Unit Balance

[Mojoqmeyvam]

Cruisers

What's the purpose of the Cruiser unit? I find myself using them early before I unlock Battleships as barb-busters (since they don't have to worry about even Destroyers on the prowl). If it's meant to be a missile boat, then why not have it be a specialized (and arguably cheaper) missile boat like the carrier as a specialized flight deck? (Also, I find myself never wanting to build any anti-ship missiles. I'll use the SB-built ones alright, but they're not so powerful that their one-use makes them not cost-effective, compared to building more fighters/bombers)

Also, can I get a quick explanation of why collateral damage was added to Invasion Ships? Was this to allow them to also limit the need for lots of bombers?

My take on UU balance (Regular/Delta/Omega):

Needs Tweaking:

New Earth: Battlecarriers (BB replacement) (22S/33S/50S instead of 24/36/54, but carries 1/1/2 squadrons). Interesting hybrid concept, and while it saves some hammers by being able to skip carriers (a little), the "Numidian Cavalry effect" worries me: any UU that is countered by its base version is in trouble. Since Battleships are primarily stack protectors and starbase- or other battleship-busters, Battlecarriers need to be able to continue that original function. I'd prefer leaving the strength as-is on the Battlecarrier but increasing the cost a little if you think it would be a balance concern (so 250h/500h/1000h instead of 225/450/900): 25h is well worth it to skip 1/3 of a 175h carrier.

AstroTech: Missile Destroyers (-1 Str, +1 Missile Capacity, +5% Interception Chance): Especially since AstroTech isn't an amazing civ to begin with, weakening their early anti-Pirate vessel is dangerous (on high-Pirate maps, the Missile Destroyer isn't going to survive scouting for very long, and as a zone defense/escort for colony ships, it's also sub-par). (AstroTech overall: their UB is great, but +1 free promotion is far worse than the Brotherhood for units, and double-speed on frequently optional and only built once-per-system squadron factories and capital shipyards isn't that great, either). Why not return the strength, but remove the interception chance increase?

Useful, should be left unchanged:

Paradise: Long-Range Bombers (+1 range for all four levels, including Q-Squadrons): Easy upgrade; always useful.

Avowers: Recon Ships (Scout Replacement: Lots of upgrades. The basic version gets +1 move, they can attack, they have extra strength at 3/5/7 instead of 2/3/5, instead of Improved/Upgraded Sensors, they get +Visibility, which stacks with Upgraded Sensors I believe, and they get a small chance to intercept squadrons and to withdraw from combat). Obviously only really good with huts on, but they make a nice Medic unit for your fleets, as well.

Halis: System Defense Boat (5/7/11 Str PDS replacement, and 1 First Strike Chance): Very nice. The Protective of FF, but it's actually helpful on defense.

Red Syndicate: Rapid Construction Ship (3MP instead of 2): Obvious economic power, but nowhere near as good as the Fast Worker. Feels about right power-wise.

The Brotherhood: Battlecruisers (12/18/27 strength instead of 10/15/22, and bombards at 15% instead of 10%): This type of upgrade on a Battleship would be broken, but on a weirdly-placed Cruiser unit, it's more than fine. I like them, although in my current Brotherhood game I'm not building a single one now that I've got Battleships, and I don't plan on nuking anybody)

The Forge: Planetary Siege Ships (Invasion Ship Replacement, +1 First Strike Chance, can bombard defenses at -10% a turn, and deals up to 5% more collateral damage): Great for the human player, bad for the AI who has too much trouble handling the large differences between space combat and city combat when building its fleets. I don't think that this could be made any more powerful, or given to a different civ, since The Forge strike me as the weakest civ because of their slow start due to their lack of early food.

 

[God-Emperor]

Cruisers

What's the purpose of the Cruiser unit? I find myself using them early before I unlock Battleships as barb-busters (since they don't have to worry about even Destroyers on the prowl). If it's meant to be a missile boat, then why not have it be a specialized (and arguably cheaper) missile boat like the carrier as a specialized flight deck? (Also, I find myself never wanting to build any anti-ship missiles. I'll use the SB-built ones alright, but they're not so powerful that their one-use makes them not cost-effective, compared to building more fighters/bombers)

The basic ship types are unchanged from regular FF, but the cruiser fills multiple roles. First it allows you to deliver missiles to your target, including the doomsday missile. Second, it is stronger than a destroyer - in fact, a first generation cruiser is slightly stronger than a delta destroyer (10 vs. 9) making it the most useful anti-pirate ship, especially once the pirates get the delta destroyers since that is likely to be before any actual civilizations does unless the tech leader bee-lines for the tech that gives it (one of the peculiarities in the pirate ship type availability). Third, they can reduce a systems defenses.

