[Talenn]

Wow!

Alot of this looks great. I dont know if I'll incorporate all of it into my own custom set but I'll certainly pick and choose some of to add. Alot of good stuff in here.

Some of it, I've already done myself as well. I felt that Seekers should have the 'heavy mounts' as well and made the 'Capital Ship Mount' that can fit on Cruiser+ hulls.

One other suggestion I will make is to either 1) allow the smaller hulls (ES,FG,DS) to hold more engines or 2) to have later hulls up the tech tree be able to do so (same size as the ES,FG,DS, just less restrictive on engines). The problem with the latter is that it trips up the AI into building smaller ships again as they are higher tech.

I've gone with option one and increased the engine allowance on alot of these small hulls. Its given them far more longevity in the game. They are good for scouting and quick reaction/raiding forces. In battle, they can race ahead and pound with missiles or else be able to shoot and scoot with relative impunity. Its really caused me to rethink the idea that bigger is always better in the later stages of the game.

I find that I usually keep a few DD's around even late in the game for the purposes I mentioned above whereas previous, the small ships all went the way of the dinosaur as soon as the bigger ones were built.

Another tweak I have added (which I know wont be popular with some) is to increase the 'hull cost' of the larger ships. In my mind, Capital Ships should be expensive to build and maintain, thus allowing the more cost-effective cruisers to comprise the bulk of the fleet.

Suggestion to MM: Would it be possible to have the first ship of a given class cost a bit more (ie the prototype). This might encourage players to pick a design and standardize a bit rather than constantly updating the ships turn after turn as soon as a new gadget is researched. I think the Starfire series gave a discount for every ship after the first of the class. For purposes of SE4, I think a small premium paid on the first ship of every class would be more practical. It wouldnt have to be huge (20-25%?) but at least it would be incentive to standardize a bit.

Thanx for making all your mods available. Even the parts I dont use will help me to see ideas for adding other tweaks in the future.

Talenn