Sins: Onslaught

No...

I'd agree those ideas are way too over the top.  However, that doesn't mean "Onslaught" in and of itself is a bad idea.

I still like my idea of "Artillery Cruisers" with area of effect abilities. 

TEC Torwick Artillery Cruiser (tech level 4)
Abilities:
Incendiary Grenade:  Fires a single powerful explosive round that detonates in the target area.  The projectile is slow and therefor ineffective against moving enemies.  The damage dealt is massive, and it affects both friendly and enemy units.  This ability has very long range, but also has a substantial minimum range.  There is a short activation time.

Shock Grenade (research; tech level 6):  This missile carries a different payload than the incendiary grenade.  Instead of dealing damage, it shuts down all units (friendly and enemy) in the area of effect for a short duration.  Starbases are unaffected and capital ships are unaffected.  Units struck by a shock grenade are immune to successive strikes immediately afterwards.

Advent Malsura Inquisitor (tech level 5)
Abilities:
Judgement (channelled ability): Targets a nearby location.  All enemy units in the area of effect take damage, and shield mitigation also falls at a faster rate than normal.  Multiple Inquisitors using this ability stack for damage, but not for shield mitigation reduction.

Castigate (research; tech level 7 / channelled ability): All enemy units in the area of effect have their special abilities disabled while this ability is being channelled.  Starbases and capital ships are unaffected.

Vasari Jakosul Annihilator (tech level 3)
Abilities:
Explosive Charges Deploys a barrage of explosive charges that slowly drift in the target direction.  As they travel, they multiply and spread outward over a larger area, increasing their damage potential.  These explosive charges are particularly effective against structures and starbases.

Wave Recursion (tech level 5 / passive):  Grants the Jakosul an attack.  The Jakosul has a minimum range on this attack, but can target up to 50 different enemies that are inside its firing arc with its weapons.  This makes the Jakosul extremely dangerous against tightly packed groups of enemies.

Yes, that's the point Note that they would be late game techs, and would be balanced by techs from other factions.  The vasari idea is a must have

I like your ideas as well.

Nice ideas so far. My idea for a new capital ship class. Unnecassary but cool.

TEC

Kun-class Battlecruiser

Abilities

Saturation fire: Fires a huge number of rounds at many enemy ships within range. Duration and maximum number of targets increased at higher levels.

Electronic Countermeasures: Jamming signals reduce the accuracy of all enemy targets within range including capital ships, starbases and strike-craft.

Flechette bomb: Fires a large projectile that bursts before hitting its target, spraying ultra-high-speed metal rods that can pierce the toughest hull. Amount of armour debuffed on targets and radius increased at higher levels.

Enveloping Forcefield: The TEC have learned from the Advent the value of fleet support. This huge forcefied was developed from similiar technology designed for the Kol. All friendly ships nearby receive damage reduction and phase missiles have slightly reduced chances for penetration. Duration and radius increased at hogher levels.

Advent

Confessor-class Heavy Lancer

Abilities

Kinetic Strike: Fires a gigantic kinetic bolt at the targeted enemy planet causing a massive amount of damage. Damage and number of bolts fired increased at higher levels.

Righteous Wrath: Weapon range, rate of fire, passive regeneration and speed are all greatly increased. These are all increased further at higher levels.

Reassurance: All friendly ships, structures and strike-craft passively have their regen rate increased slightly. Range and regen boost increased at higher levels.

Psionic Pulse: Very long range Psi attack that does tremendous damage to a single target. Cooldown time and antimatter cost reduced at higher levels.

Vasari

Kravarak-class Annihilator

Abilities

Assualt Vortex: Developed from similiar technology on board the Orkulus and Jarrasul, this ability is potent against enemy ships. A powerful vortex sucks in and destroys enemy frigates and strike-craft. The Kravarak uses this to regenerate health and also contributes metal and crystal to the players economy. Number of frigates and strike-craft affected and range increased at higher levels.

Dynamic Armour: These protective layers utilise nanites that can change and adapt to varying battlefield situations. The more this ship gets focus-fired, the greater the armour bonus it gives itself. Duration increased and antimatter cost decreased at higher levels.

