T1 during T1 phase is bad, no argument from me there. I think the strengths of this frigate do not make up for its weaknesses until T2 and on, when the cruiser makes the lack of anti-air meh. T2 and on, this is a great frigate.
The Exodus gets a lot of crap, but in my experience this may be the best overall destroyer and is the centerpiece of the Aeon navy. It has the best health and torpedo DPS by a huge margin, and second best main cannon DPS to go along with its huge range and ability to fire backwards. It NEEDS to be weak to micro. It should never even take damage at T2 phase unless you're playing against Cybran if your kiting is as good as your opponent's micro apparently is, and the required micro to dodge a significant amount of shots from this thing is a huge drain on your opponent's attention.
Even if your opponent can get 60 range destroyers into range of your exoduses, the proper response to this is to then move your exoduses as close as possible to his destroyers. This allows your superior torpedo DSP to work to your advantage and makes dodging your main cannon much harder. As long as you have equal numbers of destroyers when this happens you will win. The health and torpedo DPS advantages will make up for your opponent being able to dodge a few cannon shots, which isn't really feasible anyway from point blank range.
Let's talk about the weakness to micro. This is actually a weakness when you have less than 5 destroyers together. It shouldn't matter, because either you're kiting or playing against Cybran, which destroyer is almost as weak to micro but with 1500 less health and no ability to shoot backwards. When you have five or more exoduses, microing against them becomes way harder. They're all going to be firing at different times. Even if you are 100% focused on microing your fleet of destroyers, you're going to get hit. And if you can't even get in range to do any damage to your opponent's exoduses...or he has 10 or 15 exoduses...
As long as you don't have less destroyers than your opponent during any point of T2, the only way you can lose is by making tactical errors. During T2, Aeon navy is 100% in control against all but Cybran and you should be trying to take the game right there. As soon as you have more destroyers than your opponent by kiting and harassing, your aggressiveness should steadily increase until you just run him over before he can get to T3. Especially if he tries to get to T3.
T3 is not as dominant as T2, and actually suffers from the opposite of T2. You get weaker as the game goes on in T3 stage. The advantage you should have after a dominant T2 phase is what makes the cost of the Tempest moot. It should usually be the first T3 boat you build, shielded by your destroyers and later by omens. But as the game goes on and a UEF player amasses Summits, you will have a hard time competing, so you can't let the game get to that point. Seraphim should have no answer for you as long as you don't lose air and can mix in T2 torpedo bombers to control his T3 subs, but if your opponent reaches a critical mass on his number of T3 subs (about 10) and hasn't completely lost air, again, you will probably lose.Statistics: Posted by crispyambulance — 01 Feb 2016, 21:57
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You have to screen in front of it, you have to keep it alive. It's a support bombardment ship, not a front-line fighter.