[PvK]

Sorry AJC - as you saw, I got your mount mod confused with Deathstalker's.

I guess some of what I said applies to yours, too, however. Looking over your mount mod again, I think it would be interesting and fun to play with, though my concerns/suggestions would mainly be:

1) The effects are pretty sudden in some cases. For instance, I'd prefer to have miniaturization come in a series of levels instead of suddenly being able to half-size components. Of course, it might get to be a hassle to have too many, since they all go in the "mounts" list. Maybe at least add a 75% miniaturization mount available before the 50% one.

2) Some of the mounts are just clearly better than not using them, so there is no choice involved. Advanced shields and advanced weapons in particular allow great improvements to performance per kT AND cost less than full-size components, so there doesn't seem to be a choice involved in whether to use them.

3) The tech level requirements don't really fit my imagination of what they represent. I don't get why computers, military science, and applied research would result in sudden multipliers to the abilities of certain components.

An example:

Long Name := Advanced Shield Generator Mount
Short Name := Adv Shield Mount
Description := Increases shield strength by 300%. Reduces size of shield generator by 25%. Requires ship or base size of at least 150Kt.
Code := Gx
Cost Percent := 200
Tonnage Percent := 75
Tonnage Structure Percent := 100
Damage Percent := 0
Shield Percent := 300
Supply Percent := 0
Range Modifier := 0
Weapon To Hit Modifier := 0
Vehicle Size Minimum := 150
Comp Family Requirement := 11
Weapon Type Requirement := None
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base
Number of Tech Req := 5
Tech Area Req 1 := Shields
Tech Level Req 1 := 6
Tech Area Req 2 := Physics
Tech Level Req 2 := 3
Tech Area Req 3 := Advanced Military Science
Tech Level Req 3 := 5
Tech Area Req 4 := Applied Research
Tech Level Req 4 := 3
Tech Area Req 5 := Computers
Tech Level Req 5 := 4

This is a steep 400+% increase in performance per kT, and it also cuts 1/3 off the cost per shield point, at the same time. So there is almost never a reason to not use this mount, so there is no tradeoff to decide about. My suggestion would be to make it actually cost more per shield point to use a mount like this, because of the massive shield/kT advantage - so you could get much stronger shields, or have more room to make a more powerful single ship with other components, but it would cost more. As it is, the main choice offered is when to try to get all the required research to achieve the mount - then always use it.

PvK