TDM is really cool

[Slick]

The Tessellate are formidable if you give them the typical AI hard difficulty setting and a bonus. They use crystallurgy and deeply religious advanced traits to make some really powerful ships. They use the Talisman with Shield Depleters and Shard Cannons and are hard to hit with their Crystal Armor. Basically the Talisman makes them always hit, the shield depleters quickly strip your shields and the Shard Cannon (armor skipping) starts hitting internals really quickly. If they are encountered early and/or not allowed to develop to the higher techs, they aren't nearly so bad. They also are very adept (for an AI) at using Stellar Manipulation and planet capturing. They won the latest AI Deathmatch.