[Despotic Fiend]

I think the Talisman is fine as it is. I don't see how it unbalances the game in any real sense of the term. Consider that fleet training+combat sensors+certain weapons with built in to hit bonuses get 99% to hit bonus. Making the Talisman a 99% to hit modifier would make researching the talisman pointless since you can get the training and sensor bonuses for about half the cost of researching the talisman.

I do like the idea of replacing the Talisman with War and Death Talismans and making new levels of the religious tech. Consider War, Death, Nature, Time, Fate SHRINES as planetary effect facils I-II(Religious Tech 1-3) and War, Death, Nature, Time, Fate TEMPLES as system effect facils I-III(Religious Tech 4-6) With War and Death Talismans of three seperate levels made vaialbe at levels 4-6 of Religious Tech. I think that would be an excellent MOD idea, but the Talisman as is is just fine for the stock game. The sheer size of the Talisman in comparison to ECM and Combat Sensors means that most people will use the Talisman WITHOUT ECM or stealth armour and thus have a much lower defense bonus, or they will be forced to trade off a weapon or two to keep the defense bonuses. Either way, the Talisman is not an unbalanced tech, it's fine the way it is.