Another use is for healing (carriers get this too). Since the repair staff upgrade is a prerequisite for the cargo increasing upgrades.

The main problem with cruisers, as I see it, is that the AI never actually loads missiles onto them. If they did, cruisers would do better.

By the way, you should consider building a few assault missiles for your next attack on a star system and delivering them via a cruiser. They can increase your odds of success with just 2 from a single cruiser with no cargo upgrade

One of the nice things about missiles is that they cost very little to build, so you can produce them on an as-needed basis.

Also, can I get a quick explanation of why collateral damage was added to Invasion Ships? Was this to allow them to also limit the need for lots of bombers?

Actually, it was unrelated to bombers. I added it to just make them a little more useful in general and in an attempt to get the AI to use more of them. For the useful aspect, the idea is that a few invasion ships should have a reasonable chance to capture a star system when it is defended by the same number of PDSes - but without the collateral this was highly unlikely since they are identical in strength and have equal bonuses available from promotions but the PDSes are likely to have a 25% bonus from "fortification" which is worth more than the invasion ship's first strike (and if the AI doesn't send any cruisers or battleships the PDS gets the system's defensive value too). Adding collateral damage allows the other invasion ships in a stack better odds. Except for one slight problem... The AI rarely brings more than one, although the collateral from that one certainly can help the other units in an attack (Battleships are better at city attack, but cost a huge amount more). In regular FF there was nothing but bombers and the ranged attack of a starbase that caused collateral damage. I was hoping that adding it to the invasion ship would encourage the AI to build more of them since the very same AI does build catapults and such in regular BtS. Sadly, it may have helped slightly or it may not have made any difference - it is hard to tell. The AI still just does not bring enough invasion ships when it attacks.

My take on UU balance (Regular/Delta/Omega):

Needs Tweaking:

New Earth: Battlecarriers (BB replacement) (22S/33S/50S instead of 24/36/54, but carries 1/1/2 squadrons). Interesting hybrid concept, and while it saves some hammers by being able to skip carriers (a little), the "Numidian Cavalry effect" worries me: any UU that is countered by its base version is in trouble. Since Battleships are primarily stack protectors and starbase- or other battleship-busters, Battlecarriers need to be able to continue that original function. I'd prefer leaving the strength as-is on the Battlecarrier but increasing the cost a little if you think it would be a balance concern (so 250h/500h/1000h instead of 225/450/900): 25h is well worth it to skip 1/3 of a 175h carrier.

The battlecarrier would be a lot better than it is if it were not for one thing: the AI. As with cruisers and missiles, the AI just never puts a squadron on a ship (whether it is a carrier or a battlecarrier). For the human they work quite nicely. If a wandering battlecarrier with a fighter squadron encounters a wandering battleship, the battleship is usually going to be toast. The damage from a single fighter attack is normally more than the strength reduction, which is less than 10% (it is 8 1/3 percent for the first two, and the omega not only gets a second squadron but it also only has strength reduction of just over 7.4%). The main exception is if you are at war and happen to be within intercept range which prevents you from attacking the battleship with the squadron, or if the enemy was smart enough to escort the battleship with a destroyer (in which chase it has some chance of intercepting the one squadron).

You do need to build a squadron to put on the thing, so it is already that much more expensive than a regular battleship (2 Q-squadrons on a omega battlecarrier can do a lot of damage, especially if you enemy hasn't got q-squadrons yet). The strength reduction was as much for realism as for balance. It hardly seems reasonable that you could add a hanger for a squadron (or two) without removing something from the ship and putting a hanger door sized hole in its defenses.

If the AI actually put squadrons on these things like it does on carriers in BtS these would probably be fine the way they are.

I'm surprised you didn't mention the New Earth trait. It is quite restrictive for the growth potential.

AstroTech: Missile Destroyers (-1 Str, +1 Missile Capacity, +5% Interception Chance): Especially since AstroTech isn't an amazing civ to begin with, weakening their early anti-Pirate vessel is dangerous (on high-Pirate maps, the Missile Destroyer isn't going to survive scouting for very long, and as a zone defense/escort for colony ships, it's also sub-par). (AstroTech overall: their UB is great, but +1 free promotion is far worse than the Brotherhood for units, and double-speed on frequently optional and only built once-per-system squadron factories and capital shipyards isn't that great, either). Why not return the strength, but remove the interception chance increase?

