There are already existing programs which will, given an XML schema, which could be supplied with the game, let you edit XML data and automatically validate it as you edit, so you don't have to rely on the game's cryptic error Messages and search for errors in a half-meg text file.
Also, there are existing class libraries which can handle XML data in an object-oriented fashion, making it easier for Aaron to write the game and easier for people like Suicide Junkie, DavidG, and myself to create modding utilities.
What disadvantages did you have in mind? (I can think of the huge file size with all those opening and closing tags, but it couldn't be much worse than the current data files with their repeated field names...
)
Another idea I just had is the ability to export (and possibly even import) any sort of data from the game as a text, XML, CSV, Excel, or whatever type of file the game uses to store its data - not just the tech tree, but ship designs, system maps, colony lists, you name it. This might seem like I'm going a bit far for just a game, but bear in mind it's been done for Stars! - you could run programs on the data and calculate, say, the refueling range of all your ships in one fell swoop!
And what would be even cooler is if there were some way to call those custom programs from some menu or something within the game interface... whoa! talk about moddability!
