I'm really annoyed when people do these ''tests'' to prove a point, it's like a sim duel vs Onslaught but somehow even worse. You could do the same thing with Converted Hangar Valkyries and they'd probably do better than both if you also filled them with Sparks. Does that mean they're better than Drovers? Hell no, because there's a ton of more variables in real fights unlike in these pointless fleet duels. You have no pressure here, only fighters and long ranged weapons so it's basically who can field most fighters per DP.
So, where does that put Condors?
Into a super niche spot where they're effective only if your whole fleet is filled with them AND also the enemy's. Otherwise trash.
Also I suspect Sparks will get a nerf to prevent these ridiculous ''strats''.
I was actually surprised by the result. I was expecting I'd have to keep decreasing the number of Drovers until the Condors started winning, producing an X% effectiveness. I figured the reserve deployment on the Drovers should have overcome the 20% deficit, but apparently AoE proximity charges in bulk are kinda good against fighters. I learned something by doing that test. Previously, I'd never used the launchers.
As for the declaration that Condors are trash, what is your metric? How do you, personally, measure balance? Or another way, what does "trash" mean to you? Can you explain it in a way that could be translated directly into buffs? When I hear trash, in my head, I hear worse than nothing. Something you leave on the ground and don't bother taking with you. Not worth the deployment points, supplies, and fuel spent on them. But that is clearly not the case here, so what do you mean? Is it in comparison only to the Drover, or in comparison to the game at large?
After getting buffs, what kind of situation or measurement would make you go, "Condors are now balanced"? If you don't define how you measure balance at the outset, is it surprising different people come to different conclusions in a discussion? Would a 9 DP Condor with current stats be balanced? 6 DP? 3 DP? Why? What concrete example or something that everyone can see and test for themselves to make it apparent that its now balanced? Or would you rather see a stat change like a 70 speed Condor? 90 speed to make up for the low OP and lack of fighter centric ability compared to a Drover? Or are we comparing them to non-carriers? Calling them trash makes it sound like they need some drastic, huge number change like that.
I will point out, Alex stated in the Low Tech Non-viability thread, that the Drover has an appointment with the nerf bat while the Condor feels not too bad.
So clearly, you're not saying it is trash because of 1 on 1 sims, since you're annoyed by sim comparisons. Its not tournament fights, given that is essentially that is what I just did, with mono-fleets between the best and worst destroyer class carriers armed with identical end game fighters in a hand crafted mission. Is it being usable in the campaign? Well, at that point there's a lot of variables, including the player, and how they play is the largest variable of all.
I think a player can prevent his carriers from getting pressured by appropriate waypoint, designated fast distraction ships, and escort orders assuming a mixed fleet and taking appropriate engagements (i.e. not 5 Ordos simultaneously - which depends on how they play at the campaign layer). So are Condors balanced with Drovers if they are not pressured? Perhaps a better question is, do you consider Drovers balanced and a good reference point? Are Condors balanced with other non-carrier ships? And does that balance depend on play style? Mono-fleet? 50/50 Mixed? Just a spot of fighter support?
If no one provides a hard, quantitative, and testable statement of what balance is for a ship, I'm not surprised to see variation in what people think of a ship's balance.
Edit: P.S. Just for kicks, I tried 12 Hammerhead Elites versus those same 12 Condors with proximity launchers/sparks. Complete wipe of the Hammerheads. Also tried it with the much more obtainable broadswords/khopeshes. Same results. SO Hammerheads might work I suppose, but there are AI issues with the Hammerheads getting distracted by all the fighters. The Elites never get close to the Condors despite their superior speed.