Reflective Shield: A powerful shield is deployed that essentially bounced received fire back at enemies. However, the shield must absorb energy to reflect damage, so reflected shots do reduced damage. Cooldown time and antimatter cost reduced at higher levels.

Wave Amplification: The Kravarak passively deals increased damage from its multiple wave cannons. Damage boost and range boost increased at higher levels.

They are either working on a new big box expansion or another game.  If it's an expansion then expect the most requested stuff, campaign and another race anyone?

I suspect it's another game though, I imagine as fairly new developers (well new company with experienced game developers) they are probably excited about what they could do with a whole new game engine knowing what they know now.

I would put money down on a game that has

1) no crashes, mini dumps, desync issues

2) No ico lobby crashes when too many people try join the game

3) Ladder ranking system

4) Ability to directly control a dropped player

5) Play multiple races simultanously in the same game using only 1 client

I never thought of #5 before.  Sounds cool!  Although since I can barely play with just one race, it's something I would probably never use.  But for an octopus like yourself, I can see the utility.

New anti-FF capships (to help keep caps alive) -

Vasari anti-FF ability: Reactive hull nanites.  Adds additional points of armor and hull to the target vessel in proportion to how many enemies are FF'ing it.

TEC anti-FF ability: Force field.  Adds a force shield around the target vessel which must be FF'ed down before any damage can be done to the vessel.

Advent anti-FF ability: Retaliation.  Similar to vengence, except better.

Hell, I perfer a Sins 2 altogether

I would put my money down for

1) Better AI, pathfinding

Hell just better AI and pathfinding would be just great.

Pathfinding is certainly not what I would consider an issue with Sins

dude what are you playing? almost every great player of this game would agree the pathfinding issue is Huge.

Have you ever tried getting across a crowed planet, or cross a planet from the center? to move around a planet in battle, the ships ram themselves into the planet and then move little by little just to go around, and arouond planetary objects they collide on purpose and then make course adjustments, even then it takes them a long time to figure it out. and you tell me that pathfinding isn't a big issue?!

I'm sorry, I thought you were talking about Sins of a Solar Empire, my bad, thought you were exagerating completely minor and rare occuring incidents that have such little effect on the gameplay.  So what game were you talking about?

I think a new Capital Ship would be in order for this idea of Onslaught...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Battle Stars!

These titans of space battle are meant to be the be-all and end-all of capital ships.  Each Battle Star is essentially a pint-sized Starbase, but can't upgrade to the extent that Starbases can.  Battle Stars also have their own abilities.  However, Battle Stars are so powerful, and so prohibitively expensive that Empires can only field 1 of these mammoth vessels at any time.

TEC Solnik Battle Star

ABILITIES:

- Broadside: The Solnik's weapons batteries all fire at once in a massive storm of fire, damaging all targets within its area of effect.  However, the power demand is so great that the Solnik is unable to move for a few seconds.  Higher Levels decrease the vulnerability period and cooldown.

- Ion Field Generator:  Thorough research into the behavior of Ion Storms has allowed TEC scientists to create a localized Ion disruption that prevents enemy ships from launching any fighters.  Higher Levels increase the duration and range of the ability, but the cooldown is fixed at 60 seconds.

- Inspiring Presence (Passive): The mere presence of the Solnik is enough to rally TEC and Allied Forces to battle, boosting morale and increasing antimatter regeneration and rate of fire.  Higher Levels increase the AM Regen, and rate of fire, but the area of effect is fixed at 8000 km.

- Fusion Cannon (Ultimate):  The Solnik's deadliest weapon.  The ship is actually built around the weapon itself, concentrating a massive burst of Fusionic energy into a single, terrifying blast that makes the Heavens themselves shudder when it fires.  The powerful burst of energy deals 3000 Damage to the target, and has an area of effect of 3000 km - however, the damage drop off is alarmingly high, dealing only 200 Damage at maximum radius.  The Fusion Cannon deals double damage to structures, Starbases, and other Battle Stars, but since the weapon draws its power from the main reactor, the ship is unable to operate for 15 seconds after firing.

UPGRADES:

- Repair Bays:  The Solnik maintains a large quantity of repair drones aboard its massive frame, allowing the ship to heal friendlies over time.

