Erik
The tech trees will be very useful.
A couple of points from my test games.
Detection seems too easy. Everyone seems to detect everyone else all the time and having better sensors makes no different apart from the longer range. The requirement is to get the die roll between 0 and 100 if possible which means either decreasing the signature or increasing the resolution. A quick look at the figures from the test games would suggest that decreasing the hull signature from Tonnage/20 to Tonnage/40 would achieve this but I suspect this would need more evaluation with different ships and detection systems. Another possibility would be to introduce range into the equation e.g. the further away you are, you get a negative modifier to the dr.
My second point is based on the ships I've so far developed and what I see as a major problem. At the moment, the only limitation on thrust is energy available. In all the ships I've built, I've had to cram in masses of power plants in order to get the tonnage up to the required amount such that I've had 3 - 5 times the power I need to run the ship. I hate to think what a 5000 ton capital ship would look like. This means I don't have a need to trade off systems to match the power available. Adding hangers and fighters would add to the tonnage but not the hard points. In the last game, one pirate ship lost a third of its power systems but it still had enough to run all the systems on the ship.
I also find the engine construction counter intuitive. At the moment I can add an engine to a 500 ton ship and generate 3 thrust for example. I can then put the same engine (tonnage and cost) onto a 20,000 ton ship and generate 10 thrust if I have enough power.
If my thoughts are wrong on this then please ignore the rest but I would like to see a 5000 ton ship which was not overpowered by a massive amount.
My suggestion to solve this is to change the engines so that the current cost and tonnage are increased a multiple based on the tonnage/500 rounded up.
I'll give a few examples.
Basic Nuclear Torch Engine. Tons=350 Cost=600 Power/thrust/1000tons=60
Improved Plasma Torch Engine. Tons=300 Cost=3100 Power/thrust/1000tons=24
Primtive Fission PP. Tons=20 Cost=250 Power=20
Improved Antimatter PP. Tons=14 Cost=1200 Power=120
A 1500 ton ship with BNT engine would require 1050 tons for the engine. A thrust of 1 would require 120 power using Primitive Fission or 120 tons of power plant. This leaves 330 tons for other systems which looks about right. A thrust of 2 would require 240 tons of power plant which wouldn't allow for weapons etc although it might make a good scout.
However, at 2000 tons, the engines would require 1400 tons and the power requirement for thrust 2 would still need 240 tons. This leaves 360 tons for other system which should be sufficient with some trade offs.
For a 1500 ton ship with IPT engines, the engines would add 900 tons and a thrust of 5 would need 240 power or 28 tons of Improved Antimatter power plant. This leaves much more room for advanced systems and weapons.
Again, this requires a lot more testing but I think it adds more consistency to engine design and helps to overcome the massed power plant problem.
Feel free to ignore both points but, if you think my analysis is wrong, I would appreciate it if you could post some ship designs using the latest rules which overcome the problem.
Regards
Alan