by djc6535
I was a playtester for Rise of the Ancients and through a number of games we found that the Syndicate were difficult to play with, but not unbalanced. The thing is their method of play isn't quite as obvious as the other races. Basically you have to make good use of their advantages. You do this with other races too but their advantages are clear. How well would you do as the Hydrans if you didn't research often?You've GOT to build interceptors and you've GOT to find a way to use them effectively. When you do, you can have a pretty nasty swarm of bumblebees that you can move all at once. The drives are particularly strong techs for them because you can put together deep raids on your opponent's territory. They can be very difficult to pin because of the number of ships you can bring.
Make sure to use initiative to your advantage as well.
Side note: Early versions had Syndicate with the cloaking tech as a starting tech. Made them freaking brutal.