- Weapons Banks:  The Solnik starts off with laser and missile batteries, but can be upgraded to also wield autocannons and beam lances as well.  The Autocannons can target enemy fighters and bombers.

- Construction Bays:  The Solnik can produce TEC Frigates with this upgrade, but not cruisers.

- Hardened Shields:  Further refinement of the Kol's Adaptive Forcefield has been applied to the Solnik, as well, allowing it increased survivability and Phase Missile blocking.

Advent Harmonia Revenant

ABILITIES:

- Antimatter Siphon: The Revenant is an AM-hungry beast - so much so, that it can feed off the AM of all ships, friend or foe, to replenish its own reserves.  In exchange, friendly ships are healed for the AM consumed.  Higher Levels increase the area of effect and AM stolen.

- Hateful Gaze: Woe be to the victim of this ability, as all damage to the target and its allied ships within a certain radius is increased by 50%.  Higher Levels increase the range and area of effect.

- Will of the Unity (passive): The very sight of the Revenant is enough to strike fear into the populace of the planet below, causing a heightened culture shift to the Unity.  Allied ships also will discover that their shields are also more adept at mitigation.  Higher Levels increase the Culture Spread and Shield Mitigation, but the area of effect is fixed at 8000 km.

- Unity's Fury (Ultimate):  Heathens, beware, as the Unity has come to judge you.  The Revenant's final ability calls upon the strength of all onboard Psintegrat to make their presence known by causing a psychic storm of destruction.  The psi storm deals 100 DPS to all units in a 5000 km radius of the target. Due to the destructive nature of this ability, the Psintegrat are unable to distinguish between friend and foe, and thus anyone can be damaged by this ability.  Starbases, structures, and other Battle Stars take double damage from this ability.  Lasts 15 seconds.

UPGRADES:

- Harmonic Enhancers:  The Revenant can slowly but steadily regenerate the shields of all allied ships within range of the ship, though Progenitors still do the job a bit better.

- Weapons Emplacements:  The Revenant starts out with Beam and Laser Banks, but can upgrade its planet-bombing ability and gain Plasma weapons as well.

- Hallucinative Countermeasures:  The Revenant can cause those who attack it to hallucinate, thinking their target is at another spot and thus miss more often.

- Psychic Reinforcements:  The Hull of the Revenant can be strengthened, increasing armor and hull points.

Vasari Grovonok Dominator

ABILITIES:

- EMP Shockwave:  The Grovonok is able to create a powerful electromagnetic disruption, causing all ships and structures within a 2000 km radius of the target to be disabled for a certain period of time.  Higher Levels increase the range and disablement duration.

- Phasic Shroud:  As long as this ability is active, the Grovonok and all allied ships within a certain radius are hidden from detection; however, the AM drain is a bit prohibitive.  Higher Levels increase the area of effect and lower the AM drain.

- Hostile Intent (Passive):  The unfortunate few who have seen the Grovonok say that it is one of the most terrifying ships one can ever see.  Those who have been caught in its malicious shadow feel overcome with sheer terror and find themselves not fighting as efficiently as they normally would, while the Grovonok and its allies seem to hit all the harder.  Higher levels further lower the damage dealt to friendly ships and increase the damage and Phase Missile penetration of friendlies, but the area of effect is fixed at 8000 km.

- Nanite Singularity Warhead (Ultimate):  The Vasari's mastery of nanites is unquestioned when they bring this, their ultimate weapon, to the field.   The NSW splatters the target and its allies in a 4000 km radius with a cloud of highly-damaging nanites that eat away at the hapless ships, dealing 30 DPS.  In addition, any affected ships that are damaged suddenly find that their fates are linked, as damage is shared amongst ships.  The nanites do not last forever, however, and will dissipate after 30 seconds. The NSW deals double damage to structures, Starbases, and other Battle Stars.

UPGRADES:

- Elite Pilots: The fighter and bomber squadrons of the Grovonok can be crewed by the best dogfighters in the Empire, allowing the squadrons to deal additional damage.

- Assault Enhancements: The Dominator starts with pulse gun and wave cannon batteries, but can be upgraded to carry Pulse Beam and Phase Missile batteries, as well as miniaturized Disintegrator Beams like those on the Orkulus Star Base.

