The Advent Loyalist technologies seem more or less ready IMO. They have a well unified theme to them which encourages a specific playstyle and a very natural progression which gives the advent loyals the tools they need at the stage of the game they need them.
By contrast I feel that the Advent Rebels techs are not currently so well designed. Some of their techs are just broken or bad, and others don't become available during the right stage of the game.
First off, what should be the unifying strategic leanings of the rebels:
I believe the sort of gameplay the rebel techs are suppose to encourage are a "passive aggressive" playstyle where they turtle up(encouraged by recharge shields & wail of the forsaken for added defense and Expulsion to reward the play for defending) and as the game progresses inhibits and harms the advent rebel's neighbor's border world from behind fortifications(via culture-spread & wail of the he Sacrificed).
Additionally since pretty much all of the Advent rebel's combat techs are extremely deep in their tech trees(combined with their strong combat-oriented titan) I suspect after turtling and focusing on economy through the early game, late game they are meant to go on the offensive: using wail of the forsaken to wreck the defenses od enemy border worlds and sending their fleet now augmented by strong combat techs on the offensive.
Lastly in terms of culture, I feel the rebels have more mphasis on the temple of communion then the loyalists. The loyalists are just as happy getting their culture from starbases or later on having culture autospread from their worlds. By contrast Mass communion encourages the rebel player to build a lot of temples(and temples also house the Wail of the Sacrificed ability).
Anyway, the passive aggressive theme, early game turtling/economizing, and the greater focus on temples of communion are the main ways I see of differentiating the rebels from the loyals. I'd love to see more discussion on how people think the rebel playstyle should be diversified from that of their loyal bretheren.
Specific problems and suggested Fixes:
Expulsion:
Issues: The only real problem with this tech is it comes out too late in the game. Later game a buff to a single planet at a time and place of the enemy's choosing isn't huge especially considering at that stage of the game a successful defense usually has greater ramifications(casualties to the enemy fleet let you go on the offensive).
Changes: Reduce Expulsion from a T6 tech to a T3 or T4 tech. This would also encourage an early game turtle/economy focused strategy which would do wonders for differentiating the rebel playstyle from that of the loyals(who are focused on early culture pressure & expansion)
Recharge Shields:
Issues: This tech has a number of problems. First and foremost it is a rather AM-inefficient single-target shield restore over time that comes out late enough in the game that the fleets involved in major planetary battles are going to be very large(and the battles long). More to the point the default ability of temple of renewal is like a better use of AM for late game battles then Recharge shields is. Moreover this tech really belongs in the early game. It's essentially a mirror to repair platforms that comes out at T6 instead of T1-T2(when single target repair is strongest). finally there is no reason recharge shields should cost 30 AM. Shield restores are inherently weaker then hull restores(the restored health isn't affected by armor) and TEC repair platforms heal 40 hull/sec for 20 AM. As a faction-specific benefit the AM efficiency shouldn't be this bad.
Changes: I suggest 3 changes(which target each of it's issues. First drop this tech to T2(now requiring Temple of communion research instead of temple of renewal research). Next this tech now adds the recharge shields ability to Temples of communion research instead of temples of renewal(additionally this tech grants temples of communion an AM pool of 300 to cast the ability with). Finally reduce the AM cost of Recharge shields from 30 to 20.
Mass communion:
Issues: This tech is just bad. By the time you learn it you likely already have your key temples in place, and due to the major limitations logistics put on temples construction, building enough temples to pay back the costs is very difficult. Most people want this tech's research tier decreased. personally I disagree as doing so would make the Advent rebel's early game similar to that of the loyals.
Changes: Have this tech also reduce the logistics cost of temples of communion by 25 or maybe even 50%(down to 2 or 3 from 4). This would make it much easier to pay back the cost of the research(you can fit twice as many temples on a given planet). Additionally this change would really differentiate how the rebels use culture from the loyals. the loyals focus on early culture pressure and general culture potency where the rebels are better at building mass-temple culture bombs later game(cheaper temples & more logistics). Finally this would synergize with my suggested changes to recharge Shields.
A few compensatory changes to accompany the above changes:
The one big problem with the above changes is they leave the end of the harmony tree a bit sparse. I can see two obvious ways to compensate :
1). rework Cleanse and Renew. For a late-tier faction specific tech this one is rather undewhelming and honesly not too interesting. A new effect would be nice
2). Move Return of the Fallen & Reanimation up a tier each from T4/T5 to T5/T6 respectively. I know this is controversial as it's a small nerf to two key-techs which don't even work at the moment. The thing is, the extra defense/economy from early game repulsion/recharge shields will likely make up for an extra tier in terms of how long it actually takes to get these techs. With these added defenses & economical boosts, surviving longer enough to get these techs will likely be easier even considering the ened for 1 extra temple of harmony & extra research costs. Additionally moving Return of the Fallen out of T4(to T5) makes room for Expulsion if T4 were deemed the proper place for it rather then T3(advent rebels harmony T4 is completely full atm)
These changes would ensure that the later portion of the harmony tree is still enticing despite the mvoe of 2 late game techs to much earlier in the tree
Putting it All together: how would these changes play out?
The extra defenses early game from Recharge shields combined with the rewards for successfully defending(expulsion) would likely encourage the advent rebels to play an early game focused on it's economy and turtling, while at the same time building a culture base surrounding your territory(which interestingly enough is practically the polar opposite of the advent loyals whom expand rapidly and may stay on the offensive rather then defend small worlds due to planet-for-a-planet). Additionally it's interesting to note these changes would support a more economically minded playstyle as the recharge shield change gives an early game alternative to repair platforms in the harmony tree(allowing the player to get defenses while focusing on economy techs rather then needing an immediate 2 temples of hostility).
The addition of early defenses & repulsion being available early also further promotes a passive-aggressive playstyle. The advent rebel player's culture generation doesn't become a huge threat early...that is until you fail an attack on them and due to expulsion suddenly find your culture being pushed back.
These early defenses would help the Advent rebels protect and build up their empire until they get deep into their tech trees where all their combat enhancements are(Return of the fallen, Reanimation, or if focusing on the military tree Protection of the Unity). Between having these techs & having inevitably built a titan by this point later game the Advent rebels transition to the offensive, using Wail of the Sacrificed to gut the defenses of enemy border-worlds and sending their strong late game fleet to mop up.
All in all I think these changes would make the Advent rebel's techs flow a bit better. They would get the tools they need at the stages of the game when they actually need them. Moreover, these changes would drastically increase the differentiation in the way they play from the loyals by giving them a fundamental paradigm shift in their early game strategy.
Anyway, tell me what you think. if you think the changes are too strong,constructive criticism is welcome.
[NOTE: This posts is still under construction a bit(mainly posting it now to be safe because this is actually the second time I've typed it; I accidentally hit a side mouse button and deleted my first iteration).]
