I think that you should have to have built the titan up to the last stage before you can research the next titan tech.

SO you can research tech 1 to unlock the foundry and 25% construction

tech 2 can only be purchased at 25% construction

tech 3 at 50%

tech 4 at 75%

As each tech is purchased a warning is sent out to all players.

This will drag out the construction of Titan 1 and give players mroe time to harass it.

if you look at the time for each tech, ie level 1, 4 or 8, each requires the same time if on the same tier.  Having it all in one level say tech 4 would decrease the time to build a titan and having it at level 6 would require more labs.

Not sure if its a game limitation that requires all tech to be the same research time per level.

GRR guess I need to word things more clearly, ahem, why is it necessary to have four buttons? Just have one button with four tiers; I am talking about aesthetics here people not changing the functionality.

Thats a pretty serious charge sir and I hope your wrong.

I answered that question on my previous post. Answer is, more time, and more research.  Each tier research has the same cost and time per level.

I would really like to hear from the devs on this one as to whether the titan techs were made so low tier for the beta (ie so we can test them easier), or if this is actually want they want.  Right now the game revolves around titans, and that's not a good thing.  These things needs to be move to, IMO, at least tier 3-6 techs or even further back.  1-4 is far to easy to rush out.

Yes, that's what I'm saying. As an example in Occupation Victory, it (the map configurations) forces one player to essentially split their force in two: one half defending the essential home network and another defending the Occupation Planet. The concept is "divide and conquer". I've seen it encouraged in many a strategy game, but never before have I see a game that encouraged a player to do it to themselves. To be clear I think this has more to do with the map's layout which forces a player to significantly weak their position.

Other victory options? Rinse and repeat.

Or, and this is pretty complex.  Get 4 Military Tech Centers, research them all at once and build the Titan when you get the money.  Even on Unfair its still a slam dunk in my opinion.

Justmy2cents

I wholeheartedly agree with the OP. Due to the overwhelming cost of the Titan I just wait until my economy can afford to buy the other three levels within a quick amount of time.

I have no problem with the idea of "spreading out" the purchase but you need to have the money to buy the factory which is unlocked by level one of the titan project. No problem there, the costs are too heavy to start that project. Then you need to actually start the first tier of building the Titan and here is where the whole process gets kind of mired down by poor implementation. The initial cost of the Titan is HUGE. Not just the actual "start building now" button in the factory but you need two capital ship officer slots AND 200 supply. And those are tied up for the entire duration of the project. In order for me to justify tying up those costs I need to have a solid economy (which I generally do as I always trend toward an economy based game plan in every RTS) and in order to defend my solid economy I need to be able to have a fleet. I also tend less toward actualy micromanaging my fleet (which I realise is poor RTS play but hey I'm in this for empire building); I have way more fun just watching my generals make a mess of things and having to restock his fleets. Due to all of that I'd really really moch rather use all of those resources for having two REALLY potent and diverse fleets. This means the Titan is usually an after thought for me and falls into the late game play where I all but have the win in my hands. I just don't find the Titans as that big of "game changers" as others here do (though I also don't play on the higher difficulties).

Another approach to making the Titan a bit more "balanced" in terms of justifying tying up those kinds of resources would be to put multiple Titan level buttons into the factory.

Inside Titan Factory: Level one - 50 supply and a quarter the current total Titan cost

                              Level two - 50 supply and one capital ship officer plus one quarter the total Titan cost

                              Level three - 50 supply and one quarter the total Titan cost

                              Level four - 50 supply and one capital ship officer plus one quarter the total Titan cost

What about this, we make the titan have its own research tree, and require a little more researching and building to get a full fledged titan out of the works. Still give it the requirement to level since that would make it harder to hunker down and just research a death machine. Make it to where the titan has its own weapons research  Armor, AM, special abilities and so forth, maybe make it level just like a cap ship with 1 ability point per level and make its upgrades research.

Having the four right now is nice and works for what its meant to do but I think it allows for titan rushing which if a titan is supposed to be the "game ender" then the first one to make one and rush to the pirate base for some munchies is going to be the victor. I have friends to can get a lvl 4 titan within the first hour of the match, if not quicker. And a titan that early is just going to eat a fleet and get stronger

I'd like to see it require a little more micro managing then just 4 buttons and a couple fleet upgrades, still viable as a tactic but not to easy that you can shoot one out and into the enemies face in the first hour.