At this point of time, the Astraeus' purpose is confined to just a few purposes, which are all questionable: 1) To move the commander, or a fab, to another world to colonise it. - Which in my opinion is a very foolhardy endeavor: oftentimes in the early-game, sending a commander to another world is suicidal, as other worlds might be colonised, or if the enemy uses a more conservative approach of building up 30 tanks first, before building a portal to send them over to a planet. - And also, in sending a fab, one might as well build a portal to keep sending an endless supply of fabs over. 2) To move the commander to a safe spot. - I agree, this is useful, if it is to escape, in most circumstances. - Only that the Astraeus' low HP makes a commander on an Astraeus very easily sniped by air units. 3) To 'commander' snipe by placing Vanguards. - No. I tried this strategy many games ago in this patch. It no longer works. I once sent 6 Astraeuses with Vanguards to an enemy commander, hoping to snipe him this patch, but the commander's anti-air capacities were so good (all by himself!) that all 6 Astraeuses got shot down. - I do agree that this can work if you have like 20 Astraeuses, but what if the enemy has 10 anti-air turrets? 4) To invade by brute force by building 100 Astraeuses to ferry units over. - Too expensive. - Too easily shot down by Avengers due to slow speed and HP. - And by anti-air. ............ The solution to this might actually be quite simple: 1) Reduce the Astraeus' cost. Pros: makes (1) and (4) actually viable. Cons: might make (3) too easy. Counter-Con: easy to counter with anti-air. OR 2) Increase its speed. Pros: Makes (3) and (4) more viable. Cons: Operationally, you still need a lot of Astraeuses to make (3) and (4) succeed as its stats are not changed. OR 3) Buff its HP by 300%. Pros: Makes (3) and (4) more viable with fewer amounts of Astraeuses, and improves success rate. Cons: (3) might be too easy. (4) is still too costly. Counter-cons: (3) is counterable now with more anti-air defenses. ......... In my opinion, a mixture of (1) Cost decrease and (3) HP Buff is probably the best as it makes (3) and (4) more viable, but we can set it at a point where (3) is not too easy. Thus I say: - Improve Astraeus HP by 200%. - Decrease its cost by 60%. By the way, I'm pretty sure this guy is looking at this post now:
