I don't expect this to be implemented until after "survival" mode has come out if at all, but as we all know there are 2 kinds of power blocks, tanks and generators. What I am suggesting is as players advance through survival mode and get more materials I think new and more efficient power generation should be opened up to them. What I am thinking is maybe 3 new tiers of power to be added in (feel free to criticise or add more and of course these would be opened up straight away for people on sandbox mode) :
Tier 1 (after standard generators): just more energy producing capacity.
Tier 2: A tank and the tier 1 power generator combined (obviously this would be fairly o.p. but it would be fairly hard (but not impossible) to get enough resources to make large ships with them, and they would have a 5% increase in energy generation over the tier 1's.
Tier 3: A mass dependant tank generator hybrid that would be extremely hard to get and you would probably have to trawl through several sectors (taking into account that they are probably going to add some form of warp drive later on in the game if not you could probably find the resources on some planets or something) but these generators would get bonus energy regen on lower mass ships and higher energy storage on high mass ships. This would make players consider consider the fact that smaller ships would be able to maintain higher speeds and fire weapons and regen shields whereas larger flag/capitol ships would probably have to back out of combat to recharge shields and regain enough power to keep firing weapons.
On the point of shops the ingredients in tier 3's would be available in tiny quantities (1 or 2 each shop) and would be extremely expensive (Tier 3 generators would not be available and Tier 2's would be about as expensive as the ingredients for tier 3's. Tier 1's qould be available for double the current price of the standard SD power generator thing and in small quantities i.e. 5-10 per shop). Obviously to negate the effects of the tier 3 you could have a combination of Tier 3's and 2's. As I have said feel free to criticise or add your own. Thanks & hope you enjoyed the reading!
Tier 1 (after standard generators): just more energy producing capacity.
Tier 2: A tank and the tier 1 power generator combined (obviously this would be fairly o.p. but it would be fairly hard (but not impossible) to get enough resources to make large ships with them, and they would have a 5% increase in energy generation over the tier 1's.
Tier 3: A mass dependant tank generator hybrid that would be extremely hard to get and you would probably have to trawl through several sectors (taking into account that they are probably going to add some form of warp drive later on in the game if not you could probably find the resources on some planets or something) but these generators would get bonus energy regen on lower mass ships and higher energy storage on high mass ships. This would make players consider consider the fact that smaller ships would be able to maintain higher speeds and fire weapons and regen shields whereas larger flag/capitol ships would probably have to back out of combat to recharge shields and regain enough power to keep firing weapons.
On the point of shops the ingredients in tier 3's would be available in tiny quantities (1 or 2 each shop) and would be extremely expensive (Tier 3 generators would not be available and Tier 2's would be about as expensive as the ingredients for tier 3's. Tier 1's qould be available for double the current price of the standard SD power generator thing and in small quantities i.e. 5-10 per shop). Obviously to negate the effects of the tier 3 you could have a combination of Tier 3's and 2's. As I have said feel free to criticise or add your own. Thanks & hope you enjoyed the reading!