TEC help

Advent's only real economic advantage is the planetary upgrade discount offered by the Progenitor.  Otherwise, TEC's economy is superior in every way.  Now, Advent's Disciple light frigate is more cost-effective than TEC's cobalt light frigate, so if you're not teching up to higher-level units that might explain the problem.  What are you doing as each faction?  What capital ships are you picking, what units do you typically use?

as advent i normaly start with the mother ship and disciples , get trade ports up then i go for long range frigates. as tec i normaly start with the kol or marza along with light frigates, then i try to go for heavy cruisers. but by that time the AI fleet is was stronger than mine and i have to wait for the colony frigate to get antimater so getting new planets is really slow at first

Part of the issue is that you are making an unfair comparison...you are starting with the colony capital ship (progenitor) when you play advent but not with the colony cap when you play as TEC (akkan)...so, it may not be that you are playing terrible as the TEC, but rather that you made more economically oriented choices as the Advent...

Regardless of which faction you are playing, colony caps will always boost your economy because they allow faster expansion and less resources spent on colony frigates...I don't know the particular map you are playing but I do know some custom maps can be a real pain to colonize on if you don't have a colony capital ship...it's not uncommon for them to separate your HW from colonizable planets with asteroid belts, gas giants, and other uncolonizables...this makes using colony ships very difficult...

Your first change should be to use the akkan instead of the kol or marza...in general, you should almost always start with either a colony capital ship or carrier capital ship...in a few rare cases, starting with a marza or vulkoras can be useful in rushing an enemies HW...this is simply how the current version of the game is set up: carrier caps are extremely dominant while combat, support, and siege are marginal and generally require unique situations to justify their existence (Kortul and Marza probably being your two best non carrier/colony caps)...

Getting LRMs is also of paramount importance...in general, bombers and LRFs (long range frigates, so kanraks, LRMS, and illuminators) are the best units in the game...they have many strengths and very few weaknesses...as TEC, you arguably have the best LRF...

As Advent, building lots of disciples is a good idea, but only because Advent has a hard time getting illuminators early on...Advent is the only faction where rushing heavy cruisers is likely to be a good idea...if you are TEC, early fleets should be composed of LRMs, some garda flaks, and some hoskikos...eventually you will want to incorporate large amounts of carriers with bombers...only later in the game should you push for Kodiaks (TEC heavy cruisers)...

As TEC, rushing trade is very important...when you should build trade is heavily dependent on what game speed you are playing on and whether you play with quickstart on or off...in general, a TEC player should have trade earlier than an advent player (as TEC needs 2 labs where advent needs 3)...

This is definitely the issue.  Choosing a Marza over the Akkan will sacrifice a great deal of your early economy for extra combat power.  If you aren't rushing, there's literally no point in doing this. 

Under normal circumstances you shouldn't go straight from Cobalts to Kodiaks.  You should always bridge the gap with units like the Garda, Javelis, Carrier, and Hoshiko.  The TEC have some of the best military units at the 2-3 lab level, and there's really no reason to rush up to expensive 5-lab level techs. 

Secondly, never ever get a Kol as your first capital ship.  Marza is viable, but I'd recommend sticking with the Sova and Akkan when first learning the TEC faction.  The Sova is your strongest military opener, while the Akkan is your strongest economic opener.

ty alot guys. starting up a tec game atm , i'll start with the akkan this time.

Remember with the Akkan it takes a little bit for the Free Resource Extractors to show up.

If you have the expansion packs, it's instant.

what the point of upgrading missile battries on the sova ?? each upgrad points does nothing to the antmater use , cooldown or duration .?

The missile platforms themselves get upgraded, the first one has a DPS of about 13, a level two platform has about 26 DPS (and slightly increased health/shields) etc.

personally I disagree with the point about the kol. I regularly pick this as my first cap ship. Perhaps its just the fact that I play in an aggressive manner to start (rushing if you like) then switch to a defensive posture whilst i boost my economic foot hold but which I think ships like the kol are great for since they are good on the offensive and ideal for defensive  (or at least this is how Ive found them to be)

You can start with a Kol, but it is actually not the most aggressive ship to start.  Sova & Marza have more damage output so they are normally associated with an aggressive start, and Akkan can be used to expand faster.  If you send the Kol in first to draw fire and send some ships in next to clean up, you will still be ok, but Kol is generally not considered an "elite" opener.  Kol's generally don't come into their own until level 6.  It generally isn't a big deal unless you are competing online and every little advantage becomes crucial.

