Currently the dread star cost 15-19k metal when fully equiped, while super dreadnaught cost 4k, fleet carrier and battleship cost 2k. However the dread star is no match for 4 super dreadnaght, 8 battleship or 8 fleet carriers (In fact fighters are very OP in current version and I suspect 8 fleet carriers can bomb 2 dread star to death in a single bombing run). The only advangtage of dread star is that it is fast to build, which dosen't help much.
I have checked the price of the dread star carefully, and I find out that most of its components cost twice as much as they should be, or by other words half as powerful as they should be.
First, the blackhole reactor generates 1020 energy on super dreadnaught and 1520 on dread star. The teleport shield generates 520 shield points on super dreadnaughts and 780 on dread star. This is correct, as the system efficiency of super dreadnaught and dread star are 20 and 30 (there are a (20) and (30) labal on the equipment slot in the ship design interface), which is 2:3 (Which I think is both two low. As cruiser have 10 and battleship have 20, way not change those of these super weapons to 30 and 60 or even higher?).
However the metal cost of blackhole generator is 96 and 288 on these two ships, and the teleport shield costs 150 and 480. This is about 1:3, and certainly wrong. The blackhole reactor costs 96 metal on super dreadnaught and fleet carrier, which have a system efficiency of 15. It costs 72 metal on battlecruiser whose efficiency is 15, and 48 on 10 efficiency heavy cruiser and 24 on 5 efficiency destroyer. Therefore the cost of systems should scale with sysytem efficiency as their effects do. On dread star, however, every systems are about 2 times as expensive as they should be.
Second, the cost of each strike fighters are 288/8 = 36 on super dreadnaught and 216/6 = 36 on fleet carrier, however its cost turned out to be 1728/24 = 72 on dread star. Here the price is also doubled.
Third, the hull of the dread star is too expensive, as it costs 2994 metal, while super dreadnaught costs 674, and fleet carrier costs 312. The hull of dread star is 4.5 times as expensive as those of super dreadnaught (The hull of dread star along with its armor(whose metal cost seem to scale with hull cost) costs more then 8000 metal). On the other hand the dread star have 590+2700 = 3290 life points altogether while super dreadnaught have 410+1080 = 1490, and the life points of the dread star is slightly higher then twice the health of super dreadnaught. Again the dread star is twice as expensive as it should be. The blackhole reactor generates 1020 energy on super dreadnaught and 1520 on dread star. The teleport shield generates 520 shield points on super dreadnaughts and 780 on dread star. This is correct, as the system efficiency of super dreadnaught and dread star are 20 and 30, which is 2:3 (Which I think is both two low. As cruiser have 10 and battleship have 20, way not change those of these super weapons to 30 and 60 or even higher?).
However the metal cost of blackhole generator is 96 and 288 on these two ships, and the teleport shield costs 150 and 480. This is about 1:3, and certainly wrong. The blackhole reactor costs 96 metal on super dreadnaught and fleet carrier, which have a system efficiency of 15. It costs 72 metal on battlecruiser whose efficiency is 15, and 48 on 10 efficiency heavy cruiser and 24 on 5 efficiency destroyer. Therefore the cost of systems should scale with sysytem efficiency as their effects do. On dread star, however, every systems are about 2 times as expensive as they should be.
When it comes to weapons, the cost of each strike fighters are 288/8 = 36 on super dreadnaught and 216/6 = 36 on fleet carrier, however its cost turned out to be 1728/24 = 72 on dread star. Here the price is also doubled.
Also the hull of the dread star is too expensive, as it costs 2994 metal, while super dreadnaught costs 674, and fleet carrier costs 312. The hull of dread star is 4.5 times as expensive as those of super dreadnaught (The hull of dread star along with its armor(whose metal cost seem to scale with hull cost) costs more then 8000 metal). On the other hand the dread star have 590+2700 = 3290 life points altogether while super dreadnaught have 410+1080 = 1490, and the life points of the dread star is slightly higher then twice the health of super dreadnaught. Again the dread star is twice as expensive as it should be.
Also, the dread star actually have 3 siege weapon instead of 6. In combat, the dread star can shot siege weapon twice, once single and once twin linked, while both are supposed to be three linked. Also, the surge beam cost 750 when installed on super dreadnaught, 900 on dread star and 1050 on planet. Its metal cost is 45/90/45 respectively. And the energy cost of primary artilary, on the other hand, is 360/432/540. This doesn't make any sense, as weapons should cost twice as much when twin linked, and three times as much when triple linked. Something is probably broken, maybe those siege weapons are sometimes considered single and sometimes considered double or triple during calculations.
When installed with heavy weapon, both the x3 siege weapon slot of the dread star and the x1 siege weapon slot of the super dreadnaught turn the heavy weapon to be three-linked. This also dosen't make sense, as a medium weapon slot allways turn a light weapons to be twin linked, and a x2 medium weapon slot allways turn a light weapon to be four linked, so does heavy weapon slot and medium weapons.
I hope that the dread star can have 2 three-linked siege weapons as it is supposed to be, and get twice the firepower, health and shields it have now, so that it can worth its price. That is 6 siege weapon slot, 96 fighters, 36 heavy weapons, 144 medium weapons, 5400 armor points with best armor and 7800 shield when equiped with 5 best shields. It is not reasonable that the utimate weapon in the game is only half as cost efficient as earlier ships on every affeir, and its only advantage is that it is fast to build(Metal is more precious then labour when it comes to ship construction, especially in late game).
The super dreadnaught also should have a higher system efficiency. Currently it have 5 equipment slot with 20 efficiency, and fleet carrier have 4 slot with 20 efficiency. The super dreadnaught need 2 reactor to power its weapons and fleet carrier only need one, as fighters cost only a bit energy. Therefore the super dreadnaught can only have the same amount of shield as the carrier do, both 1560 at maxium. It is much better if the super dreadnaught have an system efficiency of 30 or 40, so it can have a shield of 2280 or 3120. The smallest destroyer and light cruiser have a system efficiency of 5, while heavy cruiser have 10, battleship and fleet carrier have 20, each is double as large as the previous one. It would be nice if the efficiency of super dreadnaught and dread star can be the same.