TEC - Hoshinkos, Cielos, or both?

I was wondering if TEC players preferred the Hoskinkos or the Cielos in the early, middle, and late game? Is there a reason to have both? I'm personally leaning towards one Cielo per strike force and several Hoshinkos. Anyone agree/disagree with this?
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Reply #1 Top
Hoshikos and Cielo's are tricky beasts to use.

Hoshikos are extremely useful. The amount they repair is like having a mobile repair platform. Demolition bots is rather meh, but the first ability on this ship is all you need imo.

Hoshikos work best with something that has little shields and lots of health points, and that's how most TEC units are configured. The unit needs enough health so that the healing ability can actually take effect before the ship is destroyed.

The problem is the autotargeting on the hoshiko's healing ability kinda sucks, meaning you want fewer targets, IE caps and heavy cruisers. Personally, I like having hoshikos when my fleet is Caps, HC's, and Flak. Flak just because they're huge meatshields, though 1.09/1.1 has nerfed them so much that I don't use them anymore.

The Cielo is a different beast. It's not all that useful early. It's first ability is only a slight, though useful, buff to units it affects, but its second ability is great.

Whether you're playing 1.05 or 1.09 where you get +25%/+40% respectively, this ability is a great anti-cap and anti-heavy cruiser ability. It's also a great anti-carrier ability in 1.09. I love it because at any moment you can upgrade the damage output of your entire fleet by 40%, simply amazing.

The drawback is getting said Cielos takes time and massive resources. They really shouldn't emerge until late game, probably at the earliest by the one hour mark.

Hoshikos should probably be emerging once you have a sizable fleet of Heavy Cruisers, say around 15. That's about when I bring them out. I'd say Hoshiko's are probably midgame ships. They don't really help lrms all that much in the early stages of the game.
Reply #2 Top
I usually role out Hoshikos a little after I get LRMs. Usually within the first half hour, I have LRMs, Carriers and Hoshikos. I haven't really experimented with Cielos too much, but if I have the time and resources, I usually get a handful, although I'm not sure what they really effect in the grand scheme of fleet battles.