The problem with pathers is that unlike the player, they don't give two thirds of a whole crap about losses. You do. They can absolutely afford to make every single ship SO and suicide bomb you because they suffer no consequences for losing.
This is the key asymmetry in any game - very noticeable for the League in particular, with its DEMs. In player hands, they're known for being pretty unremarkable, since ammo runs out quickly and they don't do that much damage. In AI hands, the ability to deal frontloaded, hard-to-dodge damage makes them more of a threat than almost any other kind of missile, in most situations. SO is powerful in AI hands for similar reasons.
In the opposite direction, things like Arouras, Odysseys, Reaper missiles, and (counterintuitively) SO and UI are much more effective in player hands than they are when used by the AI, because they open up a vast array of possibilities that only a human can sort through and exploit reliably.
I like that the game sort of runs with this, with the Odyssey being talked about as a Zumwalt-esque "master of none" ship that nobody really uses, in-universe, with the difficulty of using it right being integrated with the setting. Similarly, SO builds, despite their effectiveness, being restricted to religious fanatics, since nobody else is willing to apply the calculus inherent in the statement
"If we rush the enemy with everything I have at the start of an engagement, most of us and all of them will die". Continuing with this trend, it could be interesting for the League to make "casualty-averse shock-and-awe enthusiasts" their hat, in keeping with their laissez faire every man for himself ethos (which doesn't mesh well with a casualty-intensive "slug it out" doctrine like the Hegemony, Diktat, and Church have), and retreat ships that run out of missiles, bringing in new ones to replace them where possible, making it feel more like the upsides and downsides of their equipment are a conscious choice.