- Pinpoint Targeting:  The Grovonok can be upgraded with a prototype targeting computer that highlights key weaknesses in enemy ship hulls, allowing all friendly ships to deal an extra 10% damage to their targets.

- Phase Stabilization Generator:  The Grovonok can also carry a small onboard Phase Stabilization Generator, allowing the Dominator and its allies to jump to any other phase stabilization node in the local star system.

My 3.5 cents.

NEW ADVENT STRUCTURE: Shield Recharger - the compliment to the Antimatter Recharger and Repair Bay.

ABILITIES FOR NEW CAPS OR CRUISERS -

Vasari: Macrophasing Aura - similar to Microphasing Aura, but affects all non-strikecraft vessels.

Advent: Oblivion Field - cloaks all vessels and structures within radius of affect, including the Oblivion Cruiser/Cap itself (antimatter dependent).  Scouts can decloak the affected ships/structures.

TEC: Inscrutability Matrix - instantly teleports all friendly vessels within area of affect to any location within the grav-well.

nah just exchange Kol's gauss rail gun with Novaliths WOOTTTTTTTTTT

NEW ADVENT CRUISER - Antimatter Guardian.

Similar to the Shield Guardian, but instead of sharing 33% damage, it shares 33% antimatter from any abilities using antimatter.  Instead of repulse, it has the power to ATTRACT, which sucks ships towards it.

Edited my post to make it a bit easier to read.  Sorry if it looked like a huge mish-mash of text...

On another note, some of these ideas seem really intriguing - I wonder what the devs think of 'em.

Well, I must say..  When I first read the OP, I thought, "Seriously?  They know its doomed to fail; why are they bothering?"  Well, I've reconsidered.  For all intents and purposes, this may as well be a fanfic.  So, I'm fine with it, and here are a few things from my mod...

If you don't want statistics, I have something more text-y at the bottom

Destroyers: damage focused capitals that will win in most capital ship fights.  Their drawback is fragility

Lancers: high powered ships that attack from long range.  Their axial guns are awesome, but also come with things like temp shutdowns of most functions of the ship...

Destroyers:
Eyron Evangelist [Advent]  
Fore: one heavy plasma cannon, two heavy beam cannons 23 DPS
Port/Starboard: two medium plasma batteries 11 DPS
Aft: two heavy beam cannons 15 DPS
Total DPS: 60
Shield Composure: Remove 200/300/400 Shield Points from an enemy target to regenerate 100/200/300 Hull Points.  Costs 80 AM
Active Harmonization: increase maximum mitigation of the Eyron and the ships in range (6000) by 3%/6%/9% [Passive]
Shatter Shields: Damage the shields of a target by 500/700/1000 and reduces mitigation of the target by 1%/2%/3%.  Costs 100 AM.
Shield Detonation: Damages the target for 4500 damage and deals 700 damage to own shields.  Costs 80 AM

Gartel Destroyer [TEC]
Fore: three heavy laser cannons 17 DPS
Port/Starboard: two heavy autocannon batteries, one medium laser cannon 18 DPS
Aft: two heavy torpedo launchers 10 DPS
Total DPS: 65
Firefight: Cause all attacks to deal 5/10/15 splash damage and damage the target for 1/2/3 damage for 5/10/15 seconds
Cannonade: Increase the weapons banks by 1/1/2 and damage output by 0%/25%/0% for 35 seconds.  Costs 70 AM
Allegiance: Increase damage of a all allied capital ships within a radius of 2000/3000/4000 by 3%/7%/10%.  [Passive]
Broadside: Damages all ships in range (4000) for 2500 Damage in one massive volley and deactivates own weapons for 20 seconds following usage.  Costs 130 AM

Kramrock Dissapator [Vasari]
Fore: two heavy phase missile batteries 15 DPS
Port/Starboard: two very heavy wave cannon batteries 20 DPS
Total DPS: 55
Discouragement: Increase the weapon cooldowns of 3/7/10 enemy ships by 130%/140%/150% for 20/30/40 seconds.  Costs 80/70/60 AM.
Extermination: Damage planet for 20/40/60, and kills 50/100/150 population over 20 seconds.  Requires 110/100/90 AM
Subdue: Reduce the damage dealt by an enemy owned object by 25%/50%/75% for 10 seconds.  Costs 60 AM
Xenocide: Damages all enemy owned objects in the gravity well for 300 Damage to hull and 40 damage to SC.  Costs 150 AM

