Ok, I found the problem.
My first thought was the invisible control character thingy. I must have retyped it ten times.
Then, I tried switching just the tech area
names, rather than the entire entry. The problem was linked to the name, not the entry; then it just became an issue of finding the component/vehicle size/facility/mount which was causing the problem.
It turns out, after some experimentation, that a new colony comp was the problem. It seems that SEIV treats techs which give colony comps differently--it ignores the starting level value, instead giving one level of the area providing the appropriate colonization ability for the race (rock, ice, or gas; or in the case of full-tech, one of each). My tech gave all three at tech level 1, so SE4 ignored any attempt to go beyond that. I moved the problem comp to its own tech area, and no more strangeness.
Maybe (a condensed/reworded) Version of this should be added to the modder's guide. I had problems with this several months ago when I started this mod, and obviously forgot it since.
