quote:
What you are proposing is huge. Your right, balance would be an issue, but that issue can simply be solved by stating that ALL tech have simular levels. IE, phasers would be as powerful as Lasers, but would have an extra accuracy or range. Lasers would have lower component cost. Things such as this.
I would really prefer to make them be different racial ages.
IE. Low tech start gives you the bare minimum for B5 tech. Behind Earth-at-the-beginning-of-series tech. Research gets you up to Vorlon-ey tech, then you develop shields and move into a StarTrek type tech tree. At the top end of that, it merges smoothly with a StarWars type tech.
You start at B5 tech, when you have one planet & a colony. As you grow to include many starsystems, you move slowly into TrekTech, and by the time you can control a large portion of the galaxy, you will have StarWars tech.
It seems pretty natural to me.
As a bonus, you could add a required tech "Trek", and "SW". Then by disallowing the tech in the game setup, you'd have a TrekMod or B5 mod.