Strengths and Weaknesses - a search for opinions

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Religious and Crystalline appears to be the most widely used combination out there, because of the immense offensive advantage of the Talisman and the defensive Crystal Armor. If you're in a 5k points game, and don't mind taking low characteristics or if you don't mind lowering some characteristics to improve others, I'd say go with Religious, Crystalline and Temporal, and prepare for a tough game as everyone is going to gang up against you because of your immensely powerful combination.

Once you get going though (roughly mid-game, if you've survived that is), you're going to be a powerhouse. Like Munchausen said, Temporal has good offense (and production infrastructure) and Crystalline has good defense, and combine that with Religious' Shrine boosts and the Talisman, well, your enemies are going to be hard-pressed keeping you in line in single combat. If you use the Temporal SYs to build heaps and heaps of tiny throwaway ships with a Talisman, and make sure the enemy doesn't see them, you can knock your opponents' fleets on their @$$3$, buying you the time you need to build the really big ships (BB, DN, BS) equipped with a most deadly combination of Talismans, Crystal Armor, Shard Cannons, Temporal Weapons, and a few Null-Space Projectors thrown in for good measure. When (if) you manage that, just "cry havoc! and let slip the dogs of war".....