These are another unit that does OK in human hands (well, mine anyway - we don't get very much feedback on this) but not so much for the AI. Again, it is the "AI never loads anything onto its ships" issue. That groups of 4-6 missile frigates (and one invasion ship, sometimes) that Raul Colombo sometimes likes to try to early rush you with from time to time would be a lot more dangerous if they were each carrying a missile.

You missed the 10% reduction in production cost for missile frigates. Also, the omega version is actually -2 str, +2 missiles, +5% interception chance. That -2 is only a reduction of 1/7 though so it is still smaller than the 1/6 reduction of the base version (the delta version is actually even closer the the regular destroyer with only a 1/9 reduction).

For anti-pirate work, the free upgrade somewhat compensates for the reduced strength since it bumps them back up to 5.5 strength. In practice, it does not seem like the AI controlled AstroTech has much more problem with the pirates than the others do. It's probably because of the 10% cost reduction and that he is tied for highest unit build probability (he and Lukas von Reuther both have a 35 in regular FF, but for FFP they have all been bumped up by 5 so those two are at 40 - the same as Mehemed II, Napoleon, Ragnar, and Shaka in regular BtS, although the Python AI overrides often force buildings which effectively reduces this a bit). Before he can build cruisers he may have a bit more trouble keeping his trade routes from being pillaged, and AstroTech may perhaps have a little more trouble exploring.

Rather than increasing their strength back up to the regular level, I'd be more inclined to improve the production cost reduction from 10% to about 15% if we decide to make them better for balance purposes.

I'm inclined to agree that the AstroTech trait is a bit weak, primarily due to the building production bonuses being for buildings that are build only once per system at most not giving very much of a bonus over the free upgrade (which, as you noted, is generally not as good as the Brotherhood's free xp + reduction in xp needed to get promotions). They should probably also get some additional small bonus, a 25% build bonus for factories sounds reasonable given their history as a corporation but another trait already gives a bigger bonus for factories and I prefer not to double up - not too many buildings have no trait production bonus but perhaps +25% for the habitation system could be a good choice (the flavor tech for the civ indicates that they invented cheaper and more effective life support systems). Their UB is nice, but I'm not sure that +1 hammer from the Technical Institute is good enough. I have considered making it +2. That would make up for their weakish trait and unimpressive (especially in the hands of the AI) UU.

Useful, should be left unchanged:

Paradise: Long-Range Bombers (+1 range for all four levels, including Q-Squadrons): Easy upgrade; always useful.

Avowers: Recon Ships (Scout Replacement: Lots of upgrades. The basic version gets +1 move, they can attack, they have extra strength at 3/5/7 instead of 2/3/5, instead of Improved/Upgraded Sensors, they get +Visibility, which stacks with Upgraded Sensors I believe, and they get a small chance to intercept squadrons and to withdraw from combat). Obviously only really good with huts on, but they make a nice Medic unit for your fleets, as well.

Halis: System Defense Boat (5/7/11 Str PDS replacement, and 1 First Strike Chance): Very nice. The Protective of FF, but it's actually helpful on defense.

Red Syndicate: Rapid Construction Ship (3MP instead of 2): Obvious economic power, but nowhere near as good as the Fast Worker. Feels about right power-wise.

The Rapid Construction Ship also builds things 10% faster. I think this generally has no effect on the Quick game speed until perhaps Quantum Power (gives +25% build rate, which does apparently stack with the +10% for a total of +35%), and at Standard the only effect is to reduce the build time of a starbase by 1 turn. On Epic it might also reduce the build time for an extraction facility by 1 turn, too.

One thing all of these has in common is that the AI can use them without any issues, although it tends to use the Recon ships a bit too much and for things it shouldn't, like colony ship escort and new system guarding.

The Brotherhood: Battlecruisers (12/18/27 strength instead of 10/15/22, and bombards at 15% instead of 10%): This type of upgrade on a Battleship would be broken, but on a weirdly-placed Cruiser unit, it's more than fine. I like them, although in my current Brotherhood game I'm not building a single one now that I've got Battleships, and I don't plan on nuking anybody)

These are probably the best anti-pirate ships in the game. A battlecruiser is a lot stronger than a delta destoyer (12 vs. 9) and a delta battlecruiser is significantly stronger than even an omega destoyer (18 vs 14). This is only compounded by the effects of their trait insuring that they get at least 2 upgrades when built.

