First, a bit of background. Three friends and I played a four player game against two level five AIs: Peacekeeper, Sledgehammer. This was not meant to be a difficult game: we had easy golems on and easy botnet golems for the guy staying at home. The only twist in the deal was the Avenger plots on both that I neglected to warn them about.
I have some concerns about how low we were able to keep the AI progress, but that is mostly worth disregarding till I've some other setups, no. of players, and difficulties under my belt. There were a couple things that I do not want to dismiss.
I believe the Neinzul Cruiser Champion is dangerously overpowered, despite its decreased armament. It isn't exactly the radar dampening, ability, cloaking, or vampirism. I could live with all four, especially given the limited module selection (particularly with regards to how it is limited in nebulae and core worlds). The problem is that it doesn't put systems on alert, even if it is attacking them. I actually took this champion to the AI Core and Homeworlds several times without any repercussions whatsoever, considering their immortality. Now one time I did set lose mark vs, but that was due to extreme sloppiness. Prior to the Cruiser, I could use a combination of cloaking and the repair ability in lesser systems to much the same affect. To be honest, I rather like the idea that it doesn't set everything nearby immediately on alert, unlike the other champion lines. However, it needs to at least alert the system it is inhabiting, or else it is just too easily abused. As long as there was no fortress present, and no nearby human system, I could comfortably set my Neinzul Cruiser champion on FRD and walk away. Prior to vampirism I could just take my time with the repair ability - which I don't object to, just the lack of urgency.
Second, I'd like to see a new difficulty setting for the Spirecraft and Golem factions: Extra Hard, where you wouldn't get any access to these units outside of exogalactic strike forces. I wouldn't expect any balancing around it, but by selecting a lower difficulty setting, it may be possible to set up some fun scenarios. On the lower difficulty settings we were able to achieve quite a lot while keeping the AI progress quite low (actually 20 below floor at one point), and it would be nice to have an unpleasant surprise at some point after kicking around the AI so much (again, difficulty 5).
The final thing is really just an interface suggestion I need to file on mantis later today, after sleep and work and then play, in that order: Review the objectives screen for Champion-only players. Most specifically, knowledge gathering section shows up and lists every cleared planet - even though you have no access to science labs and no place to spend said knowledge. Unlike the presence of broken Golems, ARS, etc, this information is of no use in forming cooperative strategies with normal players and just clutters the list. I should review that after work - but I'll probably crash and sleep, so I'm mentioning it now so I can remember it later.
The Avenger plots actually played out very well and dramatically given the minimal interest in golems and the lack of spire frigates. It was a rather fun and dramatic ending to the game, considering their slow speed and our champion travel speed concerns in traveling/eliminating the other core world.
I found the Missile Modules surprisingly helpful on the Neinzul Destroyer and Cruiser Champions. My initial impression of missiles with the Human Shadow Frigate was less than lackluster, given the need to maintain a shield. The ability to deploy repair with cloak on the edge of a system allowed tme to keep in system, if not always in fight, and not abandon for the two other variants. The pricing seemed about right, but I wouldn't mind the cost dropping to 450, in order to have it available a little more often. Dropping the shields also allowed me to have equal, if not surpassing firepower compared to the Zenith and Human Shadow variants, due to the lack of distracting heavy beam modules. I could solo one small starbase before retreating, though large starbases, fortresses, and avengers remained beyond my grasp even as a cruiser. Of course, there are still quite a few things those missile modules won't do, so it was a fair tradeoff.
I was impressed with the selection of small mounts on the Neinzul, but the insanity module was quite useless given how late the RNG decided to unlock it for us, our low AI progress, and the laughable waves resulting from AI 5. It looks like it could be quite tempting under more challenging settings, however.
The balance on level ups seems pretty solid at the moment. Despite regretting unlocking extra shielding, I did have enough remaining for mk2 needlers, mk 2 (3 with farming) insanity modules, and the mk4 missiles. The random unlocks leads to some interesting choices and 'make-do' design that plays out in some interesting ways. I enjoyed it that way- but I will note that it doesn't seem to lend itself to a very flexible playstyle- as one's first impressions of multiple hulls and the ease of switching might first imply. It does lend itself more to an adaptable playstyle, however. Speaking strictly as a player to other players, I recommend showing some restraint in your initial unlockings. At the moment, the level gain rate does slow down significantly somewhere around 15-20, and after that it will take a conscious effort to farm exp. So do not grab all the low-hanging modules to try out. Experiment with the basics a bit and try not to unlock unnecessary upgrades. I went with mk2 needlers to clear large hordes of dangerous nebula light craft, but also grabbing laser modules, for instance, would have severely stunted my ability to max out some of the other modules I decided I wantd, and I ended up regretting grabbing a shield upgrade as well, since I went Neinzul. It was certainly manageable as is without farming, but early greed could have quite easily hampered me later on. Heavy modules and some very special light modules do require the same unlocks, so.... i've just lost my train of thought at 5 AM. Something to do with enjoying it even more when the third or fourth nebula offers up its interesting grabbag of options. I certainly didn't regret the shield or needlers much - the former let my try out some of the other hulls from time to time, and the latter helped a lot in nebula and sites rich with reclaim/translocation/paralysis-immune ships.
I do kind of regret that the scenarios and unlock costs do significantly decrease the appeal of investing in translocator modules and the like... but I could afford to mess around with those a bit if I play it a bit more frugal early on... I don't think they should necessarily be cheaper given some of their impressive utility, nor that they should affect nebula ships, just that there was a non-nebula challenge you could take on later on to erase some of those regrets. Seizing and holding a spire archive for a couple levels, for instance, but perhaps with some additional interaction that ends up requiring teamwork with the 'normal' player. Latch onto an archive for three minutes, get zombies while immobilized?
