Nobody ever accused the TA tech trees of being properly balanced.
Korath are DA. Spore is an SA.
10 turns? Really? On a Medium sized galaxy, the galaxy is 50x50 squares. I don't recall the actual numbers, but getting 5 square movement that early on seems unlikely.
Actually it's 75x75. A sector is 15x15, and a Medium is 5x5. But it's very, very rare that I'll wind up completely on the other side of the galaxy from an AI, and the average will be much closer to half of that distance. Accounting for the fact that diagonal distance is only one move, I only have 38 moves to make, although this fails to factor in planets that might be in my way, asteroid fields, etc. Still, for under 40 moves, I can make it to my opponent in a Medium galaxy most of the time.
In DA, base speed is 1, 2-3 turns researching Impulse Drive makes it 2, two ion engines makes it 4, and +2 speed in customization points makes it 6. So in 6-7 turns, I can make it there.
So maybe call it 15 turns since I need to research PI still-but that's a worst case scenario.
In TA, Terrans with +1, base speed of 2 for 3, 2-3 turns researching Impulse Drive for 4, two ion engines for 6, two customization points in speed for 8, and building it on Earth with the Innovation Complex's +1 bonus makes it 9. I can then cover the necessary tiles in 4-5 turns most of the time.
I've been taking the +2 speed bonus for colonization purposes ever since I started playing DA, after having started on DL with its ridiculous engines, and I'm still trying to wean myself of it.
Well, there were also dedicated defense slots. But generally, X=1 and Y=1, except for the high-end ships, which might have 2 or even 3.
2 or 3 weapons on a ship? I assume we're talking something equivalent to a tiny or small hull...you can't possibly be wanting to limit battleships of the line that much...can you?
But dedicated defense slots would make sense as well.
The thing I was mainly thinking of would be something like the current system, where you expand a ships range. But I suppose it could simply be a "Deep Range" module that just gives the ship unlimited range.
An unlimited range module would be quite nice. The hard cap range in GC2's engine has been annoying more than once. I'd place it at or near the end of an expanded branch of the life support tree, though, and make it cost an arm and a leg (but less than say an entire weapons tree).
The problem with limiting it to a simple 2x or 3x range increase is the galaxy's random generation. What happens if the only habitable planets are just out of range? I've had this happen before and it really sucks.
Then you...OH MY GOD...research range techs. You do know they give a passive boost to all ships, right?
In fact, it might be a good idea to have it so that all ships can break range on AutoPilot, but you cannot attack, invade, maybe even colonize or construct while out of range.
Maybe it should be a delay thing.
Ships with "Deep Range" should just be able to act normally outside of range.
That's much better.
However, I think all of use can agree that GC2 is more entertaining than chess.
Depends on how skilled the person you're playing against is...