Highlander, from what I've gathered, Plymouth is considered overpowered compared to Eden, except in the long term (when Thor's pwn it up.) Plymouth's Microwave weapon does more damage than the lasers, and has an early cooldown upgrade making them even better. Plymouth has Stickyfoam, for which Eden doesn't have a counterpart. Plymouth also has a slight morale advantage. Hence Plymouth doesn't need Spiders/EMP to be buffed (and yea, very late game Plymouth can negate the Thor's with mass EMP missiles + spiders.)
EnderA;
Yes, your right about the early game. The extra damage microwave does is minimal, though the early fire upgrade is lethal. Combined with Sticky Foam being range these two factors make Plymouth a sure win in a early game unless there is a certain skill level difference.
The Morale Advantage is a mute point though, because:
1) Most MP games are played with Morale Steady (Set to 75)
2) Eden can achieve way better morale than Plymouth by use of Consumer Factory. (Which in fact makes Eden ALOT better in Morale dependant games)
Now, I might be mistaken in my next observation but nevertheless, you haven't played Multiplayer much have you ? - Nothing against you, but to summarize a few thing up:
Earlier it has been an issue with Spamming of EMP Missiles. (Mass producing Missiles on 4+ ports and carpet bombing an area) Personally, I don't think of Missile Spamming as a problem, a nuisance sure, but nothing you can't overcome. (At least this is my experience when playing 1 vs 1 against another player missile spamming me)
However, due to a few big discussions on these boards, Missiles has been more or less banned from the game. At least that has been my experience with it lately.
So as a result: Spiders are currently more or less obsolete if players of same skill have a go at each other. Earlier you could always shoot 3-5 missiles at someones army, keep them EMP'd and that way capture most of their army. Nowadays, you'll be lucky to get 1/3 captured. (If it wasn't for the newly introduced unit limit upgrade, spiders would also severely shorten your amount of combat vecs)
So, while Spiders are fun in single player and against a player far below you in skill level, they never really had a place in Multiplayer. (At least if Missiles are banned or limited in useage)
The main problem of late game Plymouth, is NOT Thors Hammer. Sure, TH is a nice weapon with a great range, but it only damages 1 vehicle at a time and costs a lot to build.
- The true strength of Eden lies with Acid Clouds. AC is in many aspects the same as ESG, but it fire's faster, does more damage and does damage to buildings as well.
So in a large battle, AC would make short business of a TH army of same size/power, not to mention an army of ESG or RPG's.
Without missiles, it's just a matter of time before the Plymouth player has to throw in the towel. (Still talking late game here)
If missiles are enabled they can be used strategically to form possibilites for the Plymouth player to use, but Plymouth are still not up to match the pure firepower of Eden. But at least the Plymouth player has a chance if he knows how and when to aim his missiles.
However as far as I'm concerned, Missiles can pretty much be taken out of the equation by the right use of Meteor Defenses. (Assuming people don't use the bug with MD's. Bugs are after all bugs and shouldn't be exploited)(And yes, I know some people disagree with my last statement) So with Missiles out of the way, the same power balance returns: Eden > Plymouth in long games