The Forge: Planetary Siege Ships (Invasion Ship Replacement, +1 First Strike Chance, can bombard defenses at -10% a turn, and deals up to 5% more collateral damage): Great for the human player, bad for the AI who has too much trouble handling the large differences between space combat and city combat when building its fleets. I don't think that this could be made any more powerful, or given to a different civ, since The Forge strike me as the weakest civ because of their slow start due to their lack of early food.

The Forge get, effectively, two UBs. The +2 from mines could just as easily have been done via a second UB as from the new tag in the building XML and the extra code in the planet yield Python. I think the combination of stuff they get does make up for the -1 food per system as long as they don't accidentally settle a system with insufficient food, or get all nutrition facilities destroyed when capturing a city (which can completely prevent growth until a nutrition facility is built if the system is just right in population and planet types.

If only the AI would bring more invasion ships when it attacks (or these UU equivalents).


Anyhow, thank you for your input. We don't get as much of it as I'd like, which might mean that the balance is pretty good but it might not.

 

[Mojoqmeyvam]

I'll have to experiment some with missiles. The only ones I used so far in my current game were as ancillary anti-SB missiles made by my own SBs. Missiles are cheap, but are 2 missiles better than one invasion ship?

For cruisers against battleships, you're looking at something of an axemen-versus-macemen mechanic: cruisers are just under 1/2 the cost, but with a little bit of extra support, should be able to 2v1 a battleship and come out ahead in hammers.

It does sound like the big problem is how the AI handles everything. This was a problem in base FF. I don't know much about how the AI is coded, but if the AI code is mostly in the DLL, then could it be possible to port the BtS UNITAI_CARRIER_SEA for Carriers (and possibly cruisers and Missile Destroyers?) while removing whatever parts of the AI require the unit to be on a "sea" tile instead of a "land" tile? I guess I have no idea how cumbersome retrofitting that AI would be, but it should be possible.


As the Brotherhood, I prefer Medic Delta Scouts or Destroyers (Regular or Delta): 3 promos for Medic III (and 4 Promos isn't impossible, but not strictly necessary), and being 2 moves they can keep up with Weapons II / +1 Movement Invasion Ships and whatever other ships that I build (+20% on the Invasion Ship isn't nearly as good as, say, +25% City Attack and +25% against Unit Class Of My Choice, but speed through culture is more critical IMO). If the AI or Pirates used Stealth Ships, then I need a scout in a stack anyway. Medic I cruisers could work for non-Brotherhood factions, who are almost always going to have slow stacks of units (10XP is ridiculous for more than a single system with the War Academy; 5XP everywhere for Astrotech's certainly manageable, especially if you grab Power).

Re: Rapid Construction Ships:
Quick Speed: 5t Starbase, instead of 6t
Normal Speed: 7t Starbase, instead of 8t
Epic Speed: 11t Starbase, 5t Extraction Facility (vs. 12t and 6t, respectively)
Marathon Speed: Almost everything, I'd suspect.

 

[God-Emperor]

I'll have to experiment some with missiles. The only ones I used so far in my current game were as ancillary anti-SB missiles made by my own SBs. Missiles are cheap, but are 2 missiles better than one invasion ship?

They have the advantage that you can rebase a missile from anywhere to anywhere they are allowed to be (which does not, by the way, include starbases - they actually carry squadrons, but the Python forces the auto-built missiles to be loaded without regard to what they are supposed to carry or the numerical limit) instantaneously (although it uses the movement, so you can't rebase and fire in the same turn). This means that a single cruiser with 2 missile capacity (or 2 missile frigates with 1 each) can actually fire 2 missiles per turn, every turn, until you run out (which you won't if you keep producing them as fast as you use them) (so you fire the 2 that they have on them and on the same turn reload via rebasing so that they can launch again the next turn). Note that the assault type missile is a bit stronger than an anti-ship missile when attacking a "city" and also does a tiny amount of collateral damage to up to 2 units. Imagine the mayhem you can cause with the AstroTech missile frigates: 1 missile per frigate per turn, plus maybe a cruiser full per turn too...

If the star system has a squadron defense network built, the missiles become less useful since it reduces the damage from them just as much as for squadrons (i.e. a 75% reduction).

So while 2 missiles are not usually better than 1 invasion ship, 2 missiles per turn can be better than 1 invasion ship that can only be replaced by moving one up at a much slower speed from where it was built.

