Vaulters portals to strong

Love playing as Vaulters.  Only gripe is that the portals make them unbeatable.  I simply build portals on border systems and have two big fleets to rapidly deploy against invasion.  The mechanic is nice yet I feel too powerful.

Suggest limiting the amount of portals that can be built, scaled to map size.  A bit like the Riftborn only being able to use three singularities.

Portals ought to be expensive tech items that require a lot of energy so an empire could only field so many.

Really glad I have not played this game for a while as it is working a treat.  Well done Devs.

The portals are strong but there's a number of reasons why the cost shouldn't (won't) increase and why you can build seemingly endless amounts of portals. 

First off; it's an initial system improvement so the cost has to be low otherwise you wouldn't be building it before the other early game system improvements (I generally have it as the first thing built after the 2 initial system improvements and the two early industry ones). 

Furthermore; let's say we increase the cost gradually (similar to inflation). That wouldn't make any sense since the cost would decrease with an expansion of Vaulter tech and capability. 

And although the portals give you a great degree of freedom, they do not cover everything (as you still need quite a few fleets) and help alleviate the slow, quite dangerous (due to pacific conversion) but widespread colonization style of the Vaulters and provide essential benefits to your far-flung systems (as everyone above stated).   

KnightofPhoenix wrote:

Limiting the number of portals will severily restrict the Vaulters from having colonies all over the place though (which as it stands is already limited due to encroaching cultural influence engulfing your lone isolated systems).

What will end up happening is that the Vaulters will have play like everyone else, i.e. most systems are clustered together which is not what the devs intended I think. 

I am for increasing the cost, heck maybe even have teleporting cost titanium per CP teleported.  But I am against a hard limit. 

I'm agree with KnightofPhoenix . 

Vaulters are not that strong at early game if you ask me honestly. They can't build an outpost to grab few good systems, Argosy is far too vulnerable, if it hit by other ship, you need to wait many more turns to let it repaired. They depend way too much for Hyperium and Titanium-70.

For late game, all your far systems are easilly getting absorbed with other factions during peace time, if all your systems are within many other faction territory, do you want to decrlare war to every one of them?

IMHO for MP games Vaulters are easy target, especially when they park near my territory, at late games they may built many infra inside that lone system, I just need to grab it from them, they can teleport there but they still slow outside their portal networks, I can retreat whenever I like.

But I'm not sure about ability able to teleport to any Pirate base. I always use it for my own shortcut when scouting or moving Argosy.

Increase cost to build them perhaps, but as other stated, the portals allows the vaulters to be played like a normadic tribe, travelling from star system to star system until they find another suitable place to crash, even if it's on the other side of the map.

They're like the opposite of the Unfallen, who need to build tightly nitted together and need to make do with the systems around them

Vaulters portals are what give them the unique mechanic of being able to have a scattered empire. Portals are not what make vaulters strong at all, they are easy to defend as a tall empire but offensively they struggle. They are currently overpowered as a empire due to the strength of golden age and the ability to system level synergistically to your playstyle with material expertise. If you take away portals the vaulters will become just another ue or sophon empire, even if you just limited them or made them drastically more expensive it would make the faction very different. They deserve a nerf, but portals is not the way to go because it will hurt there unique play style dramatically. Also midgame and early game the vaulters when they just colonise those new colonies are extremely vunerable to being taken over, and this is coming from a multiplayer veteran. Also the vaulters lose a colony it does not reset there colonizer timer which makes them even more sensitive. Portals are neccecary to keep from losing your freshly colonized systems and there early cost is already quite expensive. If the vaulters colony timer reset on colony lost then i might agree, but the nerf should not be with the portals that make them a uniqur scattered empire, it should be with material expertise and golden age.

Also when influence conversion comes into play vaulters need these not to be gobbled up, often you have to have war on multiple fronts since your not a influence strong empire, hence portals to make up for it. Imo if you nerf portals you destroy the faction.

Kamorlion receiving colonial Vaulters delegation at the Atrium of the Xenium.

Nu-Chromo’s entire crew stood standing as formal greetings were established.  The telepathic link connected the crew to the Krill, but that was not the entirety of it.  They also had simultaneous awareness of a far greater consciousness, like a diver would experience when alone in the shallow depths of an ocean.

Kamorlion held the Staff of Chalmond, a gift from the time the Unfallen left the Forest worlds.  

“Your colony has spread far from home.  We have watched as you have spread your seed across the Endless expanse.   This does not concern us.  The technology you call Portal has the potential to disrupt sub space.  Many of your systems use such devise.  We the Krill seek to limit use of Portal technology.  This you will convey to your Emperor.  The time your species spent on the relic world Auriga has warmed our kind to you.  Primate Vaulters welcome to the Xenium.