In early games you rely on your free cap and light frigates to capture planetes and defend your empire as you can't research LR Frigates or Heavy Cruisers (HC) yet.
Actually, most of the veterans do not use light frigates to clear planets. We use scouts, among other reasons because their low supply cost allows us to remain at 0% upkeep for longer and to build up cash with which to spam higher-tech unit-types when the time comes. Combined with good "fast expand" tactics, we can get very large empires (which in turn can support very large fleets) operational very quickly. Direct jumps to heavy cruisers are not uncommon at all.
I was either thinking about a Heavy Frigate that does a little more dmg then the light one, on the other hand having more life and armor. Or of cause a light cruiser that has a little less dmg and life then his heavy counterpart.
I'm going to be blunt here: I think this is a horrible idea (no offense). Using highly limited developer resources to produce variants of units that we already have is a waste of time. If you want these units in a mod, power to you, but for the official game I'd like the devs to focus on completely new units rather than creating alternate versions of stuff we already have.
Especially in late games light frigates (LF's) are way too weak to take the punishment of bigger ships or even a starbase
It's already really easy to jump straight into the 3-lab level. If you put a better version of the light frigate there, then people will ignore the light frigate altogether. If you want a stronger light frigate, then petition the devs to buff the one we already have.
Secondly, I find it disingenious to complain that LF can't take down an upgraded starbase. Starbases are fleet-torching weapons that will devastate anything except for a large bomber or Ogrov force. If you want a unit that's powerful enough to go toe to toe with LRF, heavies, and starbases, while having the speed and anti-support powers of a light frigate... well, you're pretty much asking for an "I win" button in unit form.
And HC's are too slow and expansive to truely mass them if you are limited on income.
That's not right; HC's are actually a relatively fast unit, outrunning LRF, carriers, support cruisers, and capital ships (pretty much everything that matters). Secondly, they are one of the game's most cost-effective units, and once you've managed to put down the 5-lab prerequisite they're actually one of the best unit selections you can be making on a limited income.
The Problem with LR Frigs is that they can't take a lot of punishment.
This works in reverse, as well. Most units can't take a lot of punishment from the wickedly high damage of the LRF. So long as you don't throw piddly forces of 10-12 of them around that get whittle away by fighters, you're fine. A good early-game rush force of 30 LRM's with a few gardas in support will roll pretty much anything else.
So anyways, no offense or anything, but I don't want the developers wasting time creating alternate versions of units that already exist. If a unit isn't fulfilling its role effectively, then buff it. Don't create a replacement that renders the old unit obsolete. If there is a role you'd like filled that no existing unit fulfills, then create an entirely new unit (like the upcoming Corvette) rather than cloning an existing one.
