But first, some basic tweakery for ship designing!
Propulsion
There should probably be a couple of distinct methods of propulsion, each with it's own unique behaviour both in battle and in the tactical/strategic system layer.
Certain Artifacts might bestow knowledge of ancient alien propulsion systems that are superior to our own.
Initial propulsion will probably be basic chemical rockets. Further development might involve fusion or ion drives.
Truly advanced or alien technology may revolve around gravitic or teleportation systems.
Armour Types
Something the meta lacked but I kinda want to introduce is specialized armour types. This system could also support stealth armour and allow for special ops behaviour right under people's noses.
The basic armour system in place is 1 mass = 1 hp.
However, as time goes by you may choose to invest in armour research. What this does is it gives you a bigger HP boost per mass point spent, since BSF can handle decimal HP values.
Thus, after some teching up, your armour value might be 1:1.25, rather than 1:1. That means for every 1 mass spent on section health, you get 1.25 health points.
This is pretty insignificant, right? Sure, but ten hp can make all the difference. Suddenly, a ship that had 200 hp on a plate now has 250 hp on that plate. It's easy to bring this forward to new designs, and it means you don't have to mess around with decimal mass values.
Shields
Protection that isn't armour. Amazing!
Ablative:
These classic high-durability shields can soak up a lot of damage, but that's about it. Standard ablative shields can be penetrated by certain weapons like railguns, making them ineffective against certain ships. Ablative shields were one of the first shielding methods to be discovered, and examples of them are - or rather, were - fairly widespread.
Ablative shielding is essentially accomplished by taking a shield sprite and giving it a bigass helping of HP. Easy.
Phased:
Whilst Phased Shields were a relatively new invention prior to the collapse of the Empire, they were nevertheless making a bit of a stir. A phased shield is made up of two ablative shield layers which interact, forming a tertiary energized barrier between the two, so long as the outer layer is standing. As long as the outer layer remains online, the Phased Shield cannot be penetrated by weapons like railguns. The downside is that the overall strength (that is, the health of both layers combined) is less than an equivalent level Ablative Shield, and power consumption is fairly high.
In reality, with a Phased Shield, the outer layer has an Aegis Generator parented to it that targets the inner layer. When the outer layer falls, the aegis on the inner layer falls, making the ship vulnerable to penetrating weapons and such. Otherwise, each layer is essentially a lower-strength ablative shield.
High-Density:
A middling development of the Empire's defensive technology, High-Density shields are almost the opposite of Ablative Shields. Whilst they have very low durability, they can simply shrug off hits that are too weak. High-Density shields have middling power consumption and space requirements, and are good for ships that need some extra defenses, but probably won't be taking the brunt of the enemy's assault. It should be noted that High-Density Shields are not perfect, and sufficient enemy firepower can overwhelm the generators and shut them down. High-Density shields are also highly effective against penetrating weapons like railguns.
High-density shields have an aegis module targeting them, but have fairly low HP. Sufficient firepower will overwhelm and break the shield, of course.
Segmented:
A fairly niche development of Ablative Shields, Segmented Shields nevertheless caught on in certain circles. They are essentially still ablative shields, made up of several segments (usually six, though the most extravagant have consisted of dozens of tiny "plates" using a rotating emitter system to distribute the damage) that mean a ship's defenses are not fully compromised when it's shields collapse - only one specific facing fails. Whilst overall Segmented shields are not quite as tough as Ablative shields, they are more tactically sound and the choice of more experienced admirals.
These are just fancy ablatives for the more tactically/strategically minded.
Electronic Countermeasures
Technically not a shield by standard classifications or understanding, but nevertheless listed here for providing a similar defensive functionality, ECM systems befuddle the enemy's targeting computers, and lead missiles astray. They use up a lot of power and space, but can be well worth the cost - missiles won't have a snowball's chance in hell of hitting. ECMs should not be mistaken for EMP weapons or the PD-distracting flares.
ECM is simulated by using an invisible rotating section at the center of the ship with several smaller sections rotating around the perimeter of the ship. The more effective/expensive/advanced an ECM system is, the faster the central piece rotates, and the more "decoys" it has.
Equipping
I'm thinking the new system should be based off the ship's base threat (times something) which you then have room for stuff like crew quarters, reactors, engines, weapons, command and control, shielding, armour, electronic countermeasures, that kind of thing.
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AAAAAAAAND I've run out of steam for now. Pitch your ideas at me. Technology of all flavours. Weapons. Engines. Life Support. Ship Control. Mining. Anything and everything. Whilst I'd like a meta-style open-ended tech system, I'd also like a bunch of pre-determined projects so people have a path they can follow if they can't exactly innovate.
