Since no one else seems to be doing it and everyone's suggesting it, I'm converting the SE5 version of my personal mod into the Universal Science Fiction mod (USF..because we already have a mod that starts with G.
).
Rather than doing purely racial tech I'll be trying to create a tech tree that encompasses ALL of the universes. So what makes the Federation the Federation is it researches a specific set of technology and not another set.
The mod was already laid out with "levels" inspired by the K-Scale, so I'm keeping those. They aren't hard and fast rules like the Age of Space Empires, more like guidlines for tech balance.
I have five of them. What I need is what universes people would like to see, and where they'd fit into the scheme. Feel free to break a universe into multiple levels if needed (eg B5's Earth Alliance probably wouldn't fit into the same level as the Shadows).
Level 0: Prespace. No major empires, neutral only. Targets and RP interaction.
Level 1: Player races begin here by default. Interstellar travel, relatively low technology. Planetary development is rather slow and homeworlds are important. A Mote in God's Eye would be mid L1.
Level 2: General improvements on L1. Less empathsis on homeworlds, since colony development speeds up. Faster ships, shields are more likely to be available. Early SEIV in development.
Level 3: Stellar manipulation begins to appear, but its expensive and not all that effective. About mid-game SEIV in terms of power and colony development.
Level 4: Stellar Manipulation is more general and more effective. System Grav shields appear. Late-game SEIV. Ringworlds, early Sphereworlds.
Level 5: Cheap Stellar Manipulation technology, extremely powerful weapons and cloaks. Rare. The Old Ones from Heaven's Reach would be here.