Kol is a very poor rushing ship.  It'll work against the AI, for sure, but you'll get a lot more mileage out of the Sova, Akkan, or Marza.  The Kol has very few advantages (particularly early game) over these other selections, while those capital ships have powerful and useful abilities.  The Kol really doesn't come into its own until it's level 5 and it's mid-game, and that in my opinion makes it a complete waste of time as an early-game capital ship.

Not to be offensive, but I just don't understand people who swear by the Kol as an opening ship.  It's got excellent durability, buts that's it.  Until you get "Finest Hour" at level 6 its damage output is quite poor for a combat-oriented capital ship.  Gauss railgun is borderline worthless, and flak burst isn't really effective until much later in the game.  You've basically got a really tough brick.  So long as the enemy doesn't foolishly focus their attacks on such a durable beast, it's really not contributing to a battle the way a capital ship should.

I love the Kol, but personally I think it's relegated to the role of late-game support.  Definitely not an opener.

I always used the Kol, but then I heard a carrier was good early game. And yes it is more flexibile in a gravwell, capships are just too slow. But IMO the carrier doesn't get enough squadrons early enough.

That said I have always like the Marza and will choose that often now. I can see the utility of an Akkan but....I don't like so much.

The kol is like a giant flak frigate in most regards until you get to level 6 and then its still a lot like a giant frak frigate. The only time it does well early game is against the AI with lots of high DPS back up. 

You send the kol into the grav well first and the stupid AI focuses mostly upon it. With adaptive forcefield and a couple of hoshikos this baby will just keep going and going and going... mix it up with LRMs and take out the duped enemy forces and you have yourself a win.

However, this will not work on a human player who would just giggle at the kol and blast everything else to little pieces. Since most of the strategy talk on these forums is MP based then the kol is (from that point of view) a terrible opener.

 

Actually Ive found the Kol to be great b/c of this reason. Alot of the MP is about sniping a cap with LRF. Cant really snip the Kol easily.

*shrugs* Ive had more luck using the brink on MP than other caps. Could be luck though.

   If you’re having a hard time getting the hand of the TEC, then set the AI to Easy Defender.  That will keep it close to home for the bulk of the game and give you a chance to get a feel for the TEC.  Like some of the others pointed out, pick the Akkan or the Sova for your starter ship.  I personally like the Sova because the enemy has no defense against the fighter and bombers early on, however, the Akkan's Colonize ability can save a lot of time.  Also, like Darvin3 pointed out, the Disciple ship is cheaper to produce than the Cobalt, so you won't be able to mass produce a fleet right off the bat.

    To kick start your economy, forget about the Military Tech tree for a minute, and focus on getting your Civilian bonuses for the Extractors, Population Cap, and industries.  That will get the resources flowing in, which will allow you to really start producing ships later.  However, you can’t get so wrapped up in development that you forget your military entirely.  I personally focus on getting the first two population cap upgrades for my home world, and then I roll out a half-dozen Cobalts and my Akkan or Sova.  I usually buy the first laser upgrade and the first armor upgrade.  That typically gives me enough of an edge to bump off any rebel defenders that might be guarding nearby planets.  Unless you run into large numbers of rebels, the Cobalts and the capital ship should be enough to get the job done; you can focus your resources on improving your planets and building up your economy (Tip: watch your ship indicators on the left scroll bar.  When you notice that the shields are failing for a Cobalt, tell it to retreat.  Do this with all of your Cobalts until only the capital ship remains in the gravity well.  The rebels will prioritize it as their target and start fighting.  Once they have engaged it decisively, I like jumping the Cobalts back into the gravity well.  Now my toughest ship is taking the brunt of the fight, and the Cobalts are lending support.  This lets me use small fleets to knock out larger ones without suffering any losses.  It really helps financially!).  Basically, get your basic military infrastructure and ships in place, and then go bananas with your economic upgrades.  Let yourself be the marauding pirate target and use the weak forces that they send out early in the game to level-up your capital ship(s).  When they start getting tougher, direct them at your enemy.  This, coupled with a few well-planned Tech purchases, can provide you with a small, tough military force that can repel an enemy attack from a defended gravity well.  I usually sit through half the game while playing defense.  By the time I’m ready to attack; my capital ships are level sixes from Pirate and enemy attacks, while my economy is fairly strong.

    Basically, don’t rush it; take one step at a time.  Focus on a small navy with a few upgrades, and manage it skillfully.  Reinvest the bulk of your resources into your planets and your economy, and you’ll do great.

    One final note: you lose credits on planets that are underdeveloped.  Always make certain that you purchase at least one (preferably two) of the civilian population infrastructure options.  This will usually turn the planet into a credit producing one.

This is true of all factions.  ALWAYS buy upgrades to pull them out of underdevelopment and into profitability.  The cost, even in the short-term, of letting underdevelopment tax run is enormous and simply not worth it.