(11-27-2019, 12:23 AM)Ikkir Isth Wrote: Gunpowder / explosive / kinetic weaponry can reasonably be their own things endgame though: they do different damage types, have a much different creation method, etc.
What reason does a person have to patent anything higher than a Q1 'P' drive? Does it improve the game? Is it fun? Does it effect ship design any way?
Exactly. Gunpowder weapons have a purpose whenever your empire doesn't have access to the advanced materials required for laser weaponry. And there are many cases where you might lose access to the advanced materials and have to go back to gunpowder.
By the way a more modern alternative gunpowder recipe would still be nice.
The wormhole P FTL drive however has the exact same material requirements as the wormhole PN FTL drive. This means that there is exactly zero reason to ever use the P drive once you have the PN drive researched. Experienced players will only ever use the P drive by accident, and new players will only consider it a trap that they had to learn the hard way.
(11-27-2019, 12:23 AM)Ikkir Isth Wrote: Or, bigger idea: just have a P+ Drive, a N- drive, and a N0 drive, and slot them all into the ship independantly, then you simply start research with P+, N-, and N0, and add the modules in, and then you can balance them seperately, and let players choose what they need to add
That indeed seems like a better solution. Expect that it requires an engineering station for each.
Also I like the P+, N- and N0 notation.