Let's get this show on the road. Today we start with Tec. We'll move on to Advent at some point, then finally Vasari... at some point.
These builds are explicitly for 2v2 and 1v1. They are not for comp stomping (although they WILL comp stomp quite well), or for playing ffa (again, you can pretty much kill a few people before their bad builds get online).
Build 1:
Standard 1v1 (non rush) build on small-medium map:
1. Buy 2 units of crystal
2. Upgrade home planet
3. 1 Worker on Cap ship, 1 worker on crystal
4. Build 2 scout frigates, scout
5. Start Mazra or Kol (either works fine) when cap ship fac finishes
6. Start 2 metal extractors
7. Build colony ship
8. Take nearby asteroid (all maps have 1 nearby asteroid)
9. While taking asteroid, scuttle capital ship factory
10. Build 1 military lab
11. Finish the asteroid, colonize it, upgrade so you don't bleed cash
12. Mine all asteroids, and add 2nd military lab
13. Research lrms, start producing
14. Asteroid #2 should be cleared and ready for taking (there's almost always a second asteroid, if not, find a lightly defended terran or desert)
15. Take asteroid 2, build it up as before
16. You should be popped out now on LRMs, start research on flaks.
17. Your scouts should see opponent enemy composition. You have 3 colonies, you can decide whether to take more or contest neutral extractors (I usually do neutrals)
18. Start research on popultion upgrade
19. Whichever colony is CLOSEST to opponent, should build at least 2 frigates factories
20. Depending on opponent unit composition, start production on Flaks and LRMs
21. Your capital should be 4 or 5 now, continue pressuring
22. Win or lose, depends on you
Build 2:
Hardcore rush 1v1, small map
1. Buy 2 units of crystal
2. Upgrade home planet
3. 1 Worker on Cap ship, 1 worker on crystal
4. Build 2 scout frigates, scout
5. Start Soya when cap ship fac finishes
6. Start 2 metal extractors
7. Build 3 light frigates, then a colony ship
8. Send Soya to enemy main base with embargo
9. Take nearby asteroid with light frigates (all maps have 1 nearby asteroid)
10. While taking asteroid, scuttle capital ship factory
11. Continue harassing with Soya (jump in, embargo, jump to nearby star, recharge mana, jump in, etc.)
12. Get asteroid operational, while building the 2 military labs. Send the light frigates to your Soya to confuse opponent
13. Start LRM production immediately, queue to your Soya
14. Research pop upgrade, take neutral extractors with colony ship, and continue LRM production
15. Since they have almost no income (no trade income early, almost all income comes from home planet which has no income due to embargo) your mass LRMs should overrun him and end the game
Build 3:
Economy build, larger 1v1, medium large 2v2
1. Buy 2 units of crystal
2. Upgrade home planet
3. 1 Worker on Cap ship, 1 worker on crystal
4. Build 2 scout frigates, scout
5. Start Mazra or Kol (either works fine) when cap ship fac finishes
6. Start 2 metal extractors
7. Build colony ship
8. Take nearby asteroid (all maps have 1 nearby asteroid)
9. While taking asteroid, scuttle capital ship factory
10. Build 1 Civil lab at main
11. Finish the asteroid, colonize it, upgrade so you don't bleed cash
12. Mine all asteroids, and add 2nd civil lab
13. Start research on trade, and continue taking any planet within reach
14. Start placing trade ports as income allows, research ice or volcano depending on allegiance to home and mineral quality.
15. Deserts are a priority, you can support a ton of trade ports per desert planet
16. You're doing this with little to no units, because you expect the opponent can't get to you in time. If they can, you shouldn't be doing this build anyway.
17. With spare slots (or upgrade as you will), add 2 military, start LRM production
18. Tech up, start mixed LRM/Flak production
19. Add static D (Gauss) at outlying colonies, continue building trade ports at inner colonies
20. Once an economic advantage is secured, mass an unholy army of LRM/Flak and charge.
General micro tips:
Flak/defense/sentinel frigates do poor dps, but have incredibly high hp for frigates. Here are micro tips:
Target weak units first. LRM on light frigate, etc.
Afterwards, if opponent is massing flak type units, use existing lrms to reduce their capital ship hp, while you can produce flak type units of your own. The multiple angled shots from flaks are actually a BAD thing. It REDUCES flak dps since they can't use all their guns at once. Their effective dps is horrible, but since LRMs don't really kill them, it becomes some horrible attrition fest. Ignore that, and kill their big ships.
Use Mazra's aoe abilities, or Kol's gauss, to quickly destroy flaks (very quickly). Flaks cannot damage capital ships. Not even 10-20, will do significant damage (they barely break your shield regen) --> it ends up being something like 1 dps per flak after damage reduction and shield mitigation
If you need, the heavy cruisers pack a good punch. With Tec, you are strong at two points. Early game, LRMs are highly efficient killers. Mid game, your economy is much stronger if you went build #3. Stay with your strengths.
1 more note, Akkon appears to be bugged. The aura adds no dps to the units (although increases range), making it worthless. I'd suggest a buff is needed.