Its gone from true SE4-ism, through a monster phase (very fun), and is now more of just "stuff SJ likes" tempered by the fact that the poor thing has to be re-written every few patches due to EXE upgrades.
"Stuff SJ likes" currently includes:
- "unrepairable" armor: Unless its organic, you'll have to take it to a spacedock for repairs. For special armors, like crystalline, or other hard-to-find specialty stuff, paying for repairs may be a good idea. For most, though, you're better off just throwing out the old and buying fresh armor
. You can get some armor repair ability, but it is quite small (1 hp per 20 seconds type stuff)
- Tough armor: think P&N's PPA, except more so. You initially get 5hp/kt from shields, and 20 from armor. Also conveniently comes in large segments, since repairs are "by the hitpoint" instead of SE4's "by the component"
- Meson bLasters: I may have gone overboard, but its quite a popular weapon, firing ~3 damage (7 heavy mounted) bolts 5 times per second. Somewhat avoidable with skilled manouevering, but when you've got 5 fighters chugging away at you from all sides, the situation is quite chaotic and the outlook is grim
- Power Systems: Reactors are small, but rarely generate enough power. Most ships need supply storage bays (P&N style; powerful and not too heavy) in order to fight effectively for more than two volleys. On dedicated warships, more space can be dedicated to reactors in order to keep your guns continuously running hot.
- C&C: a different take on Bridge/Lifesupport/CrewQuarters than stock. Small repair ability added for each crew space on the ship, etc.
- Weapon slots: still playing around with this. Currently MK I ships carry only light weapons, while MK II and MK III have heavier mounts, more shield slots & such.
Weapon animations match SE4 quite closely, and I've done lots of little things in the files as I saw fit
I'm not totally sure about how to fit in serious QNP yet; the engine system works quite nicely already, and the "bigger ships need more engines" stuff is stock.
Making ships have nearly unlimited speed, and having the engines give acceleration bonuses only would be cool, though.
Mission times and seeker speeds would all have to be rebalanced among other things I'm sure.