Lancers:
Nolane Converter [Advent]
Axial: 1 super heavy beam cannon 30 DPS
Fore: four heavy plasma cannons 65 DPS
Port/Starboard: Two light laser cannons 5 DPS
Total DPS: 105
Mass Conversion: Causes target planet to take 30 damage per second for 20/40/60 seconds
PsiTech Ranging:  Increases range of all weapons on the Nolane and surrounding forces by 10%/20%/30%. [Passive]
Charged Cannons: Increases weapon damage by 35%/45%/55% and increase cooldown by 10% for 20 seconds.  Costs 55/50/50 AM
Apocalypse Summoner: Activates axial cannon and deals 500 DPS for 6 seconds.  Costs 120 AM

Astrom Lancer [TEC]
Axial: 1 super heavy autocannon 60 DPS
Fore: 4 heavy laser batteries 60 DPS
Port/Starboard: two light lasers 6 DPS
Total DPS: 136
Emergency Generators: Disables engines, weapons, and abilities of the Astrom to regenerate 8/9/10 AM and 16/18/20 Shield points per second for 20/30/40 seconds.  Costs 90 AM
Maximum Firepower: Increases damage of all weapons by 100%/120%/140% for five seconds.  Costs 70/65/60 AM.  60/55/50 second cooldown.
Primary Target: Increases damage done by ships within a radius of 1000/1500/2000 to the target by 50%/75%/100% for 30 seconds.  Costs 80/90/100 AM.
Railgun: Activates axial cannon and deals 2400 damage to the target.  Costs 120 AM

Rashnak Obliterator [Vasari]
Axial: 1 super heavy pulse beam cannon 90 DPS
Fore: 4 heavy phase missile launch tubes 30 DPS
Port/Starboard: 2 light pulse beam cannons 7 DPS
Total DPS: 134
Fear of the Empire: Damages the target and those within a radius of 1000 for 100/200/300 have their attack disabled for 3/4/5 seconds.  Costs 100 AM
Phase Cloaking: Phases all ships within range (10000) out for 10/20/30 seconds.  Costs 90/85/80 AM
Nanite Slugs: causes all weapons to yield a .5/1/1.5 DPS to the target's hull for 10 seconds.  (Passive)
Obliteration Cannon: Activates axial cannon and damages the target for 2600.  Costs 120 AM

And here are some reviews of the power of the ships and their abilities (using the same method of *'s and ' 's that others use)

Eyron: *****
Shield Composure: ***'
 Though helpful at healing and dealing some damage, SC is still limited both in offensive and defensive capabilities.
Active Harmonization: *****
 I think it goes without saying, but cranking mitigation up to nearly 90% on capitals is going to be a huge boost.
Shield Pulse: ****'
 While relatively powerful, it is not much more than GRG.  Instead, its power comes from its ability to knock down mitigation
Shield Detonation: *****
 Now, this is the only ability in the game that damages itself in order to slam through enemy health, but it also deals immense damage to the target, so I still give it five stars.

Gartel: ****
Firefight: ****
 While it does not do much directly, it does instill a DPS and give the Gartel splash damage.  Combine this with the  next ability however and it becomes twice as powerful.
Cannonade: *****
 Doubling and then tripling DPS is enough to shred most enemies, and thanks to passive splash damage, you can  annihilate enemy forces.
Allegiance: ***
 While passive, it doesn't really do all that much as it only affects capitals.
Broadside: *****
 This ability is quite powerful.  Sure, it has a small range, but it is going to wipe out health of virtually any ship in range instantly.

Kramrock: ****
Discouragement: ***
 While this does cut enemy DPS in half, it only does so to a few ships...
Extermination: ****
 This is one devastating ability.  While it does little bombing damage, it gives the Vasari one huge buff towards  rushing.
Subdue: ***
 This is a great way to knock out a single ship's damage temporarily.  Best used against caps.
Xenocide: *****'
 This ability is incredibly powerful.  It damages all ships somewhat, but its real power comes from SC destruction.  With so much damage dealt to ALL enemy SC, you can quickly shred them with your own SC.

