@ Sagewon Thanks for the compliment 
Yes that shield repair facility should be Military tier 2-3 tops, it should be the early game defensive advantage the advent rebels bring to the game. In this way advent capitals would be less threatened in general and this would go a long way to making them "feel" different then their loyalist counterparts.
I would say the biggest help to the advent countering a TAR planet grab would be to have the cheapest planet bombers in the game. Cheaper in logistics and credit cost, to give the advent fleet the much needed bombing power that they are supposed to have (having a tech level 1 planet bomber). Since these planet bombers are SO easily killed, this would retain balance. This gives the advent an added dangerous and possibly effective rush capability. It would still gimp their fleet in fleet vs fleet actions, so a counter rush of pure fleet combat frigates would likely win, and balance would be maintained overall(in fact the counter is so easy, just upgrade planet health ahead of time!!!!). The advent don't have any effective bombing capital ship abilities (and yes, i'm factoring in that horrible capital level 6 ability). I feel they were intended based upon their design to have a much more capable early bombing fleet. The cost reduction need not be much, say they cost 500 credits, 75 metal, and 65 crystal, and a reduction in logistics requirements. They already are the easiest bombers to take out after all . A progenitor bomber rush could still be easily countered by corvettes/scouts/turrets, so I don't see the problem here. A rush with the discordia + planet bombers would be a bit nasty, at the same time all you need is some lrm to take that beast out fast, an easy thing for the other races to acquire.
Also, the progenitor mothership should retain the current price reduction, with one addition. It should apply to construction costs as well, so your whole planet gets built up a little faster and cheaper. This retains balance because later on this matters FAR less, and the progenitor has to level up as well...which is a slow process.
I would say that having advent trade ports cost less then TEC ones would be an interesting way to balance them out(say the advent ones cost the old amount, 750 cred, 100 metal, 125 crystal). The TEC have VERY cheap metal and crystal extraction rate upgrades, and this more then makes up for a higher cost trade port. The TEC would still be much faster at acquiring tradeports then the other races... and gaining a supreme economic advantage even if their trade ports cost a little more.
Since early trade is a HUGE advantage, this should be tempered somewhat...As I see it TEC have almost no vulnerability early on if they eco early and successfully hold the first skirmishes(which is very easy to do with their very strong repair platforms). This presents a large problem because the TEC win by inherent strength of economy alone. There is only a little skill involved in this tactic.. cheap defensive measures that are effective hold the line and then you get your super fleet and roll on through. You aren't having as much fun because you are sitting waiting for time to pass by, and your opponent isn't having much fun because they can't attack you and know they are slowly losing.
I'm not advocating for getting rid of these stalemates alltogether, i would say temper their effectiveness so that this isn't a very strong strategy for success...make it take more effort.
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