The "PvE skill check" likely refers to Flak, but it's not correct to focus on Flak damage just because it's a large damage number. Flak does have the possibility of dealing immense damage and stopping a squadron, but as has been repeated many times it's not something to expect or bet on. Personally, I think of Flak as a Critical Hit mechanic akin to each Flak puff providing a 1% chance of providing a large amount of damage, so 10 flak might equate to a ~10% chance of occurrence as an easy short-hand expectation.
Continuous Damage stacks multiplicatively. A Cruiser that has no DFAA, no flags, no skills, no upgrades can at most reach 150% output. A Cruiser that has DFAA, Flag, Skills, and a Slot 6 Upgrade for "all-in commitment" reaches up to 380% output. It's a 2.5 fold increase even without Flak ever touching an enemy plane.
Given the above range, if attacking an unspec'd Cruiser that costs 1.5 planes to strike there's an expectation of being str...
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