Balancing Defensive Bonuses

[spoon]

I'm considering making a Balanced Mod, and seek your input on a few topics...

Problem 2: Defense bonuses. It's all too easy to design a race that can build ships no other empire can defeat (Unless they happen to be religious, or happen to have spent a lot of points on Aggressiveness (In other words, you can't respond to this tactic in the game, you have to plan for it when you build your race)) What to do: Buy Defensiveness up to the max (125). Choose either the Warrior or Bezerker Culture (+5 / +10 to ship combat). Research armor to level 6 (Stealth Armor 3 / Scattering Armor 3), Combat Support to Level 3 (ECM 3), Advanced Military Science to 3 (ship and fleet training facilities 3). You will now have ships that have +160% defense (or +165 for bezerkers). Without putting points into Aggressiveness, the best offense you can hope for is +105%. I think this translates into "not capable of hitting the enemy". (is it a base 50% chance to hit, minus range penalties?). Now, I know you can build wave-motion guns to get an additional +40% to hit, but you can always respond by building only destroyers (+20% defense), leaving the opponent forced to use an inefficient weapon that can hit you 5% of the time and only at short range.

Suggested fixes.
(1) Give all ships a minimum chance to hit. Something like 20%.
(2) Remove the defense bonus for stealth armor. People will still research it and use it, even without its bonus.
(3) Eliminate or weaken training facilities. These are used only by experienced players, and make it impossible for newer players to compete.
(4) Decrease ECM to +15/+30/+45