And my oh my, what a bump it is. I actually support this idea. (Ace supporting something!? What a special occasion!) I have always felt that ion/laser tech needs more usefulness. As of right now, they become obsolete after levels 5 and 10, respectfully.

I also liked the idea that Shandris gave all that time ago. The one where each level of laser tech would add like 1% damage towards armour and ions would give 1% bonus damage to shields, or something of the sort.

Level 12.
But anyways, I believe that this bump was justified.

What was the final thoughts on this zorg?

The idea is nice (as well as the laser and ion usefulness past their given levels)
I don't feel that changing an existing server will impact new players much anymore due to the general peace that seems to be growing. That and any new player who knows how to raid can grow sufficiently in a couple of months.

Yea the idea is to fix dead end techs even if only by a little

Doomrager wrote:What was the final thoughts on this zorg?

It still seems like an idea. It still needs to be defined as a game feature, then we can move forward.
Could you make a list of all suggested actions that this idea would need to become a game feature?

( Reposting while adding further thoughts and additions in an attempt to shine some light on how this would work.)
Battleship: Ion tech to level 15 multiple ion shield generators are implemented 20% shield boost. Laser tech to 20 Laser cannons are retrofitted causing a 10% weapon increase.
Battle cruiser: After plasma tech level 12 the battle cruiser is retrofitted with plasma cannons and plasma shield generators, causing a 20% bonus to shields and damage. (It is not affected by the 5% gain of plasma every level)
Destroyer: After plasma tech level 15 Retrofitted with plasma shock wave cannons, allowing 5% bonus to damage. After zorg physics reach's level 5, a better understanding of the destroyer's engines allows them to go 10% faster.

Before After
Battleship: Weapons 1,000. Shields 200 Battleship: Weapons 1,100. Shields 240
Battle cruiser: Weapons 700. Shields 400 Battle cruiser: Weapons 840. Shields 480
Destroyer: Weapons 2,000. Shields 500 Speed 5.000 Destroyer: Weapons 2,100. Shields 500 Speed 5,500
All upgrades occur after WSA, and are not scaled, meaning that if your weapons are being boosted by 140% on the battle cruiser, the boost will still only be 140 on the weapons, not changing to WSA.
Part Two.
Upon reaching level 12 impulse, a better understanding of how space travel works on smaller craft is founded. Impulse jump drives are fit as replacements on light fighters increasing it's speed from 12.500 to 15.000 and causing it to adjust to impulse engine.

Upon reaching zorg physics 5, and plasma 10, a new development is reached, allowing for the fire power of plasma being compacted into smaller cannons to be attached onto the light fighter. This allows for it to deal more damage, but due to it being compressed in size, it does not benefit from the 5% boost per plasma level. Attack points before: 50 upgraded to 75-90(Still needing tweaks and further consideration)

(This one is just for laughs but perhaps it will take off.) Upon reaching hyper space 13, a new method of engine reformation is tested and approved for retrofit. The engine is moved and attached onto the colony ship, allowing it faster movement at the cost of increased deuterium consumption. Base speed upped from 2.500 to 3.250. Fuel consumption is upped from 1.000 to 2.500.

(I know there is going to be at least some feed back negatively towards these idea's, and will need a lot of input on this, as I am not sure how smart it would be as it would completely kill combustion engine if all other advancements where implemented.)
Reaching level 15 impulse engines become exceedingly advances, making other engines meek in comparison. After careful consideration, trial and error, the impulse engine is re-sized and refueled to work on the recycler. It is considered an option upgrade for those willing, but once picked it may not be revereted. The recycler gains considerable speed, but also gains considerable deuterium consumption. Base speed upped from 2.000 to 3.000. Fuel consumption upped from 300 to 480. (This idea is to think that the bigger players can get it faster but at a much more expensive cost.

Actions necessary would be tying a new system into the weapons development similar to how the engines currently work now for the small cargo, when improved into impulse already. Same for the engines, if possible extend and edit for the new values, tweaked before implemented and such. This is giving that I am not adding any sort of new research, building, or ship required to add these upgrades. I thought I'd keep it simple so the developers don't cringe

Thoughts, comments, feedback extremely appreciated. Will do further tweaks and math as I rethink fairness with cost.

Firstly, combustion still drives probes, raiders will still want their probes to go faster (untill the point where all fleet slots cannot be filled with probes) and then there is always cross galaxy travel, though this would not be a priority. (perhaps reduce the rate of combustion cost increase if the uses are reduced?)

For the recyclers, rather than having a one way switch, perhaps simply a new ship type? (havn't seen one of them for a while, is there any particular reason for having minimal ship types?)

I like the idea on colony ships, given that most players will have most planets set up by hyperspace 13.

and just a couple of crazy ideas, is shield piercing practical to implement as a percentage bonus for ion tech? or perhaps a throwback to the old combat system as shield regen per round again as a percentage bonus on ion tech? (just thinking out loud, i suspect shield piercing is not practical but it would certainly be an interesting change..)

overall I would like the new milestones though, rather than just saving up the insane metal for the next armour tech etc..

Another bump.

So since this page has been dead for a long time after a few red posts figured I'd see if anyone else could try and spark the ideas of dead techs back to life.