. Progenitor (Advent Colony)
4. Sova (TEC Carrier)
5. Akkan (TEC Colony)
6. Kortul (Vasari Battleship)
7. Jarrasul (Vasari Colony)
8. Marza (TEC Siege)
9. Radiance (Advent Battleship)
10. Vulkoras (Vasari Siege)
11. Rapture (Advent Support)
12. Kol (TEC Battleship)
13. Revelation (Advent Siege)
14. Dunov (TEC Support)
15. Antorak (Vasari Support)

 

I've tried different starting caps in MP just for the hell of it, and I'd find a hard argument for any ships other than the carriers and colonizers...

There are three things in MP that make carriers and colonizers the best...

One, expansion...cost effective and fast expansion is crucial....this means not only expanding quickly, but doing it without the necessity of a large fleet...this usually amounts to wiping out krosovs then building turrets while your fleet moves on to colonize another world...colonizing cap ships are good because colony ships get shot down if you don't wipe out militias, and carrier caps provide SC, the single best thing to quickly wipe out krosovs...

Two, gamespeed...SC don't require much mirco-management, and the abilities on the three carrier caps don't require much micro-management either...there are some good abilities out their (detonate antimatter, reverie, magnetize, etc) but they usually require micromanagement...otherwise they'll likely be used at the wrong time or on some frigate...micro-management is difficult on fast and faster game speed since your higher resource income forces your attention elsewhere even if there's a battle going on...and if you have a bad connection or a laggy game, you can just forget about micromanagement...carrier caps aren't just OP, they require little effort or skill to manage

Three, military composition...pretty much anyone who plays MP will be rushing LRFs (except maybe Advent, but there aren't many Advent players out there), and the best thing against LRFs is fighters...the best thing against HCs and Capital ships is bombers, so throughout all stages of the game, SC are your best counter to the mainstay ship of any enemy fleet...LRFs (at least LRMs and Kanraks) will take down a low level capital ship very easily, meaning you will have to keep your first cap out of most battles unless you have repair bays...this means you will be kiting, and if you are kiting, the only firepower your cap ship is contributing is its SC...

In a few limited circumstances, I can see arguments for a dunov or revelation...a dunov is a good counter against a skirantra (which I'd say there's a 50 50 shot any given player you fight will have built one...or two) and the revelation's clairvoyance is good for gathering intel, but even then you are probably better at saving those ships for a 2nd pick...

In single player or in MP games with few players and normal speed, I'd agree with you PheonixStormcrow...the other caps are worth considering, but even then carriers and colonizers are going to always be strong choices...

 

I have always been of the opinion that they(carrier caps) never needed buffing to begin with.  If you see that as being in favor of a nerf, then sure.  There were many perfectly reasonable uses for them prior to them being buffed.  They were not weak caps at all.  In fact halcyon was even then a good 2nd pick behind a progenitor for advent.  Skirantra was a decent pick for vasari as well.  Sova had its uses but mostly situational(for sova rush for example).  Now you have NO CHOICE but to build at least 1 carrier cap.  Building anything else now severely hampers your ability to win or even hold your own against someone who does(IE. everyone else).

 

[_]-Greyfox

Unfortunately this is very true...why carriers were buffed in the first place is a real mystery to me...my only guess is people complained too much about the Halcyon being OP (which is not true) so the Sova and Skirantra were buffed...

Advent capital ships should be more powerful (if ever so slightly) than the other two faction's...Advent don't get LRFs as early, have expensive ships all around, and the worst economy...I'll be damned if they aren't at least given the most powerful caps and late game fleet...

TEC cap ships should be buffed to the level where the Sova and Akkan aren't the default "go to"s when picking a cap ship...likewise, Advent ships should be polished to where all 5 are good choices, not just the Halcyon...as for the Vasari, Skirantra needs to be nerfed to pre 1.19 and the antorak and vulkoras need a good upgrade...

I think Darvin is right, the Skirantra should be nerfed, but all the other caps should be brought up to the level of the Halcyon instead of "oh carriers are OP, lets nerf them"...the only overpowered ship is the Skirantra, and even then half of its OPness comes from the Vasari being borderline OP themselves...

I hope SD releases another patch...the last one was an absolute disaster, a single patch should not cause half of MP players to jump the Vasari bandwagon and force everyone to build a carrier if they want even half a chance of surviving in MP...

Untrue; all capital ships need about the same micromanagement, and very few abilities should ever be left on autocast.  Moreover, micromanagement isn't a big deal in this game, even on fastest game speeds.  Queuing up units, if you have your factories hotkeyed, is a 5 second job, and its not like these are Warcraft III battles where five seconds can be life and death for your entire army.




Never said you were wrong.  It's an opinion, and a very valid opinion at that.  Definitely something needs to give because they are outperforming everything else.  Either a nerf on their part, or a buff on the part of the other capital ships, or some combination to find middle-ground.

Personally, I think the Halcyon should be the target for capital ship strength and versatility; everything else should be balanced against its current performance.  Of course, I could definitely see your side that the Halcyon should have never been made as strong as it currently is, and the bar should be set lower.  It's all a matter of opinion.




On normal or slow speed, carrier capital ships are even more powerful and I would never consider anything other than a carrier or colony capital ship.  The reason is that carrier cruisers and larger fleets come out later in the game, and this gives a carrier capital ship a lot more punch in the early stages of the game.

 

Stardock is the publisher, Ironclad is the developer.  Ironclad is responsible for developing the patches, and SD distributes them on Impulse.  It's IC that needs to do the work if it's going to get done.

 

Agreed; I saw leaps and bounds in Vasari playstyle over 1.181, to the point at which if they survived the early-game they could go match with the bugged Advent illuminator and threaten a battleball.  The TEC were strong early, but they were no match against either faction later on.  I was screaming back in 1.181 that TEC was the weakest faction and their only redeeming quality was a strong economy and a good rush-game.

Advent is now gimped; without their illuminator they have a very hard time surviving, and the scout-nerf has crippled their alternate opener leaving them with few options in the early game.  On the other hand, Vasari with the most accessible LRF and weakest LF benefitted enormously from the scout nerf.  If it wasn't for the scramble buff, TEC could probably match them early-game, but Vasari would still have been unmatched as a late-game powerhouse.

Something's gotta give now, because with the allmighty illuminator finally put in its place there is no longer anything challenging Vasari for mid-late game dominance, and with a solid early-game (even without scramble) they're just the strongest faction overall.  You don't want to overnerf them, though, because we saw what happened to Advent when both the illuminator and the seeker/disciple rush were pulled out at the same time.

Since what times?!?

 the best thing against HCs and Capital ships is bombers

yes, but they are expensive to get, flaks will take them out 1-1

 

 And here is mine:

1) Skirantra

2) Rapture

3) Kortul

4) Radiance

5) Marza

6)Vulkoras

7) Sova

8) Revelation

9) Antorak

10) Jarrasul

11) Halcyon

12) Kol

13) Akkan

14) Dunov

15) Progenitor