Good day. First of all, thanks for the mod! It was an incredible gaming experience for me with all the faction warfare and extra fun functions.
Now, I'd like to leave my feedback on the matter.
After playing for 100+ hours with Nexerelin, I could see a single major balance issue that I'd like to highlight today.
The issue is the Request Fleet function.
It is RIDICULOUSLY strong. For just 650k you can summon 5+ enormously large fleets to destroy anything you want.
A full (1500) space power fleet costs 650k when you request it with minimum ground power. But do you really need ground power?
Not only these fleets are as strong as Radiant [REDACTED] fleets found in the high danger zones (or even stronger actually), but they are also dirt cheap.
By using Request Fleet, you can literally win the game without ever fighting.
Here's an example:
At the start of the game, you can just explore a bit and gather the 650k necessary. Or 1.3kk to be absolutely sure.
Then you request a fleet or two, buy 500 marines and just go to any system you want.
Summoned fleets obliterate all patrols and orbital stations and you just do tactical bombardment => invade. 500 marines are more than enough after the bombardment.
And the whole Askonia can be yours in just one or two hours after getting into the game. Gotta have those lobsters.
In short, the problem is that price and fleet power are nowhere around balanced. What you get for 650k now should be worth at least 6.5 millions.
And once you have several good planets and make 500k+ per month, you can just launch these invasions every month and take system by system. You don't even have to fight yourself.
Now that I've explained the problem, here's what I propose:
1) Make a hard cap for the fleet's space power that scales with how many Ship Hulls a faction that provides the fleets produces.
For example, a faction that produces a total of 40 Ship Hulls across all of its markets will have a cap of 1000 space power when you're requesting fleets from them.
With this change, you will have to actually work on your colonies and build those Heavy Industries everywhere to be able to summon high-power fleets.
2) Increase the price to at least 2000-3000 credits per space power. This will still be more or less cheap, but it won't be as free as it is right now.
3) Make it so only one fleet can be launched at a time, no matter how big or small. This is to prevent spamming 2-3 request fleets on the same system and overwhelming it.
I believe that with these changes Request Fleet will be a lot more balanced and be more of an extra help for when you attack a system rather than "I win" button. Most systems tend to have about 1000-1500 space power when it comes to defense, so being able to summon a 1500 space power fleet for 650k just like that is absolutely over the top.