First off, really happy with that there's a second coming of the game, really enjoyed the first one, this post will be long, but hoping it can help with some feedback.
General thoughts about the game:
1. In its current state, culture doesnt seem to be as important as it has been in the past, I think that there needs to be more effects of culture by default and to give more incentives and a clear strategy to win a culture war, I thought that was always a pesky thing that can really hurt/help your game styles. Please push that more, right now there are some upgrades, but it feels very minor.
2. The exotic system is cool, but at times it feels more prohibitive that it should and sometimes less important than it should. As TEC, i really struggled to get logistical spots in my planets while with Vasari Rebel i had way more than i need along with Capitol ships being able to build exotics, so on the one side i can barely afford to build them, and it took forever to progress when they were required, on the other side as Vasari it was barely a cost to it. While that might be intentional differences, it felt super restrictive as TEC to the breaking point, and it barely felt noticeable as Vasari, to where i barely gave it any consideration.
3. Items on capitol ships, great idea, but I think it's muddy currently. It feels like TEC has WAYY too many items as upgrades and then extra slots for their ships. I think there needs to be more balance between simply an upgrade and everything thats remotely good need to be an item to be built by the ship. Its an awesome idea to customize the capitol ships, but at times it feels like too many steps. Upgrade this cool thing, but btw it needs an exotic gem to research, but then it needs an exotic gem to build, but before you can do that you gotta do this and this. Sometimes it feels like too much to get 1 thing for 1 ship. Short version, iron out the system but its a good system.
4. Items on planets. Again, i like the idea, but certain things need to be stronger there, a lot of the times the items are not very exciting. There are some exciting items, but there's a lot of items that feel like filler. Great idea, please iron out the items. Same issue with the research/exotics cost, with TEC it felt really difficult at times. Another struggle was with TEC where logistical spots are super scarce, i basically felt forced to only get + military/civil labs 90% of the time.
5 Pirates. Man, those guys have been working out! So the main 2 problems are the pirtate ships that can be spawned by a player that just materialize at any planet with a click. WAY too strong, WAY too early. Probably needs some kind of scaling based on time. I had a game where someone materialized 12-15 ships deep in my space while i was guarding the entrance to my empire, and firstly, it took me forever to even get back, even though i didnt let anyone slip past me, but secondly, they do SO MUCH DAMAGE at an early/mid game. They need to scaled down or scaled with time, because they are super OP.
6. Keeping the lesser allies alive to get resources. I really like this actually, instead of wiping them out to get their planet, you keep them around and they send you stuff. Good job there, good choice to make.
7. Armor/shield, if there's a way for players to hover over armor/shield while selecting a unit to get some explanation on how it works? Like what does 5 shield mitigation do for me? Is 45 armor good? is 600 armor good? What does that do exactly, how does the interaction work? DPS vs damage per shot? It would be good for rookies to get some info on that.
8. TEC trade system with commerce > very positive, love it.
9. Vasari rebels starting point and not needing credits, good touch, i enjoyed that start.
10. Future orbits, really like the feature to keep things dynamic, would be nice to get a timer on when you'll hit a new space lane, because it feels random at this point and hard to plan at times.
Balance:
TEC, overall feels weak, a lot of upgrades feel like filler upgrades and not very impactful. I dont have the feel of an economic beast early game like i did in Sins 1. Slow start in the game economically and specifically logistically. The units feel weak an unimpactful and the capitol ships feel the same way as well. While TEC is not meant to be the synergy faction in terms of cap ships/units, their ships just dont feel like they impact a battlefield much.
Units:
1. LRM cruiser feels weaker than before even though it got a boost from frigate to cruiser. Not a lot of bang for you buck, so i dont end up making them very much. They also move clunky in a battlefield.
2. Hoshiko's dont feel as impactful. I Sins1, if i had 3-4 Hoshiko's my army doesnt die until they run out of Antimatter, right now, they dont feel like they're as strong.
3. Harcka heavy cruiser feels weak, not tanky enough with hoshiko's and low damage. I liked they TEC wall of steel with heals playstyle, doesnt feel to be the case currently.
4. Ogrov Torpedo Cruiser, this is a big problem child. Only viable way to kill a Vasari star base, but again, they are super clunky. They randomly go up to units, their missiles hit target you're not targeting, the missiles get killed really easy, they take forever to adjust themselves to shoot, difficult to use properly in a real fight with equal numbers.
5. Cobalt anti matter burn was a really nice ability to keep that unit in even in late game, i think its a shame it doesnt have anything special other than being a small brick. I think small units need a bit more flavor to be relevant longer in the game More late game upgrades that changes or adds roles to units.
Capitol ships
1. Kol - dont like the fact that its missing its flak ability, i thought it was rather important for the ship and for the faction, new ability feels like a nerf.
2. Marza, new abilities feel like a nerf. Kol has the single target ability, Marza needs the AoE damage still, and the missile damage buff is too short and not impactful. If it gives an aura that buffs damage or something itd be a different story, but right now, its basically just its lvl 6 ult thats worth having.
3. Sova - new abilities are not useful in my opinion, could be wrong, but it feels like a cap ship to be kept at home.
4. Dunov, best ship i think, only ship with real battle impact. Although it feels undertuned at the moment.
5. Akkan is fine.
Overall, i dont get the feeling of economic superiority nor the steel/tankiness/outlastiness that TEC is supposed to have. Needs help to get that identity back.
Vasari - feels good, upgrades seems impactful and streamlined, useful items. Very strong ships and abilities. My comments here are more questions/comments than a rundown of the roster.
1. How is Vasari rebel supposed to combat strike craft? The defensor ship is not enough.
2. The ship upgrades feel SUPER strong, they feel SO tanky, honestly what i would expect TEC to be, but feels good to be Vasari i suppose.
Ill finish with the main problem which is strike craft. There doesnt feel to be a counter to strike craft. Had a major battle with my brother with 2000 supply that we saved/loaded around 10-15 times. He had upwards of 80 Garda Flak and 300+ fighters, but still wasnt enough to counter my 35 or so Transporters. I think that the craft balance needs to be fixed. Either slower rebuild with more survivability or Flak Frigates need to counter better, or something. Currently strikecraft still reign supreme.
Starbases also feel a bit strong. Hard to take down unless super specialized and even then they are really hard to beat, at least the Vasari ones where you cant just out range them.
Id love to give more feedback if you guys are listening. Hoping to hear back to make this a great game!
