Tachyonic Enhancement Auxiliary (TEA) Ships - Allied-Speed Enhancing Ships

[Praphet]

Tachyonic Enhancement Auxiliary Ships

Introduction
Tachyon technology has been widely utilized by both the AI and Humans since even the start of the culling of Humanity. However, its use has only been seen in anti-cloaking systems. Nevertheless, recent breakthroughs in tachyon particles have given both sides an opportunity to improve their economies... and their arsenal.

Ships
TEA Ships are primarily designed for support and logistics, and are built directly from a command station. Their main feature is their tachyonic enhancers which improves the speed of allied ships within a planet. This provides players opportunities to create or improve highways across the galaxy with a hefty price. It also allows them to play hyper-aggressive styles (i.e. super swarms of melee). TEA ships also has access to tachyonic lances, long beams of super-charged tachyon particles that pierces through any material or shields. Be mindful however that these lances are comparatively weak and are primarily there as deterrents to small squads of enemies. In terms of downsides, these ships are incredibly energy-intensive and take a while to construct. TEA Ships are upgraded through the technologist tech tree, which also increases their total amount per station.

Tachyonic Enhancement Auxiliary Frigate (TEA Frigate)
Planet-bound frigate that increases the speed of all allied ships within its designated planet by 1.75x. It needs 50,000 energy and 150k metal to build and has a total of 30k hull and 100k shields at base level. The frigate has a dps of 1000 at mk1 and a range of 9000. It can be built from any command station and is upgraded by Light Hull and Technologist Weapons.

Tachyonic Enhancement Auxiliary Cruiser (TEA Cruiser)
FTL-capable cruiser that increases the speed of all allied ships within its designated planet by 2.25x. Needs 200,000 energy and 500k metal to build and has a total of 100k hull and 300k shields at base level. The frigate has a dps of 3000 at mk1 and a range of 12000. It can only be built in military command stations and is upgraded by Medium Hull and Technologist Weapons.

From the Modder
This is my first modding work in any videogame and I have tried my best to balance these two ships. I am aware that all command stations have a planetary booster but to those who are still quite dissatisfied with the speed, you now have an option to create literal warp gates. Anyways, I made sure I made it quite an investment to make, though I am also aware that it is not perfectly balanced. That's why I ask for some feedback on this mod so that I would be assured that its already fine or not. Lastly, I'm also thinking of continuing this tachyon series, so comment if you believe I should, I already got some ideas (ahem... Tachyon Battleships).

Installation
1. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\AI War 2 or to where your installation path for AI War 2 is.
2. Extract files to XML Mods.
3. Start up game.

[Praphet]

Update 1.1
1. Added galaxy view icon for TEA cruisers.
2. Reduced energy consumption of TEA cruisers from 300k to 200k.
3. Reduced energy consumption of TEA Frigates from 100k to 50k.

[ArnaudB]

Having tested them a bit, they're somewhat awkward.

The first thing they need is cloaking. They get prioritised way too much and quickly, they pretty much die the instant they jump on an enemy territory.

Second it's kinda awkward to move them around. You have to assign their command station to a control group, but then if you double-tap the control group it'll zoom to the command station rather than the fleets or the cruiser, that's pretty annoying.

I'd recommend making the frigate a building (maybe?) and letting it be built by both logistical and military stations (but not economical, probably, for balancing purpose). I'd recommend the cruiser be both cloaked and build-able by support fleets, since that sounds the most appropriate. Maybe them as fast as the support fleet flagship (900 speed I believe?) so they stick with it by default and it should be good.

The name could probably use some change too. Tachyonic in the game evokes more cloak-reveal than speed-boosting. I'd call them "Overloader" to keep in theme with the support fleet with planetary speed booster. Otherwise something like : Auxiliary, logistical, supercharger, Highway, speed-collider...

[Praphet]

Having tested them a bit, they're somewhat awkward.

The first thing they need is cloaking. They get prioritised way too much and quickly, they pretty much die the instant they jump on an enemy territory.

Second it's kinda awkward to move them around. You have to assign their command station to a control group, but then if you double-tap the control group it'll zoom to the command station rather than the fleets or the cruiser, that's pretty annoying.

I'd recommend making the frigate a building (maybe?) and letting it be built by both logistical and military stations (but not economical, probably, for balancing purpose). I'd recommend the cruiser be both cloaked and build-able by support fleets, since that sounds the most appropriate. Maybe them as fast as the support fleet flagship (900 speed I believe?) so they stick with it by default and it should be good.

The name could probably use some change too. Tachyonic in the game evokes more cloak-reveal than speed-boosting. I'd call them "Overloader" to keep in theme with the support fleet with planetary speed booster. Otherwise something like : Auxiliary, logistical, supercharger, Highway, speed-collider...

Thanks for the feedback, I will take note of that. I'm planning on implementing some changes and buffs on both the ships. Regarding the name, I'm going to keep it as is to connect it to another mod I'm making.