by Plasma_Wolf » 21 Mar 2020, 17:54
If it's just Cybran cruisers, then the surface damage is really not that problematic. The cruiser surface fire is a small bonus. They're AA weapons with really low HP for their mass, when you compare to other naval units. Mass spamming frigates against this specific problem should help you win. But if the enemy navy is a bigger combination of units (as it usually is), then the best shot you'll have is with Torpedo Bombers. Use your torpedo bombers to attack the enemy navy with a split-attack (using the shift-g hotkey, you can look it up in-game with F1 to get the shortcuts, best done in a custom test-skirmish game so you have time to set up everything you need).
Torp bombers always kill cruisers effectively, mass wise (they'll kill any navy unit effectively in terms of mass). With the Cybran stealth you'll have to do one more thing: send a group of scouts over, and then You will need 5 torp bombers for each cruiser, and with stealth boats, you'll have to add 5 in for those as well. This is because a split-attack always splits units up in equal groups, even if that means group A will overkill enemy A, while group B doesn't kill enemy B. You'll avoid this problem by making sure you have 5 torp bombers for every unit you attack with split-attack.
If Cybran destroyers also get involved, the problem will be much bigger. Stealth T2 navy is one of the Cybran strong points, while UEF T2 navy is weak. You have to get a combination of units that 's less necessary for other factions, and the destroyers are outranged by Aeon and Cybran destroyers. So as UEF T2 navy you'll have issues against both Aeon and Cybran. Torpedo bombers are always a good answer, because of this mass-effective killing. If you have the opportunity, you can get UEF T3 navy and start building battlecruisers. A battlecruiser with some shield boats as support can kill one destroyer after another while barely taking any damage. But the key is always go have a good combination with UEF navy, that's where their strength comes from, although it is expensive.