For cruisers against battleships, you're looking at something of an axemen-versus-macemen mechanic: cruisers are just under 1/2 the cost, but with a little bit of extra support, should be able to 2v1 a battleship and come out ahead in hammers.

The free starbase produced missiles help with this, too.

It does sound like the big problem is how the AI handles everything. This was a problem in base FF. I don't know much about how the AI is coded, but if the AI code is mostly in the DLL, then could it be possible to port the BtS UNITAI_CARRIER_SEA for Carriers (and possibly cruisers and Missile Destroyers?) while removing whatever parts of the AI require the unit to be on a "sea" tile instead of a "land" tile? I guess I have no idea how cumbersome retrofitting that AI would be, but it should be possible.

I have not really looked into the code. I have considered doing so, but have not (yet).

Re: Rapid Construction Ships:
Quick Speed: 5t Starbase, instead of 6t
Normal Speed: 7t Starbase, instead of 8t
Epic Speed: 11t Starbase, 5t Extraction Facility (vs. 12t and 6t, respectively)
Marathon Speed: Almost everything, I'd suspect.

Those figures don't look quite right for the extraction facility. An extraction facility takes 2/3 the build time of a starbase, not 1/2.

Here are some calculations...
Each worker produces a number of work points per turn. Each improvement costs some number, a base amount that is modified by some things. Once the total number of work points spent equals or exceeds the cost, the improvement is done (and then, for the star base and sensor station, the improvement is destroyed and the matching unit is put on the plot). Each working unit expends all of its work points when it is checked, there is no overflow retained.

game speed modifier: quick/standard/epic/marathon = .67/1/1.5/3

terrain modifier: tundra = 1.25

work rate: regular/rapid = 100/110

ext facil, 400 units base: 400*1.25 = 500 
	=> 335/500/750/1500  => (4/4)/(5/5)/(8/[B][COLOR="DarkRed"]7[/COLOR][/B])/(15/[B][COLOR="#8b0000"]14[/COLOR][/B])
star base, 600 units base: 600*1.25 = 750
	=> 503/750/1125/2250 => (6/[B][COLOR="#8b0000"]5[/COLOR][/B])/(8/[B][COLOR="#8b0000"]7[/COLOR][/B])/(12/[B][COLOR="#8b0000"]11[/COLOR][/B])/(23/[B][COLOR="#8b0000"]21[/COLOR][/B])
warp lane, 150 units base: 150*1.25 = 188
	=> 126/188/282/564   => (2/2)/(2/2)/(3/3)/(6/6)
jump lane, 200 units base: 200*1.25 = 250
	=> 168/250/375/750   => (2/2)/(3/3)/(4/4)/(8/[B][COLOR="#8b0000"]7[/COLOR][/B])

post quantum engines:

work rate: regular rapid = 125/135

ext facil => (3/3)/(4/4)/(6/6)/(12/12)
star base => (4/4)/(6/6)/(9/9)/(18/[B][COLOR="#8b0000"]17[/COLOR][/B])
warp lane => (2/[B][COLOR="#8b0000"]1[/COLOR][/B])/(2/2)/(3/3)/(5/5)
jump lane => (2/2)/(2/2)/(3/3)/(6/6)

1st Note: these are calculated values and I may have missed some modifier, but I have played a lot of games on standard and epic and the build times look right for those.

2nd Note: the Worker's Memorial wonder gives a +10% work rate (as a minor bonus in addition to no unhappiness in that star system), making the owner's regular construction ships get the same work rate as the rapid construction ship - or making the rapid ones even better.

3rd Note: that I rounded a fractional work cost up in a few places, like when applying the terrain modifier to the warp lane base cost and applying the .67 quick speed modifier. A couple of the results are so close that if the game rounds down for this then they might finish a turn earlier.

 

[bryanw1995]

@GodEmperor: I like the idea of giving some help to AstroTech, they are the only civ that I just don't like to play. +25% to habitation complex would be excellent. Instead of changing the technical institute to +2 hammers, I'd move their UB up to a university replacement and keep it at +1.

Forge is tough for me. In vanilla FF I thought they were stronger b/c nobody else can approach their huge hammer potential. Now they are +3/planet vs +2/planet for another civ, though that last +1 for all civs doesn't come online until quite late in the game. I agree that their poor food is overall countered by the extra production.

Interesting take on the Battlecarrier, too bad the ai doesn't use them properly. They are a great all-around unit.

Battlecruiser is great, as you mentioned it is a great barbarian-buster and I'll generally build many of these. I'll even prioritize the delta battlecruiser tech path at times, something that I never do in a more typical game. I think I might just play my next game as lukas von reuther...

