We must have a different definition of effective.
Try to use flak vs LRFs, and you will lose mroe credits in structures then the opponent will in LRFs. And you are not the only one that can micro, he can micro too. Unless he happens to be TEC, he can easily retreat his LRFs before they are destroyed.
Actually, enough LRF can destroy many things before even their counters can kill them. But that is nothing new from 1.05.
I was only responding to your statement:
Back in the days flak was pretty often utilized, not just against carriers but also against LRMs and scouts.
Flak couldn't kill LRF fast enough in 1.05 either....I ignore it back then just like I do now. So I'm not sure what YOUR point is, because my point is Flak still work the same vs LRF and Scouts. If LRF's try to kill Flak, equal cost of Flak will in fact kill them easily. The whole problem with Flak is that they can be ignored because they don't do damage that fast, but this is nothing new. They lost a little bit of damage potential vs light armor, but it isn't enough for them to change their status as a soft counter to the light armor types. The only thing they are a hard counter to is Very Light, and the only reason we can't see them as a hard counter anymore is that people build a metric crapton of carriers and STRIKECRAFT ARE FREE.
The main reason flak was popular in 1.05 was NOT because of its anti-LRF soft counter potential, but because it was an extreme hard counter against strikecraft.
Would some tiny metal/crystal cost per strikecraft do anything at all to carrier spam? Just pondering.
Yes Mazuo, if strikecraft took even the slightest bit of metal and crystal to build, this would nicely balance out carriers, because people wouldn't want to just have their strikecraft endlessly die to flak fire, which would suddenly seem more valuable.
Flaks actually do kill a fair amount of strikecraft, but it is hard to see because they are always being rebuilt. Not to mention that most fleets are now dedicating 50% of their supply cap to carriers...if not more. I have actually had people counter small raiding fleets of 10 of my carriers by building like 25 flak/defense vessels. But of course, I just run away when the strikecraft die.
If all of those suicided strikecraft cost me something...even if it was relatively cheap, it would create an economic value for the flak to be damaging. The problem with flak is that they are firing at something that lacks intrinsic value because it can be easily and freely replaced, while frigates/structures destroyed by strikecraft have an economic cost.
The only way to capitalize on flak superiority is if you have ships in play to hurt the carriers before they get away (which is challenging, given their speed), or if you have the ability to rapidly take out a world before the carriers rebuild their strikecraft and come back to harass you.
