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« on: November 12, 2010, 01:21:12 AM »
Even though I hate it, I got around and played some Skirmish space maps. Suffice it to say, I have a few things that I at least want to bring to people's attention.
God tier: New Republic: Talon Karrde/Mining Station/Tech 2/Millennium Falcon = nigh-unbeatable rush.
Let me explain. Talon Kaarde's speed, firepower, and hit points make him un-counter able when it comes to blowing up mining stations. He can't deal with anything else (accuracy), but crippling the oppositions' income with impunity is a game winner. The Millennium Falcon...gods above this thing goes through fighters like a scythe through wheat. We're talking ending a Tie Interceptor squadron with two volleys. Once this thing is on the field, only an incredibly overwhelming number of fighters is going to be able to overcome a well-played Falcon.
Given that nothing other than fighters and heroes are buildable for Skirmish, well, that's about all of the firepower available from the other side countered. Hero squadrons? Ha. They get killed just as easily. The cheap mid-game Dreadnaught allows the New Republic to crush any well-protected Mining Stations that the Karrdes were unable to kill, rendering the opposition pretty much helpless.
I suggest nerfing their Skirmish fighters, or doing something about the nasty combination they have.
Second tier: Empire of the Hand. Aside from a couple things, fairly well balanced. Their own anti-fighter ship, the Hand of Judgment, dies against the Falcon mainly because the Falcon's guns are instant hit, and the Judgment's are not. The lack of vessels above the Hand of Judgment's class until Tech 3 is nicely balanced by how horrifically deadly the Scythe bombers are. They can actually last a while before being worn down by the Alliance's group.
The Judgment is a nice counter against enemy hero squadrons, allowing the good Hand bombers to do their thing, but simply isn't enough to deal with the Republic, not to mention that the AI doesn't actually build the blasted thing. Also: Is it supposed to be both that fast, and have that slowly regenerating shields?
Dead last: Imperial. Remnant. Good god where do I start? Their fighters suck. Regular TIEs are entirely useless, and Interceptors are only slightly better. In the Galactic Conquest mode this is compensated via overwhelming numbers and reasonable anti-fighter frigates, but Skirmish has neither of these factors. Given the emphasis on fighter operations, well, yeah. A second nerfing factor is that their second-tier SD dies permanently, no respawn, unlike literally every other hero in the Skirmish mode. Without respawn-capable capital firepower, they have nothing to defend against the mid-tier Dread of the Republic, or the late-tier Phalanx that the Hand has, ignoring the complete lack of early game.
Niles Ferrier is worthless. He doesn't have the anti-fighter guns to destroy a squadron, or the concussion missile numbers to kill a mining station. Or anything else for that matter. The fighter aces are just enough to bring the fighter level from completely abysmal to merely horrible, but are too expensive to really make a difference.
The second tier SD would counter the Dreadnaught and force people to make a concentrated fighter push against it, but since the Empire winds up losing nearly all its fighters and mining stations by the time this thing is available, it dies to everyone else's fighters
Tier three is never gotten to. Without cheats.
AI Issues: As mentioned above, it doesn't build the Hand of Judgement. Also, it doesn't have as much of an emphasis on constructing mining stations as it should, delaying the New Republic AI's inevitable win, and simply causing the others to fall flat after the first rush.
Hope this helps.
EDIT: I was playing on "Hard". If the other difficulties are different, I apologize for the trouble.
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