I don't have stuff for the others since I haven't typed it out for the lancers...  but anyways...  There you go...

Hey!  I remember this mod, Volt!  What happened?  Did interest drop off for it?  It would've been awesome to see it to completion...

No, its not dead...  I switched most information over to an independent forum that few people followed the path of.  The primary reason though is that it has been put on hold due to a lack of time.  I will resume work on it during the summer.

Well, here's some abilities to compliment the current superweapons (which would be unlocked at tiers above what is currently possible)

Novalith:
Neutron Round: deals 100 damage to a planet, but wipes it clean of population. [Tier 10]
Voxuro Round: "destroys" the target planet and removes the ability of all factions to colonize it (this is done by creating a massive explosion animation followed by changing the mesh of the planet to an asteroid field while giving it an uncolonizable status that lasts for 9999999999 seconds) [tier 16]

Deliverance Engine:
Grace of the Unity: targets allied planets to increase their allegiance beyond traditional levels for a relationships boost [tier 9]
Emergence of the Unity: targets enemy planets and instantly reduces allegiance of the target planet by 50% and continues to decrease it at .2%/s for 60 seconds [tier 13]

Kostura Cannon:
Phasic Lockdown: prevents enemy ships from entering or leaving the gravity well for 60 seconds [tier 14]
Graviton Cannon: increases the size of gravity well by 100% and causes frigates to fall towards the planet at a rate 2000km/s, destroying the frigates upon impact and dealing damage to the planet for 10 seconds [tier 16]

I would like to note that these are not made to replace the current abilities of superweapons, but rather to give SW's other options and thus increases their usefulness

If there was a new expansion, I would think that increasing military technology would be the way to go, not super-weapons or that type of additions. Some extra capitals would always be nice. In particular, I really would like some strikecraft upgrades. Some ideas for SC upgrades are below, as are an idea for new capitals.

Squadron Coordinaton (Tier 5, TEC)- Advanced strikecraft command training is intitiated, resulting in superior strike teams. Increases damage output of all strikecraft by 25/50%.

Shield Integration (Tier 4, Advent)- Shield psionics project small shields on their ships' strikecraft, giving all Advent SC shield points. Can be affected by shield research.

Phasic Ambush (Tier 5, Vasari)Miniature phasedrives and phasic training are imposed on all Vasari aviators, allowing strikecraft to periodically enter phase space and ambush enemies. Vasari SC gain a 15/30% chance to enter phase space for one second (rendering the squadron invincible for this period), and deal double damage to all targets afterwards.

Vanan Battlecruiser (TEC)- In this time of increased conflict, TEC high command realized that previous support systems proved inadequate against new threats. Responding to this threat comes the Vanan Battlecruiser. Though lightly armed by TEC standards, the Vanan is staffed with TEC's finest combat coordinators and specialized to a support role. TEC fleets fight far more surely with a Vanan providing strategic guidance.

Weapons; 10 side-mounted missile batteries (5 per side), 2 forward pulse lasers

Crew: 2200

SC Capability: 1 (up to 3)

Abilities:

Solar Pulse- A concentrated burst of energy is directed towards an enemy ship, halting any actions for one second and causing 50 shield damage over 5/10/15 seconds. (80 antimatter, range 6000, cooldown 20 seconds)

Rapid Target Cycling- The Vanan's coordinators aid nearby carriers in directing strikecraft targets. All carriers/capital ships within range of the Vanan give their SC an increased 8/16/24% damage and speed increase. (Passive, range 2000)

Efficient Ability Guidance- Coordinators aid nearby ships use their abilities efficiently. All frigates, cruisers, and capital ship ability cooldowns decrease by 10/20/30%. (Passive, range 8000)

Inspire- The Vanan's crew diverts all systems to aid and inspire nearby ships. All ships within range of the Vanan recieve a 100% damage boost and 30% hull/shield/antimatter regeneration rate increase. (150 antimatter, range 10000, duration 60 seconds, cooldown 180 seconds.

 You just doubled your fleet's damage output...

I keep running into trouble about posting stuff on here.  I'm writing a book which does have capital ships and all sorts of things that I would love to pull from to stick into the sins universe (and this thread), but I keep having to remind myself that I shouldn't do that...