Ascendancy Mod Idea (need some help)

[Starhawk]

An update (although small)

I tested Terrenesi Tech tree using Pulse cannons only and it worked flawlessly I am glad to say I now have a better idea of how to incorporate new tech trees into the game.

Also update on things you can expect in the completed mod:

1. "Stellar Manipulation" science area will be removed completely, the planet killing and star killing weapons will now be researched under "Planet Killer" and "Star Killer" science trees depending on race.
This means:
No sphereworlds/ringworlds/artificial moons, warp tech etc

The reason for this is because me and the other person attempting to make this mod are trying to make a completely new gaming experience that makes you think before you act and plan up to years ahead for your empire and many of the stellar manip techs remove the real nitty gritty visceral feel of sending your navy to war because you just open a warp point drop in on the enemy blow him to hell and move out.
The reason the "worlds" are being removed is mainly because the AI never builds them so players have an uber resource advantage......well that and it just doesn't fit the "fluff" of the Ascendancy universe.

NOW interesting thing about the Planet and Star killing weapons is that different races will have different ways of doing this.

For example the Terrenesi will use "terraformer" torpedoes (basically just a weapon like the tectonic torp except instead of blowing a planet apart it only targets the population and kills them all)

While the "Swarmers" being a mechanical race don't care much about inhabiting a world so instead their planet killer is a "Necroton Bomb" which cracks the planets crust and leaves a nice asteroid belt to be strip mined by "harvester" craft.

As for Star killers generally the way that is going to work is also unique to the race for some examples:

Terrenesi Nova Bomb: Pretty much just a renamed thrasher torpedo

Icaran Void Missile: Turns a system into a blackhole (oooh pretty)

Swarmer "nullifier": Makes a lovely nebulae from the star's debris.

Goal 2: A complete list of sciences and tech trees for each race therebye removing ALL vanilla science fields and tech creating a totally new experience for a player everytime they select a new race.

Goal 3: MASSIVE galaxies that make the SE default galaxies look small and if Imperator Fyron will give me permission I will incorporate his Quadrant mod's systems and the like into the mod.

Goal 4: To make battles matter more but also be less "crushing" overall.
What I mean by this is I am going to try and make it so that Capital ships (Real cap ships not USC and Yucra capital ships) are more important then they are in Vanilla as many of the true capitals are going to be too expensive to just crank out 300 dreadnoughts ever few turns but in turn the capital ships will also be more powerful then their vanilla counterparts:

Example of the shiplist for Icara:
Escort: 200kt (40% harder to hit)
Frigate: 250kt (30% harder to hit)
Destroyer: 350kt (30% harder to hit+10% accuracy against larger ships (if I can implement it)
Light Cruiser: 450kt (20% harder to hit+ 10% accuracy bonus against larger ships)
Heavy Cruiser (Cruiser): 600kt
Armored Cruiser (BC): 750kt (20% easier to hit do to size)
Battleship: 900kt (25% easier to hit+ 4 engine limit)
Dreadnought:1100kt (30% easier to hit+ 4 engine limit)
Flagship: 3000kt (40% easier to hit+ 3 engine limit)

While to contrast you have the Terrenesi:
Frigate (escort): 230kt (30% harder to hit)
Destroyer (frigate): 280kt (25% harder to hit)
Heavy Destroyer (LC): 400kt (10% harder to hit)
Light Cruiser (cruiser): 520kt (10% easier to hit)
Combat Cruiser (BC): 900 kt (20% easier to hit)
Ship of the Line (BB): 1400kt (35% easier to hit+ 4 engine restriction)
Dreadnought (DD): 3000kt (40% easier to hit+ 4 engine limit)
Super Dreadnought (BS): 8000kt (YEAH EIGHT THOUSAND) (60% easier to hit+ 2 engine limit + 10% fighter bay requirement)

As you can see these two races will have different play styles by ship size alone and not just their radiaclly different tech trees. For example a Terrenesi player would feel a greater sting at losing one of his dreadnoughts then an Icaran player not only because of the size but because of the tech involved (Terrenesi are more expensive but are worth the price as they easil outclass one or even two Icaran ships of the same size). However the Terrenesi player due to certain techs in their tree would still want smaller ships around to act as screens for their precious capital ships while the Icarans would want smaller ships in their fleet to act as fast attackers or torpedo boats while the cap ships stay at a distance using their long range.

NOW what i mean by making battles more important yet less crushing is that you are likely to have smaller fleets depending on your race (as shown above) So losing a battlegroup will probobly cost you your space superiority in a particular sector or system BUT unlike in the vanilla Version where if that happened all was lost in this mod Defense platforms and stations are going to have certain bonuses that make busting them harder and more fun (there will also likely be fewer defense stations due to their bonuses (again depending on race)). So losing space superiority can obviously lead to you losing a system BUT you will also have more reliable defenses in your core systems then you had in the vanilla Version (I say core systems because the serious defenses are going to cost a lot of resources compared to your ships (no matter what race).

Goal 5: REDUCE the number of weapons platforms on a planet!

Okay no we've all gone into battle against a world with 200 dreadnoughts and lost all of them against a cheezed up world with 40+ Weapons platforms with uber range and uber power weapons. SO in this mod you'll still have those heavy hitting long range guns on a weapons platform but it's going to cost you A LOT of resources to fund these platforms so no more cheezified 40+ defense platforms on every friggin world.

In the mod if all goes well you'll rely more on the less cheezified Station mounted defenses around your worlds and or warp points though some races will have large heavily fortified "space fortresses" to defend their worlds but these are seriously gonna cost yah and you may want them to double as shipyards trust me lol.

Goal 6: New system names based on fluff from boardwars Kerensky and I have taken part in (this is probobly going to be one of the Last things brought in as it's not all that important)