Suggestion: Availiable Tech

[Schatten]

Right now you can research every weapon you like as every race (aside the few race specific weapons). This is basically pretty boring since you go always for the best one combo.
I would suggest to give any race specific weapons they can only use, like for Humans lets say Railguns+Missles, Boskara Torps and Beams etc cc.

You can research only those and the only way to use other weapons is from derelic ships or ships you have boarded and taken over...and only at those ships. This would make the ships of every race more different as now where its basically only look.

To smilar extent you can also use this for Engines, Hyperspeed, Reactors and Shields.

Also it would be nice if you could ban some weapons from autoupdater. as it its now, as soon you update your design he tends to also replace your weapons with stuff you dont want but that is on top of the weapon list even if it destroys your design. You need than to replace them from hand again and again.

PS: also dont forget alredy this Uprising Bug if you play a Race of Slavers like Boskara. Right now the only way to play Boskara or any other rather bad guys is no different as Humans, means full right for all Aliens or they start neverendings uprising all few days.
At last make a hard lock for next Uprising like 10 years after the last one was defeated or so.

As the Game is now its basically extremly boring after 1 run since its simply repeat with different graphics, all other stays same and its impossible to play different as the good guy no matter what race you pick.
Also lets me guess, you done all the testing of the Game mechanics with 1 Planet and 1 Fleet of few ships? Since it works all as long you start but as soon you get like 30+ Planets and Fleets its all one neverending click spam.
Did you even look into Distant Worlds Universe since this UI is so much more bad as soon it comes to handling multiple Planets and Ships?
What is with all the Classes of Frigates, Destroyers and Cruisers? great if you have 5 Ships and can manage/update them per Ship but all the classes go immidiatly total usless as soon you get Fleets of 20 Ships and 20+ of them...than its only 1 Design per Class or you can forget any handling of it except you like to click 100 Ships, Ship per Ship to change them manually.

Next Point are designs from conquered Empires.....You get like 300 to 600 hundred different ship and station designs in your List (yes many hundred of them) and can delete them all single one per one....total fun.
Seriously make the AI immidiatly delete all older designs so it has only one of them. It uses anyway only one design per Station or Ship so why there are 300+ older that you get into your List as soon all those ships and stations join your empire?

[maggiecow]

There are race-specific techs, and the basic ships have a unique design philosophy eg compare the balanced human vs the stick-a-bunch-of-weapons-on-the-front Mortalen ships.

I wouldn't mind a Stellaris style system where you have to make decisions about what technology you research.

You're correct in that one game is much like another. One of the best things they did was make ship designs more rigid, encouraging puzzle-solving ship designs to make the most of the available ship structures. Making research similarly rigid would make the game more interesting. Make it a tickbox for the people who want access to everything. It would also make it more interesting to keep captured ships.

Pretty much impossible to roleplay Boskara. When facing them as an AI there's a real irony in having to glass a Boskara planet inhabited by 15 million Securans delighted with their bug overlords just to make it invadable. The Securans are so happy under Boskaran rule there's no chance of inciting a rebellion. I expect the Boskara are using all the civics-increasing research they can, which doesn't make sense.