End Game Staging - Core Worlds

[Jannik2099]

assault transport looses 26%, normal one looses 35% per jump out of supply. assault has GUNS and is more durable, and also deploys troops without stun (dont know if I'm right)

[Vinraith]

Also deploys all ships immediately even in hostile territory. Basically, assault transports are a must-have.

[Bognor]

...and also deploys troops without stun (dont know if I'm right)

Sort of.  If you've got a ship with a 10 second reload, when it's released from an ordinary transport, it will be 10 seconds before it can shoot.  But in the case of an assault transport, that time is halved (assuming it was ready to fire when it was loaded).

[ErictheRed]

When I use regular transports, I usually don't deploy from them. They get shot down in enemy territory and all my ships are immediately out and fighting. I don't see much added benefit of the assault transport for the high research cost.

[Kahuna]

I don't see much added benefit of the assault transport for the high research cost.

-Stealth
-Instant unloading
-Decent damage when fully loaded
-More health
-Less health attrition/hop
=game changing stuff

[ErictheRed]

Alright, I will give this a shot in the next campaign.

[Vinraith]

I don't see much added benefit of the assault transport for the high research cost.

-Less health attrition/hop

Under many circumstances, this alone is worth the price of admission.

The addition of the cloaking also makes it straightforward to create tachyon-sentinel-free "cloaked highways" through AI territory. Put the two together and it's a net AIP reducer, as one no longer needs to capture as many systems. It's easy to "island hop" out to the AI homeworld with very few overall captures.