[Loser]

This sounds like a very creative and ambitious Mod. I look forward to seeing a playable Version of it.

Some interesting limitations, though, in addition to the Cargo and Colonizer ones you have already discovered.

Since Riders are Units they cannot be captured, and cannot use Stellar Manipluation components.

Though I cannot recall the specifics I think there were also certian kinds of Armor that didn't work right for Units, Phased Shields either.

Only Highliners will be able to use Ship Yards, though I think Units can make use of Repair Bays.

Riders will not get repaired. They're either fine or they're gone. For this reason you might want to make them cheaper then their conventional Ship counterparts.

Units do not gain experience, do they?

Also, as Units, I believe your Riders are not going to charge maintainance. Can this be modded?

Can Units cloak?

Can Units sweep Mines?

Can conventional Fighters launch Seekers?

Also some powerfull bonuses.

You can make weapons, huge weapons, that can only shoot Highliners.

Mobile remote mining without maintainance will be a great boon to the dynamics of a Finite game.

Whole fleets (which cannot exactly be fleeted) can be hidden on planets or in Space Stations. Or would you use Satilites as your Space Stations and leave the whole Base hull class out of the game?

One ECM, Sensor, or Relic will benifit a whole Rider stack. These would be Components with fleet-wide benifits on special E-War ships, I suppose. Perhaps you should increase their size so they take up the whole ship.

All-in-all this sounds like it's going to be a great mod. Unique, challenging, a completely different game.