Thanks for the feedback! Some of our guys also have the idea of getting RUs from something related to "trading". I drew a concept of bentusi RU collectors also, so what it will be is still to be decided.

What I mean is that you may have heard that FX:Galaxy will mainly focus on the "story/experince" part (RPG, Legendary Fleet mode(it is currently a separate mod,but will be part of the Galaxy in the future) ,etc). There's so much to do in these part. But I'm sure that the Bentusi as well as other races will get more unique characteristics ;)

Perhaps it's an idea to have the "Cargo Barge" unit from HW1 function as a trade ship and have it go back-forth between allies, docking with allied motherships?

Think in terms of resource collectors docking with captured asteroids in FX:Empire to generate RU and/or Trade Ships going back-forth in Sins of a Solar Empire.

I like those ideas. Even the Complex 9.1 mod had cargo ships for money generation. However: Bear in mind that it will need to be viable during single play a well... so they'll need to be able to trade with someone.

I never thought about the trading idea, but it's awesome! They could be slow but generate lots of resources. Very interesting

Some sort of resource collection will still be needed in order to make them not suck at 1v1.

I think it should still be trade worthy. That you "purchase" trade accounts, and off-map NPC traders come in to give you money. You can purchase different contracts: Lets say a Kadeshi contract has lots of small freighters that come by regularly for income... While a Vaygr contract may have huge transports, but come infrequently...

The general impression I get from the TAW players is:

1. Bentusi should be a trade-only race. They should maybe gather resources by (as suggested) building "Trade ships" which work similar to the trade-carts from AOE2 (So they travel from the mothership to other motherships, gathering a certain amount of RU and returning), they can be attacked and if they were transporting RU back they drop the RU. To begin this you should have to research (as suggested) 'contracts' with other players. These aren't alliances but simply allow the trade units to pass into their area and not get shot up. To make the trade beneficial to the non-Bentusi when a trade ship makes it to dock, during the time they are on board all manufacturing and research is sped up by a certain degree.

2. Bentusi units should have more variability, So they should have some corvettes, an anti-fighter Frigate, anti-fighter fighters and some form of salvage/capture unit but instead of taking the actual unit they gain a certain amount of RU of how much that ship cost (i.e. 70%).

3. There should be a ship which allows for modules to be placed upon it to help with trade, cloaking ships, anti-hyperspace grav wells and so forth.

4. The mothership shouldn't show up for EVERYONE on the map and should have some form of self-defense as right now it's just a big pretty horseshoe which looks amazing when it goes bang.

I like a lot of those thoughts/points. But bear in mind: I still think purchasing trade contracts from off-map NPC's will help in the early stages. A vs. player can choose to not accept the research buff and deny the bentusi income while still advancing in research on their own accord. The benefit would have to be fantastic to make an enemy help the Bentusi...

I didn't realize that the mothership was defenseless. But then again: So are the Nebula to start. The only times I played the Bentusi, I felt that their ships were immensely powerful.

@Paladin -

That makes sense too. Maybe then you should be able to do off-map trading with an NPC and, if you have alliances, the units can go to the players.

The mothership on it's own has ZERO weapons and worse of all it shows up instantly for all players, so someone can easily rush it right now with the right units. Also I find it weird how the smaller fighters don't actually fly from the Mothership's dock (If you look at their appearences where the Kushan sent a diplomat they have a small one) rather than hyperspacing in. The problem with the Hyperspacing is that the way they form up means they create a HUGE line which shows you up really quickly.

I just feel that they have a serious lack of units and the ones they have now are ridiculously over-powered. It's a case of nerfing and spreading it all out. Especially with the 120 Capital ship cap...

Creating contracts with off-grid NPC would make the Bentusi OP in late game, when the resources for the rest have ran out (unless you add some form of endless RU generation ability for each faction). The Bentusi could just turtle and outlast everyone.

FYI, it is not said that that is a bad thing, just something to consider. Turtling would simply be thier playstyle.

Make "trade stations."

Bentusi starts with 1. 1 = roughly 5-6 resource collectors.
Unarmed station that basically does nothing but add RU's.

@ Aeri Tyaelaria [フランネル]
earlier you stated some things about the ships. Firstly, the fighters are used as multi-role strike craft, they serve as anti-fighter, anti-corvette and anti-cap. They Hyperspace as do all ships because the Bentusi are Unbound meaning that they are literally fused mind body and soul to their ships (ok maybe not soul but you get the jist) this also supportes the idea that they could be made at they're homeworld(Edom.) They are also the oldest race in the galaxy besides the progenitors and it is also questionable if the bentusi and them fought eventually bringing the end or the progenitors as the ships are all AI controlled. The destroyer is also a great ship as it is OP verses all other cap ships and has a crap ton of pulse lasers for anti-air. I greatly appreiciate your input and all of the others on this site thank you.
P.S. I'm not trying to sound like a ♥♥♥♥ or be mean to you I was just saying what I thought it was.

Currently working on Bentusi, the traders now have cargo ships jump in and out of hyperspace and drop RUs each time. Hope you guys like this mechanism.

It's pretty neat ;)