Emotions are running high here, so let me just point out a few things:
I think it's pretty clear that everyone is partially right. Why? Because there are SO many different settings and ways to play, and so many map seeds and opposing ship makeups, that the circumstances that lead to people feeling one way or another are just so varied.
Lance, I don't think anyone was ignoring your point about cost-effectiveness. And it is a good point, in a lot of respects. But the problem is, in practice, if I build 1 starship (at massive cost) and then keep doing smallish raids with it and repairing it in between, it's long-term effectiveness is going to be so much higher than the equivalent cost of fleet ships. The repair costs are so cheap, and starships have enough armor that they tend to take less damage (depending on the starship), and starships don't tend to get hard-countered or killed by ion cannons or one-shotted or any of that stuff.
I think that when people see this, a lot of them instinctively discount a lot of the on-paper cost effectiveness -- and the economy is robust enough that they can do so. Whether fleet ships are REALLY more cost effective is somewhat beside the point, the perception that players come to is just as important. Because if players get the feeling that starships are a better value through experimentation on gameplay, that's what most will act on. Most don't read the forums. So then you wind up with a ton of people using starships but not fleet ships simply because that's what "seems right," and then they miss out on half the game. That's a problem no matter what the raw numbers say, what reality actually is, right? It's about player habits moreso than math, as most people won't take the time to do the explicit math -- they go on their impressions from play.
The reason I don't want to just buff all the fleet ships is that that's kind of pointless -- I might as well just nerf all the starships. I do intend to make the higher-mark fleet ships scaled better so that they are more attractive, there's no question on that, but if the fleet ships are all buffed then that's equivalent to nerfing not only starships but guardians and every other heavy structure (and turrets, and so on). I don't think things are so disjointed as all that.
The main issue I saw was that the perception was that starships were way too valuable, and players were acting on that. So by making their costs significantly higher, that's hopefully enough to give players pause. They need to be using starships and fleet ships anyway, and if they cap out on fleet ships then they'll still have resources to spare with the new economy and the starships. I'm actually quite happy if people choose to unlock higher-mark fleet ships and only a few higher-mark starships at all. The costs (knowledge and otherwise) are meant to encourage that, so that starships remain centerpieces rather than forming starship fleets.
This is why I made the change I did to doubling the starship costs. Not because I was disbelieving about their cost-to-benefit ratio, but because I'm focused on player behavior and perception rather than the raw numbers.
