Improved Space Battles [Balance]

Initial Compatibility Hotfix for 2.1. Sincere apologies for going MIA!

Improved Space Battles (ISB) attempts to improve both the visuals and gameplay of Stellaris's space battles. This is the standalone balance portion of ISB and contains gameplay changes designed to balance and encourage massive space battles. For the best experience, use this mod with Improved Space Battles [Graphics] which focuses on graphical tweaks for more epic space battles. This mod is designed for long games in huge (1000+) star galaxies. However you can lower the mod's difficulty for smaller galaxies through Empire policies.

Improved Space Battles is a mod that aims to : Speed up the early game. Encourage strategic wars in mid game by allowing players to build defenses that limit an enemy fleet's ability to just FTL past their entire border. Set up the end game for massive battles with other empires and galactic invaders. It also modifies fleet AI to make large battles less of a melee brawl.

Fallen empires, crisis events (ED Invaders, swarm, AI) and other end-game challenges are all massively buffed to ensure the game remains challenging and fun. Weapons overhauled to improve balance. Defensive stations HP/Armour greatly buffed and maintenance reduced to allow for more strategy during wars - beyond blind aggression. A ton more changes, full list in the change log.

IMPORTANT - You can adjust the difficulty of crises / FEs / AEs / Guardians at any point in the game through empire policies. Type free_policies into the console to freely change policies without a cooldown.

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Want all the new features without any of the balance changes?
Doomsday Weapons & Ships

Courtesy of Crusader Vanguard:

NSC Compatibility Patch
NSC / RS Compatibility Patch
RS Compatibility Patch

New Technologies Overview (v1.5 updated)[i.imgur.com]

Ragnarok[gfycat.com]
Firing the Spear of Cassius[streamable.com]

Erebus, Super-Carrier[gfycat.com]
Micro Jumping[gfycat.com](add-on mod linked at bottom)

Avatar destroying a planet[gfycat.com]
Avatar blown up[gfycat.com]

Destroying a star system[gfycat.com]
Epic Space Battle (Full video in gallery above)[gfycat.com]
2 Titans vs 10 Battleships[gfycat.com]
Leviathan Gallery[imgur.com]

General

• Buffed Unbidden fleets.
  
• Unbidden now spawns approximately 10 years earlier.
  
• Unbidden still bugs out does not make use of all available constructors.
  
• Unbidden is still balanced as a "starter crisis".
  
  
• Greatly buffed Prethoryn Swarm fleets.
  
• Fixed bug with Swarm planet infestation.
  
• The Swarm now receives reinforcements based on number of planets controlled.
  
• You now have approximately 12-20 years to build up a defensive position after the breach points have been identified.
  
  
• Buffed Fallen Empire fleets with several surprises.

Weapon Changes

• All XL weapons now have 100% accuracy.
  
• XL weapon mineral costs increased ( +50% for T1 and +100% for T2)
  
• Mega / Giga Cannon, Particle / Tachyon Lance : Weapon cooldown increased by 100%. +200% damage. An overall 50% damage boost. Cannon range decreased to 105, Lance range increased to 120.
  
• Arc Emitters : +50% damage.
  
• Torpedoes : Range reduced to 40. Now ignores 100% shields and 80% armour. +25% damage.
  
• Energy Torpedoes : Now ignores 30% armour.
  
• Plasma : Range reduced to 35/45/55
  
• Lasers: Range increased to 40/55/80. Now deals -10% shield damage (down from -20%)
  
• Matter Disintegrators : +10% accuracy
  
• Scourge Missiles : Now deals +33% shield damage and ignores 40% armour.

Ship Changes

• Combat speed of all ships reduced so weapon range is now slightly more important.
  
• Corvettes : +5 evasion. -60% shield regen.
  
• Destroyers : +5 evasion. -40% shield regen. +40% shields/hp
  
• Cruisers : -20% shield regen. +40% shields/hp
  
• Battleship : +50% shields/hp
  
• Defense stations : +300% base armour, +200% base hp.
  
• Added aux modules for space stations that boost sensor range.

General Changes

• All FEs now spawn with 2 Titans.
  
• FE / Crisis ships have been buffed.
  
• Guardians now grow stronger with time.

Attribution

• Glassed planet textures modified from planet textures created by RobertSteinIII (freebitmaps) under CC 3.0

Comments, suggestions and feedback will be greatly appreciated!

It is recommended to start a new game after installing the mod.

Full changes are too long to be posted here, please see the change notes (starting from the bottom 2 posts)