Naval can work

Damage and rate of fire aren't everything. well used ships are devastating against coastal bases without significant t2 defenses, as they are mobile, and outrange just about everything else t1.

After playing a few games (in 52973), I feel they are actually significantly overpowered given the fact that torpedo launchers and subs don't seem to work. These seem like key equalizers, and until they are patched in, deck-mounted artillery rules the seas!

The age of the battleship has arrived!

Stingrays are very powerful too. They're basically mobile catapult artillery, which makes them super-useful, even if you can only build them in water.

If a planet has good sized oceans, stingrays can pretty much hit any point on the map with near impunity. The only counter is having a navy of your own, air units, or coastal catapults with T2 radar. Right now the only flaw for stingrays is that they need other units to target for them to take full advantage of there range. Unlike Catapults you can't just build a T2 radar next to them.

Stingray+Satellites might be a very deadly combination if you can afford it. But I haven't seen it happen, mostly because of how expensive it is.