Proportions....

[PvK]

PTF, LOL, thanks for testing that.

leo1434, thanks! If you like (you or anyone), email me your suggested components or other changes, and I will consider adding something like them.

For fighters, I think I will add some more "stuff" (missiles, PD, etc) eventually when time allows, however the main change I would make for the next major Version would be for them to start out like crummy SE3 fighters - slow, weak, easy to kill, and unable to move out of the sector they are launched in. The other abilities would still be available, but would require specific research to get fast, hard-to-hit, powerful, able-to-zoom-around-a-system-for-months Versions. The engines would be the source of most of the combat bonuses, and would probably come in different sizes as well, so fast fighters would be the hard ones to hit. They would all take even less damage to kill than currently, and anti-fighter weapons would do less damage, while fighter-against-ship weapons would mostly be too inaccurate to hit other fighters. (i.e., like it is now, but more extreme, and requiring much more specific research).

dogscoff, your suggestions are mostly in line with my Foundations mod design, and some can appear in 3.0, though not in 2.5.x because folks like Fryon don't want the tech tree to change.

This weekend I more or less finished 2.5.3, although I am tempted to add an anonymous ship tech area (builds ships using the generic shipset, so enemies can't easily tell the origin of gifted ships) and maybe some fun eccentric nonsense like World Ships (oh, and maybe some other evil cloaking components) before release, and I haven't really tested it much. Also I haven't done 2.5.2, which will be 2.5.3 minus the fixes to remote mining, so existing games using lots of remote mining won't be unbalanced.

So, 2.5.3 is a stab at a Last Version to be compatible with existing games, and then 3.0 would (when I get time) come stomp on the nonsense that is creeping in from trying to keep things compatible, and do some larger revisions and changes.

Here's the preview feature list:

Version 2.5.3:

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Remote Mining Adjustments:
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* Added restriction on remote miner components per unit to two, halved
structure, and doubled size of ship/base Versions. This prevents
massively productive mining bases, which were possible before but
were unintentionally overproductive. It also presents interesting
choices between ship, base and satellite miner designs. Pre-existing
bases in upgraded games will retain their former abilities (except
structure).

Version 2.5.2:

-------------------------------------------------------------
Changes for smoother upgrades for existing games using 2.4.2:
-------------------------------------------------------------
* The Fighter Carriers tech added in 2.5 now costs more, is expanded in
both directions to five levels (using the Tiny and Massive carrier images
from the SE4 Image Neo-Standard) and provides improved classes compared
to the standard carriers. Existing carriers have their costs and to-hit
penalties somewhat increased. The five new carrier classes are Escort
Carrier, Advanced Light Carrier, Advanced Carrier, Advanced Heavy Carrier,
and Super-Heavy Carrier.
* Pre-existing special armors downgraded to compensate for their
ability compared to the new armors that require specialized research, and
to compensate for changes to Emissive Armor from Gold patch Version 1.78.
Unlike 2.5 & 2.5.1, they can now continue to be deployed, and may be good
choices for large ships (since they don't use Scale mounts and so will be
smaller on large ships).
---------
Gameplay:
---------
* Added six levels to the new Stealth Armor tech area, allowing eventual
(expensive) blocking of all Active and Passive EM scans.
------
Fixes:
------
* Fixed crippling Sergetti design bug - thanks to Oleg again!
---------
Cosmetic:
---------
* Changed the Large Starliner to use the "Barge" image from the SE4 Image
Neo-Standard, if it is provided.
* Fixed minor typo in to-hit description of some ships (said "base").

PvK