Also I would like some insight Goa, what exactly are the roles of the Advent. It seems like Stardock dropped the ball when they were created. And what I mean is take a look at the other races. I compiled them and assigned them roles to help demonstrate what I mean.
Race--Dominion--Role--Vanilla Role
TEC-R Offense - Expansion - Economy
TEC-L Defense - Production - Economy
Vasari-R Defense - Diplomacy - Mobility
Vasari-L Offense - Economy - Mobility
This is kind of where I get confused with the advent and instead of giving a simple description I'll go a bit more in depth. The Advent rebels are implied to be the more offensive ones, as they cleanse the unity. But they have wail, almost a 100% defensive ability. They also have protection of the unity, and defensive spells that revive a portion of the fleet, lets not forget recharge shields. It seems like the Eradica should of been the Loyalist Titan, with some ability differentiation of course. So in the graph above they are something like
Advent-R Defense - ??? - Culture
The same identity crisis goes to the Advent-Loyalist as well. Alot of there upgrades suggest you be offensive. Fury of the Unity, Assimilated Populace, and Ancient Retribution all suggest offense. But culture innately is very defense oriented. And there titan kind of fits the offensive theme. But far more poorly than the Advent Rebels. They are more clearly defined however than the rebels.
Advent-L Offense - Culture(economy?) - Culture.
I think they just need some new tech and adjustments to the titans. I think with this question answered we can direct buffing the loyalist in the right direction.
I've seen good players use them...not as common as OP VL or the TR and AR, but I've seen them...Coronata+fleet is ridiculous....
Honestly I don't see how they live when the Eradica and Ragnarov fleet wipes them. I don't think they are terrible but they are the worst.