Captivate is a good support tool for use with Lectora and Articulate.
Articulate is good for simple interactions and development.
Lectora is good for complex interactions and development for pushing advanced simulations and courses. You can incorporate Captivate, or Articulate Engage/Quizmaker interactions into Lectora.
Articulate pluses: Its powerpoint. Its all flash so it looks pretty. Quizmaker and engage make interactions simple. With SDK's you can do pretty much anything as long as you have time (I really emphasize time) and patience.
Articulate minuses: Its powerpoint. Network support is awful, working with multiple developers on a course is a real pain. Sometimes have to modify the JS to work properly with an LMS.
Captivate is a support tool, great screencaps, interactions, I use it often with Articulate/Lectora not to develop own courses. The most recent version has improved greatly in this area.
Lectora plusses: It can do everything. It supports advanced variable management. You can incorporate any media within Lectora. Great when working with multiple developers. Works great with all LMS's I've worked with. Don't have to do any modifications to make it work. Its very hands on, gives you a lot of control.
Lectora negatives: Its HTML so not as pretty as Articulate out of the box, with some work you can certainly make it so. Quizes aren't as simple to create as Quizmaker. Its very hands on, gives you a lot of control (which means easer to botch things when working with multiple developers)