 

[God-Emperor]

@GodEmperor: I like the idea of giving some help to AstroTech, they are the only civ that I just don't like to play. +25% to habitation complex would be excellent. Instead of changing the technical institute to +2 hammers, I'd move their UB up to a university replacement and keep it at +1.

Uh... It already is a University replacement. (It's name, Technical Institute, sounds a lot like the Research Institute, which is the Avower's UU for the Research Lab.)

Increasing it from +1 does seem a tad excessive since it is a University replacement, which is why I never did bump it up to +2. It is just one of the things I have considered doing to help AstroTech out. If it had been a Research Lab replacement it would have probably been a +2 from the beginning.

As for the +25% for Habitation System buildings with the AstroTech trait, the more I consider it the more I like it. It has a very good chance to making it into the next major release, or possibly a patch sometime before that.

 

[bryanw1995]

Aha! You can see how often I play astrotech right now!

Keep up the good work guys, this is the only older civ game/mod that I still play. All of your improvements have helped me to keep coming back to it to enjoy the new additions!

Edit: something else to strongly consider would be to switch lukas von reuther and raul columbo's building improvement bonuses. Lukas is already great with the bonus prestige and -25% prestige requirement. And as stated, Raul Columbo clearly needs something to help him. 1/2 price training compounds also ties very well into Raul's military-focused mindset. Even with this switch I'd still rank Lukas as more powerful overal, though it would be much closer.

 

[God-Emperor]

Considering unit tweaks some more, here are two unit categories for which I have come up with some possible changes.

Missile frigate (all 3 generations):
1) While they have a 5% higher interception chance than a destroyer, they are weaker when fighting the squadrons (and missiles) that they intercept. I think their bonus vs. squadrons and missiles should be increased from +100% to +150%, which would make them slightly stronger against them (6*2 = 12 for a regular destroyer vs. 5*2.5=12.5 for a missile frigate, not including the free strength upgrade). (It is actually irrelevant for missiles since any interception destroys them due to their single-use nature, but just to match the original it may as well be adjusted too)
2) Pondering a way to make them slightly better without making them stronger, as such, I came up with an idea: give them a small withdrawal chance. This seems suitable for a smaller more agile ship. I'm thinking a 5% withdrawal chance. That is small, but 1 out of 20 times they would have died in an attack they will survive instead. The new defensive withdrawal may also come into play from time to time. A 10% withdrawal would also be OK with me, but I think 5% is enough.

Starbases:
These currently have a problem. A unit that is in sentry mode will only wake up if an enemy unit comes into its actual visual range (I think this can be overcome by adding a unit with a longer sensor range to the group, but grouping a scout with every starbase seems a little odd). This is a problem for starbases because their ranged attack has a range (3) that is longer than their visual range (2). This leads to the situation where enemy ships move into the firing range of a starbase but the starbase doesn't "wake up" because it is not within the unit's direct visual range and therefore you miss the opportunity to shoot at the enemy ship (the AI does not have this problem).
To overcome this, I suggest giving starbases a free sensor upgrade, wither the first of the regular ones or the special one that currently only the recon ships use. The Omega starabse has an even longer attack range, so perhaps it should get 2 of these. This does not take the extra range received for free with quantum power (via the free "Quantum Engines (Range)" promotion that is given to starbases, and squadrons and missiles) into consideration, and I am not concerned with that - it is so late in the game that I don't think it really matters, and ships are so fast by then that the 1 plot added range past the visual range should not matter as much).
This may seem to get into the Sensor Station's area of expertise, but the extra visual range does not actually show any addition plots because they are already visible due to the bock of territory the starbase claims (the regular visual range matches the territory claimed except the corners, but you can see one plot outside your territory). Well, except for the Omega version if it gets two free upgrades.

So, anyone have any thoughts on these (or other) unit changes?

 

[GASherbert]

I think the proposed tweaks to the missile frigate are fine.

Since giving starbases a free sensor promotion would not actually change anything in-game, except to allow a starbase in sentry mode to wake up sooner, I don't see any reason not to do so. I don't think the omega version should get a second upgrade, though. The increased range could be thought of as artillery: it can hit stuff outside of the immediate viewing range, but you'll need a spotter to do so.

I think it would be nice if starbases could get xp for something other than defeating a unit stupid enough to attack it (or the rare interception of a squadron), so that it would be more possible to upgrade sensors and whatnot. But I suppose they're pretty strong as is.