I read the "Big Pivot" Doc and was happy for the removal of the Ark as the main home command station thing. The problems I had with it are:
1. I never moved it from planet to planet. In my mind, I was still thinking AI War Classic and wanted the Ark to stay put even if I captured 2 worlds in a line, which would give me a safe zone.
2. I didn't use it offensively. The giant "YOUR ARK IS ON AN AI PLANET" text screaming at me to retreat made me not want to roll the dice and hope the AI doesn't reinforce before I take the planet.
3. The Flagships are better. They hit harder, and can make ships as well. The Ark, while having a lot of health, if a bunch of ships swarm it, gets overwhelmed. Yes, it can make ships to defend it, but I have the other flagships making ships because they are on the front-lines. Plus, if I have the prototype flagship making ships, and the Carrier flagship making ships, if I tell the Ark to make ships, my metal economy is going to go down the tubes. That extra ship production screws everything up for me. And the pause build ships feature didn't used to work, giving me further cause not to use the Ark.
4. This loops back to points 1 and 2, but I treated the Ark as an armored Engineer. It repairs stuff and has a bunch of health. It's not really good in a fight. The health makes up most of its value.
5. This point is not really problem with the ark, but more of the mechanics. The rally button is not implemented. That's bad, because when I select a flagship that is making ships and tell it to move somewhere else, the ships being made go to the spot that I told the flagship to go. That's annoying.
6. As for the Ark not being offensive, I suppose someone could make the argument that I can leave the Ark next to a hostile wormhole connected to a planet I want to take and have it make ships. Problem with that is: 1. That is ridiculous. and 2. See every other point made.
I would have said this earlier but with the Ark going away as it is now, I thought now was as good a time as any to voice my thoughts.
