I've been playing for a while, and find the TEC to be my favorite race to play as. Granted I have never played online, though have played quite a few LAN games with friends. With that, here is what I have found to be a balanced and effective fleet:
Early game my first capitol ship is always the Kol Battleship. I prefer to have a very powerful ship early on, which makes a big difference. Then I build about 10 cobalts to accompany it. The early game is normally dominated by building strictly Cobalts and a couple colony frigates, while making an effort to get your economy up. That is the key to effective TEC warfare is to have a solid economy early on. The TEC is an industrial juggernaught once they get rolling.
Once the economy starts rolling, I make a research push for Light Carriers and Kodiaks. Those two ships make up the bulk of my support fleet. Once I can make Kodiaks, I usually never build a Cobalt again. The numbers of each are determined specifically by what the enemy is using. If the enemy is building lots of carriers (aka the Advent), then I focus more on fighters in my carriers for protection while using the Kodiaks and Capitol Ships for the knock out punch. I typically focus on building multiple fleets once the economy gets rolling instead of one massive fleet. For that here is my rundown of what each fleet will carry:
FIGHTING CARRIERS:
- 3-4 Kol Battleships: When fighting carriers, these will be your major heavy hitters. Focus on taking the flak burst ability to protect them
- 2 Marza Dreadnaughts: The missile ability and raze planet are an absolute must when on the offensive
- 1 Dunov Battlecruiser: This will support the other ships with shield recharge and antimatter charging effects
- 20 Carriers: Fill these with over half fighters for protection. I have found fighters are much better at defending against bombers than flak frigates.
- 20-30 Kodiaks: These will be the main element in the fleet, and with the Dunov and Hoshikos will keep fighting while taking a pounding from bombers
- 10-15 Hoshikos: Necessary to keep Capitol Ships and the Kodiaks protected
-5-10 Ceilo: When your research catches up with you, add some of these for some good late game damage increase
NOTE: Fill your capitol ships with fighter squadrons not bombers to protect them
FIGHTING HEAVY SHIPS:
With this, take the above setup, and replace the fighter squadrons in the carriers with bomber squadrons. If you find the enemy too difficult, add more Kodiaks.
FIGHTING FRIGATES:
This is probably the hardest enemy I have found with my fleet, a genuine threat from lots and lots of frigates. The best way I found to do this is with plenty of kodiaks over carriers, and by replacing carriers with LRMs. This is the only time I will waste resources on LRM frigates.
I hope this helps some in your quest. The TEC is a great race to play as, and having a good balanced fleet combined with a solid economy to replace destroyed ships is a game winning combination.