Artillery commanders

Two comm weapons become capable of outranging and rapidly killing Stingers with enough Advanced Targeting System upgrades: Heavy Particle Beam and Rocket Launcher.

Level 5 Engineer commander with 8x Advanced Targeting System, 1x Light Particle Beam, 1x Heavy Particle Beam
624 range. Outranges Stinger and all other basic turrets
Takes down a Stinger in 12 seconds (4 shots)
Outranges all skirmishers and one-shots most of them with 800 damage
Vulnerable to swarms
Moves at a crawl
Upgrade cost: 2330

Level 5 Guardian commander with 6x Advanced Targeting System, 2x Rocket Launcher, Napalm Warhead, free slot of choice
623 range. Outranges Stinger and all other basic turrets
Also takes down a Stinger in about 3-4 volleys
Keeps skirmishers away, but doesn't snipe them as effectively as the heavy particle beam due to rocket inaccuracy
At level 2 with only 1 Advanced Targeting System, already outranges lotuses and most skirmishers. Can get the last 2 Advanced Targeting System upgrades for 688 range.
More HP than the engineer commander, drones help give vision
Napalm warhead makes the rockets effective against swarms.
Can't aim upwards at too high an angle
Moves at a crawl
Upgrade cost: 2285 + cost of optional slot

So maybe it's a good idea on small maps to upgrade into one of these if you notice your opponent has really porced up with basic defenses and Stingers. Or if you're having trouble pushing back his skirmishers. Assuming he doesn't have anything that can easily kill a trollcomm.

its cheaper to build a new factory (even now with factory pods) and make a specific unit to do the job of terminating nasty statics, but hey i like saucy targets for my skuttles and lances too.

Oh that's how I always play in 1v1s: don't build enough energy and build power or lose half your economy to raids, excess metal, sink it into morphing since it's "free"! End up with a level 4+ commander, still excess thousands of metal, lose commander in a stupid way later, reclaim it to excess some more metal, shareholder profit has been maximized.

I wouldn't set out with a plan to get lots of commander upgrades but I think there's some decent value in the ranged builds if your economy is hurting or for certain 1v1 matchups. I think more than a couple of range upgrades is overkill for the rocket launcher since the Guardian commander has so much HP and the drones can distract defenses, so tanking a couple of shots and repair is fine.

One other option is the Shock Rifle on a level 4 Engineering commander, which basically turns it into a tanky discount Phantom. 600 range, 4300 HP, 1500 damage and 18 buildpower to sink into porc is a pretty good Welder on steroids if that's what you need.