[Aris_Sung]

It seems to me that I'm writing a bit much. I'll stop after this and come back later.
(Note: If any of the following has already been suggested, I'm sorry that I don't have enoug htime to read all 131 pages of posts. So please just reply and tell me that it has already been discussed and if you know, please also add what the general consensus was on the idea.)

I have a couple of ideas that could be intriguing and add a small dimension to the game. (I just don't know how feasible it may be.)
1. What if ships' shields had some sort frequency code, say a 4-digit number or code. So then you could branch this idea into having a technology in the form of a 'weapon' that wouldn't really do much damage, but a successful hit would scan some of the code or all, depending on how sophisticated the 'weapon' is. Something like what the Borg uses.
Also, this could also be added into the Intel field, where a mission could be to steal the code of an enemy ship, and when you confront the enemy, you would be able to penetrate their shields like a Phased Polaron Cannon.
Another technology, would be a device that could randomly change your code. So even if the enemy got part of your code in combat, it would be useless because your code would have just changed. (I know this sounds like alot from TNG, the Feds against the Borg, but I've always hoped to play a game as a Borg-like race against other races.)

2. What if ships also had a personalized ID code. My idea is that I want to steal other races ships and send them back in to their space to spy on them. Except, that the ship would get blown into pieces once I sent it into their space. So if there could also be another Intel project where you could steal ship ID codes and then steal the ship, you would essentially have a spy ship and the enemy wouldn't be the wiser. (Of course, there may be the problem that the enemy will see us capturing the ship in combat and whatnot, so then I would have to propose somesort of 'Communications Jammer', which would prevent the enemy from seeing combat, if that's even allowed. But I think I'll talk about that in another post or let someone else describe it, if they want to.)

3. Wouldn't it be great if ship/starbase/etc. weapons had different power settings. How many times have you tried to capture a ship and only wanting to take down their shields and maybe weapons but only had Large or Heavy mounted weapons to do the job. Sounds to me like using a chainsaw instead of a scalpel to do a surgery. If each weapon had say a Low/Med/Max/Overload settings then you could choose what level of punch you want. (For the Overload setting, I was thinking that if you wanted extra punch, you run the risk that the weapon may burn out and be useless for the rest of combat.) The different power setting may or may not influence supply. I don't know.

4. Finally, I think that there should be ship acceleration in combat mode, and planetary gravity as well. From what I've heard, the new combat screen will use hexes? If that's so, then when you start off combat, you should start a little slower and build up speed. Also, when you turn, depending on your turn radius, that should affect how many movement is used. So if you turn on the spot after going full speed, you will definately use more movement then if you were turning on the spot from rest or if you took a turn of a couple of hexes. About planetary gravity: if you're out of engines within so many grids of a planet, you should fall towards the planet and crash unless saved. Also, if you use a repulser beam, you should be able to push ships into the planet. This would prevent people sticking ships all around their planet to defend it with their ship weapons and WPs unless they want to see ships falling from the sky.
(On another note, do you think different ship speeds would work in normal mode, say Flank/Full/Half/Quarter speed to get from one destination to another. And going at slower speeds would mean using more movement for less distance but also saving on fuel and lesser chance of getting damage by storms/etc. then if you were traveling at Flank speed.)

I think I've wrote a bit much, but after not being able to post for a while, ideas just seem to build up and you got to spill them up.
Comment? Ideas?

Thanks for reading,
Aris