Retrofitting

[General Hawkwing]

My main complaint about retrofitting a ship deal with ships acquired from other empires. I understand the "realism" part about not being able to upgrade an "alien" ship but it would be cool to upgrade the generic components (engines,shields,etc.) on a ship and leave the specialized tech alone. Ex: the LC with shard cannons 3 and ion engines 1.
Also, when you upgrade an "alien" ship with generic components why does the picture of the ship have to change? I know its only appearance but it is neat to have the different designs in your fleets.

[Lerchey]

Interesting thought, but consider the engineering involved. An alien ship would have components of different shapes, sizes and configurations, despite the fact that all "ion engines" are massed at 10kt.

Consider trying to fit the engines from an Independence Day (the movie) fighter into an F-14. Yeah, the weight might not be a problem, but EVERYTHING else would be.

I think it's fine the way it is. Though I agree that if you do do an upgrade, the basic hull should remain unchanged, so you should keep the cool alien pic.

John

[Seawolf]

But then how would you maintain it? WOuld be cool but not very probable

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Seawolf on the prowl

[General Hawkwing]

I know its not realistic but would be cool. Then again consider the following:
(sorry about length)

When I manage to force another empire to surrender to me I gain what?
a) population that may breath different than me
b) planets and facilities that fit within my specs so well that I gain full capacity of them right away
c) common technology advances if higher than mine (or planet colony tech if different)
d) any and all ships/stations in whatever state they are in, with their orders wiped out
e) if they had racial trait for space saving then any planet with extra facility keeps extra facility

but I don't gain
a) any facility that is currently under construction -all work is lost
b) any ship/station currently under construction
c) the ability to research special technology "unique" to the race
d) the ability to build ships/stations containing special comps. unique to the race
e) new planets don't appear to be able to be able to have extra facility for space saver traits (not sure if this always happens)

Now I can understand c) above being closed. Would you feel comforatable letting a group you took over researching technology you don't understand? Does rebellion come to mind? Also e) closure can be explained with your structure of facility placement not allowing them to use "unsafe" construction. One could stretch a) and b) into destruction my rebels during the transition period. But why doesn't that affect currently built facilities.
But what about d)? Does that knowledge just vanish? Are blueprints lost? Parts of shipyards detroyed and rebuilt to fit your empire? Do the builders/scientists refuse to produce them (considering the population is happy with you)?

Any thoughts/answers??

P.S. Not a major concern, I believe this is one of the best games to date, just wondering....

[Seawolf]

General,

I think the reason is that since you can push the AI to surrender to you if you were to get everything on your list then a Player race can get very powerful very fast. In the later verision of the gmae they adrees this problem but it still an issue

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Seawolf on the prowl

[General Hawkwing]

Seawolf,

Maybe surrendering should not only be less frequent/easy but also more damaging. Like no/limited production for x turns, lose of facilities to "true patriots", rebellion, etc... If one looks at the nations Hitler defeated one learns of a number of different ways resistance was carried on. It would greatly improve balance.
I also believe that surrendering should not happen until an empire is down to at least 1/2 of original population. Bloody? yes but also more realistic.
Also, the AI should never, ever, never tribute or gift a home world.