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[Chronosfear]

No phase ship fights a fair fight.
Frigates can bypass shields by simply being fast enough.
Harbinger can disable shields, though not much after that since weapon slot nerf.
Doom can use mines as multi-directional attack to bypass shields.

I'm mostly okay with it, except 2 things:
- Mines are too deadly to fast ships, worst case you have no time to react. Initial timeout, like Reapers have, would help here.
- Defensive systems 3 makes player-piloted phase ships almost unusable against Doom due to faster phase clock (can't wait him out like I would do normally). But you want to have DS3 because it's good against anything non-phase.

Phase frigates are very fair. The AI is not very good with phase frigates though. Every other phase ship system requires you to be being shot at for it to matter. The Doom's system does not.
Fair as in they don't cheat, not fair as in they "fight fair" and straight up.

Harbinger also disables phasing (I nearly got doomed in my doom)
If I had to choose harbinger or doom as an enemy i would choose doom. The harbinger is the worse of the 2 in ai hands.
My flagship in most battles is the doom. (4x dual auto-cannon,2x HB, SO)  ->need to make that ~160sec count
Mines are strong indeed, maybe a bit to strong against fast enemies (add a second of prearming time (to unphase) before they can detonate by hitting it and start to charge up)

Warthog was OP now its pretty useless, 2 wings of them can't compete with a set 1-1 of specialized wings each.

[ChaseBears]

i can never justify warthogs, their inability to keep up makes them overspecialized in my view.

[Igncom1]

I never expected to be the black sheep on the warthogs!

That said I never liked playing meta in games anyway, I always liked finding a use for the stuff most people won't touch. Even in a kinda forced edge case way. 

[Goumindong]

Problem with warthogs vs stations is that piranha should be a lot more effective in general

[Nawyria]

I don't really use Warthogs. If I want PD screen, I go for Broadswords. If I want frigates dead, I go for interceptors. If I want anything bigger dead, I go for bombers. Thunders and Xyphos have some uses, but Gladiuses and Warthogs, not so much.

This is part of the reason that got me interested in modding, right now it more or less seems that there is fairly little actual diversity in terms of fighters. Claws and Broadsword fill the Ion and Kinetic niche respectively and all you need to pair them with is the best bomber you can afford.

I always felt that the Gladius wing could stand to be 2 OP more expensive in exchange for a 3rd fighter so that the wing actually counts as a 'Heavy Fighter', right now the wing is simply too flimsy to serve that purpose. Thunder would be well-served with a stronger missile at the cost of 100 hp to push it more into a 'glass cannon' niche that actually benefits from having a Gladius wing around to screen for it. I'm not sure what the Warthog needs, but even if the wing does survive the damage seems to pale in comparison to the sheer alpha strike delivered by a Dagger Wing's 3 Atropos torpedoes.

[Megas]

The only significant thing Gladius has over Thunder is faster refit time, which is not enough when Thunder tends to cripple targets while Gladius relies on damage alone.  Gladius has the same armor and hull as Thunder.

[Cyan Leader]

I don't agree that Mine Strike is unfair. In my mind it's on the same level as fighters. A ship with poor PD, shield and/or mobility will be just as much in trouble against fighters when they circumvent the defenses and go for the engines. I played with an Aurora against a couple of Dooms the other day and had no problem managing them, even when they spawned behind me. In fact it was quite fun an engaging playing against it since it was a different kind of threat. Now I understand that, for example, a Dominator with its slow movement and exposed back would be in a much worse situation, but those ships have always been weak to flanking. If you properly escort those ships and have good PD the Mines won't even have time to detonate, even those that spawn behind you.

[Thaago]

The only significant thing Gladius has over Thunder is faster refit time, which is not enough when Thunder tends to cripple targets while Gladius relies on damage alone.  Gladius has the same armor and hull as Thunder.

Gladius has flares. Flares are a big deal.

[Goumindong]

But only one. So their sticking power ends up being pretty weak even against small ships.

[Embolism]

Gladius needs to go back to being an assault fighter with dual IR pulses IMO. As it is it has no distinct role.

[Megas]

@ Cyan Leader:  I piloted Doom, and it is too slow to flank or otherwise act as strike craft like smaller phase ships.  Without mines, and only 600-700 range weapons, it can only brawl like when it had Fast Missile Racks, where it will get brutalized like no-shield ships, except it cannot use Makeshift Shield Generator to give itself a shield.  At least Mine Strike can create openings to distract enemy (unless it has mass PD to snuff mines) and let Doom brawl without getting killed trying.  Without Mine Strike, Doom would be worth 20 DP at most, probably less.

With deathballing and/or ships with lots of effective PD, mines get snuffed fast.

Gladius has flares. Flares are a big deal.

With three (times three) from Broadswords, sure.  With one (times two) from Gladii, not so much.  Gladius does not pump out enough flares to be useful, and the Swarmers from Thunders are a better pseudo-flare because it can hurt things or block a shot.

[Igncom1]

Yeah the Gladius is the one that I only use for fun, as it isn't as useful as I might like.

It's combo of energy and kinetic damage are really nice, and at least having the one flare is better then having none at all.

But other then that it doesn't have much going for it. Only two craft per wing, not very tanky, low flux cap that gets filled quickly by the laser, no shield generator, not massively fast and so on.

I WANT to like it however, I just kinda find it not being all that great over the alternatives for any reason or another. One flare use isn't bad if paired with bombers anyway, but it's not like it's better as an escort. And as a gunship I can't say it's sustained fire-power is that impressive even against pirate clunkers.

[Thaago]

The number of flares doesn't really matter though. They don't get shot down, so as long as a single flare is in arc all PD weapons will fire at it. For the kind of targets you want a 300 speed interceptor (frigates, enemy fighters), the single flare gets the job done. It will attract the fire of multiple spark wings for example.

I do think the Gladius needs a decent boost in toughness or at least an OP drop to 6/7, but it does have a role: 300 speed kinetic interceptor with flares. It helps drop shields and draw PD fire for other interceptors.

[Cyan Leader]

@ Cyan Leader:  I piloted Doom, and it is too slow to flank or otherwise act as strike craft like smaller phase ships.  Without mines, and only 600-700 range weapons, it can only brawl like when it had Fast Missile Racks, where it will get brutalized like no-shield ships, except it cannot use Makeshift Shield Generator to give itself a shield.  At least Mine Strike can create openings to distract enemy (unless it has mass PD to snuff mines) and let Doom brawl without getting killed trying.  Without Mine Strike, Doom would be worth 20 DP at most, probably less.

Well, what I meant is that the mines can flank the enemy, not the Doom itself. I like the system and I don't think it should be changed.

[Megas]

Doom cannot flank the enemy by itself; it is too slow for that.  (Even Harbinger is too slow without Unstable Injector AND Auxiliary Thrusters.)  Doom needs the mines to do the flanking for it.  Even so, capitals with lots of PD shoot down mines with ease.

I like the system.  It is fun to use, and makes Doom good, and good enough to trust the AI piloting the Doom.

I wish other phase ships piloted by AI had a point.  Like Hyperion, they are too busy running away until CR decays to zero faster than everyone else.  That leaves all phase ships aside from Doom useful only as playerships.  Sure, Afflictor can cheese kill with Reapers like Harbinger used to do (and Afflictor is good enough to chain deploy and pilot them over capitals at times), and Harbinger can clear out small fry with AM Blasters or Phase Lances.  Do not know what good Shade can do that others cannot do better.  It was a great ghost tank with the old phase cloak (and tac lasers and needlers), but it cannot do that now.