After watching the replay, and how much damage it did even on an ice planet, I can see some potential for it to be abused in a stalemate situation like that. Perhaps they should make it more like the real big red button so that it damages allied ships as well, so it can't be abused quite as badly as in that match.

So what, he's supposed to give up his favorable position to attack head on a planet with a titan, starbase and superior fleet, rather than force the enemy to attack him where he's strongest? Also if he did attack, couldn't Quar just use wail of the sacrifice from the terran behind the ice for even more damage?

I thought it was intended to be a last resort defensive weapon, where you sacrifice the planet to kill an invading fleet, not use it to pin your oppoenent in an unwinnable situation.

Indeed, its high cost is what I thought would prevent it from being widely used. But in that situation that ice world was absolutely useless to Quar, his economy was good and unthreatened, and most of his income was probably from trade ports, so tax income doesn't mean much anyways. If wail also damaged his units, at least he'd have to with draw his fleet a ways first so they'd have time to prepare or possibly strike first to prevent the activation.

Also about the Akkan, another reason wail is so much better than say missile barrage or the red button is at least you have a warning that its coming. The only way you'd realize its been used is if it kills a capitalship. Both terran and sanches didn't even realize it until after the invasion fleet arrived. There would need to be some sort of video or audio warning that it was about to be used for armistice do do anything.

If it was a last resort weapon it would damage a fleet at the gravitywell it was used in. Not only that, there would be no reason to also damage the structures in that well.

Sanchez was in quite a bad situation already. His empire pretty much was a line of pearls on a cord. If there was one situation where Wail was to be used effectively it was then an there. Had he managed to keep and hold that Ice planet some fourty minutes earlier it wouldn't have come to this situation, and even if the terran planet one jump farther had that ability as well it would have been less likely to have hit him that hard, given that he would had left his fleet on his homeworld like he did in the replay.

Also, if he had more experience facing players using Wail he might have anticipated that the enemy could use it on that planet and tried to keep his fleet divided on multiple planets as to keep the risk lower (which of course was pretty much useless in that particular game looking at the location of his lefotver planets).

His situation may have been favorable to hold out, however in that replay at that time he was already sitting with his back at the wall. Getting out there was dependant on getting help from his neighbors, but if I recall correctly his blue ally next to him quit some time before that stunt happened leavin him with AI supply only, and his other allies were forced to focus on their own enemies. In this stuation it was just a matter of time until he would have been beaten with regular means.

Edit: Well, red button autocasts when the starbase is almost dead. You could call this a "warning time", but I guess freaking out and retreating your fleet whenever you are close to killing a TEC starbase is a bit silly, and not always possible anyways.

Ye like red button has a warning or something

There is a particle animation a few seconds before its used. Not much but more than WotF.

Oh yes, that was practically a textbook situation to use it in. No where for Dirty to run.

Well prior to seeing this replay I thought it did affect the gravity well its in.

Yeah this is what it'll come down to. After this a lot more people are going to be trying it and know about it. Perhaps your right and the time to set it up is prohibitive in most situations. On the other hand I find it equally likely we'll start seeing a lot of rebel Advent players, even after the Vasari are added back.

Edit: screw it, forum multiquote fail.

Nicely done qu4r

His starbase with enduring devotion prevented it from being lost, though it set the health and population to zero.

it has warning. Its effect. If you watch sb u see rb activation effect which gives u time for armstice.

The red button is hardly ever useful. Bombers are already the most common way to beat starbases, and the red button does nothing against them. If you get blown up by one, you actively took a risk by getting in close to attack it. With wail as this showed just defending your homeworld can be suicidal with it, and your opponent has full control of when to activate it if he has a nearby planet with decent population.

Well, the cost of the three planet upgrades, plus the avoided underdevelopment penalties, is probably close to that of a starbase upgrade anyways. On terrans it would certainly be better to get enduring devotion, and if at the particular planet you already had logistics or planet health upgrades it would certainly be better. Also at that point Quar had a good economy going so I doubt he cared about efficiency too much.

If you see tec starbase prior experience taught me you need to be ready for RB. If not you get blown up especially when playing skilled games on mp. So if you do not have counter or dont want to risk it destroy it from afar.

On another note Tec has sort of a counter to vail already. It cost a lot and if not loyalist considering research. It is called novalith. Problem is you have to constantly barrage planet to keep population down. 

Not really. I had 30 kodiaks+support, which countered their fleets, and ragna on the way. Quar had a titan. Even if Quar didn't use Wail, Dirty would lose HW as soon as our titans regrouped.