[Captain Kwok]

The idea of starting tech levels is not necessarily to upgrade the AI's performance...it's more for roleplay and/or scenarios really. You know, create a game, set up some races and give them various levels of tech based on their description - say advanced cyrstalline weapons for the Phong or maybe the Terrans have developed powerful missiles. It helps to 'flesh' out the game just that much more...it could make more competitive between players of different levels...

There's far more good than bad I think and it's more feasible than tcp/ip tatical combat...

Look...

Each race file already has settings that record the level of tech that race has achieved. All that would have to be done is allow that information to be edited/set during the game setup. Also, it wouldn't replace the current low-mid-full tech options, it would supplement them.