Gunship buff or plane nerf ?

Would be nice if planes weren't basically a mandatory 2nd fac switch since they simply outperform gunships :D, not that I mind using planes, it is just getting really silly at this point. For 300 metal I can basically guarantee kills with planes even if enemy has a little aa but with a harpy it takes a lot more effort and time which tends to let them die. Maybe ravens should cost a little more or harpies less.

4 factory are good at scouting, hover, spider, cloaky and plane, if plane failed at that, then only cloaky gremlin and hover Halberd will do the job cost efficient way in large game.

Yeah, I'd rather see the factories that have trouble scouting have that addressed. I get that scouting power may be a balance lever, but it doesn't entirely feel deliberate, especially in the way Rovers and Amphbots can't scout, but unlike Shields or Tanks don't have a reliable fallback option to use (I guess Ravagers & Domis, but that just makes them more of a knife-edge balance case than they really should be), and instead need to guess.

Gunships lack the general durable frontline unit due to it's role of flying but not fast as planes,
Nimbus is artillery,
Krow is super heavy,
Gnat is Gnat,
Harpy is a flying Seawolf,
Revenant is Merlin's shoulder parrot,
and Locust is a flying LLT
GS doesn't excel in anything, but it also doesn't suck so much that it's noticeable, it just sort of does everything OK, and in comparison to almost every other fac that has a unit or two that excels in something pretty well you're left with "Eh" feeling fac in GS.
Especially since it's Air and many of defensive structures can shoot it from way beyond it's engagement range making majority of fights against porc an uphill battle.

As I understand it airplanes as a mandatory factory is an intended design goal. Grounded AA is garbage because it's just meant for dissuading having an air battle over them, not, uh, killing airplanes.

1st: is how/when/where plane not as good as gunship. I got my Cerberus killed by Lickos, but its fine, trading 3 Lickos made the cost. Faraday and Stardust make remarkable early turret combo.

I don't think they work against nimbus. 2 nimbus kill what defense defend.

BTW: I mean the most all-round turret build for generic protection nowadays is Faraday, instantly hit AoE EMP, survive and distract limited artillery, shoot bomber, shoot ground, and build fast. Shall get nerfed somehow.

2nd: Gunship have artillery but little vision and to most factory the scout role could play by AA unit no in the case here, Gunship AA with no stay power, unlikely getting fixed for its speed. Is the current design means to force building Aircraft and Gunship at the same time?

3rd: A way to nerf Swift, making its Missile restock at 6 use, afterburner restock at 2 use, shooting 6 missiles then it have to return to rearm for greater damage potential. Also, shorter afterburner time, allow it travel less distance at high speed it okay, too much play on afterburner scouting.