[Ed Kolis]

Originally posted by Wanderer:
In 1805, battleships were still called 'ships of the line' and displaced roughly 2,000 tons. In 1916 the average displacement was roughly 25,000 tons and by 1945 there were battleships displacing almost 80,000 tons. To an SE4 race that's only discovered 200kT ships, 200kT probably looks like a battleship, not a frigate.

Wow... in 140 years, what was called a "battleship" got 40 times bigger...

That said, I like Soulfisher's original suggestion of ships getting gradually bigger over time - something like this stripped-down Version of the tech tree might work:

Tech Level 1
Escort I - 100 kT
Cruiser I - 400 kT
Battleship I - 1000 kT

Tech Level 2
Escort II - 120 kT
Cruiser II - 480 kT
Battleship II - 1200 kT

Tech Level 3
Escort III - 150 kT
Cruiser III - 600 kT
Battleship III - 1500 kT

etc.

where each hull size would maintain its maximum engines and other characteristics even as it gets larger and larger...

Oh, and I like SJ's proposal for maintenance costs... now all we have to do is bug Aaron to make maintenance independent of construction cost in SE5!