Why hasn't anyone mentioned that this ability is level 2? I've rarely been in matches online long enough to get more than 4 military labs, even when I'm winning, yet people bring up the level 6 meson bolt as a counter. I don't even think meson bolt is as good as disruptive nanites, but regardless the disruptive nanites are available before the light carrier is for TEC and Vasari.
Disruptive nanites is a passive ability, which lasts for 5 minutes after the last shot, not after firing at a particular ship. Until the turret is destroyed, it can shoot (if micromanaged) as many ships as you want in the opposing fleet. 5 minutes means the attacking fleet can withdraw and still be at a severe disadvantage while defending in their own territory. As an early game ability, it kills low-level capitol ships (with minimal antimatter in the first place) and renders their abilities useless if on autocast after being affected.
Losing passive shield regen is also absurdly effective, as shields regenerate very quickly and shield mitigation increases to 60% on frigates and 65-75% on capitol ships. That means 60% of all damage is absorbed by shields...at least until shields fail at which point a substantial amount of damage is still mitigated by basic shield regen. Hull regeneration isn't nearly as significant as shield regen, since ships don't regenerate hull damage fast enough to be noticeable. However, in early game losing shield regeneration for 5 minutes means that a damaged capitol ship that would normally have recovered its shields will instead have no shielding unless an ability has restored it (unlikely if this is early game, except for minimal regen from Dunov). Antimatter regen...need I say more? Capitol ships without antimatter are significantly stunted, especially support capitol ships (Dunov, Vulkoras) which rely on abilities rather than strikecraft or antimatter. The Ragnarov and Vorastra, despite their high damage without abilities, are still badly weakened without antimatter; Vorastra cannot teleport away or use maw (or phase stabilizer to withdraw with your fleet), and Ragnarov loses its high-AoE explosive shot. NOTE: I do realize that all of this depends on exploiting the regen disable, although this is not very hard to do in 5 minutes time.
You also cannot argue that turrets can be avoided. If one phase missile launcher needs to be avoided, then one need only line a system with 6 or so to prevent someone from escaping unharmed...and the delay of traveling around them is valuable enough as it is. Wasting a turret as a fleet bypasses it is hardly a concern, they are dirt-cheap. And placing them with a starbase, hanger bays, repair bays, or in back with light carriers means that they will still end up in combat. Using bombers on them means not using them on a starbase, titan, or capitol ship in the opposing fleet, and a skilled player can take advantage of this (Kortul, Jam Weapons) and temporarily pacify your bombers. The turret is hardly the cornerstone of the Vasari defense, yet it is such a powerful component of it. THAT is the problem.
I'd like to add I do like the idea about 30 second (not 2 minute) on hit with 15-75% reduced regen. That would work, though even that should be at least level 3 or 4 tech, like the TEC rocket burst (which is still crap by comparison, given how insanely valuable passive regen is). I'd also like to add that though I've played vs bots before, I'm fairly inexperienced in multiplayer gameplay with only about 6 games against other players.
