SJ:
Yeah, been pretty busy myself between this and the rest of life (how dare life interfere with SEIV)
One thing to note, EA and Narn armor are pretty much the same, even the Centauri armor isn't all that much better - could just be a higher level of the same stuff. The Minbari armor is a bit more advanced then that, but still no healing or absorbtion. The only real differences I can think of were the White Star & Excalibur - which both used partial Vorlon Tech. I just included them for RP value
But the progression levels do make sense, I like the idea of a split in directions, but if a race is to get low level Vorlon or Shadow armor they should need the tech area "Shadow/Vorlon Assistance" (which I was using to give low level weapons research to younger races). Also, I've been trying to make it so the Ancients wil still always be a bit better tech wise even at the end - don't know if everyone agrees with that or not, but I didn't see humans getting to ancient level in the span of the game - the Minbari had barely advanced in 1000 years between Shadow wars! So, there will be an racial ability called B5 Ancient Race which gives you access to ancient abilities. Some items will be able to be reverse engineered, but mostly you are going to have to make a trade with the Vorlons or Shadows to get a White Star/Shadow Omega type ship.
I like the Maps:
Basic -> Narn/EA -> Centauri -> Drahk/Hyach (soemthing high end) -> Shadow(low end available to all with "Shadow Assist", high end restricted)
Basic -> Narn/EA -> Abbai (something midrange) -> Minbari -> Vorlon (ditto "Vorlon Assist")
Though EA/Narn can be split up as well to give 6 classes in each tree (but only 9 total armors).
Could also call them by armor type names:
Armor -> Reenforced Armor -> ? -> Reenforced ? -> Bio-Armor (Shadow/Crystalline)
Armor -> Reenforced Armor -> Poly-Crystalline -> Reenforced P-C -> Bio-Armor (Vorlon/Organic)
Then you have a few extras like the stealth coating and the shields (Abbai (EM), Brakiri (Gravitic), Minbari (Grav), Vorlon (EM)).
The Centauri, Vree and Drahk also have a Gravitic def shield grid - like a 'pre-shield'. EAs answer was the Energy Web.
As for starting level, might as well start them at basic and let them choose the path to what they want to research.
Good idea on the mobile spaceyard costs
