One of the many things I likes about MOO2 was that you could not research all techs by yourself (unless playing Psilons (special faction, similar to Sophons in ES) or custom faction with "creative" trait).



I'd like ES's tech tree modified for the factions so not every faction can research every tech, also affecting the base techs. This would give more emphasis on the factions background and gameplay. For example, United Empire would be the only faction to research all improvements giving dust while only Sophons can research all tech improvements and only Cravers can research all weapon improvements. The dust improvements for Sophons would be randomized every game, so in game A they can research Tech 1, 4, 5 and 7 while in game B they can research tech 2, 3, 5 and 6.



This would increase the use of diplomacy and encourage players to trade tech, even with AI players.



It would be really great if techs could be found on invading a system (another cool MOO2 feature ). And if espionage is implemented, techs have to be able to get stolen of course

Improving the (already present) racial techs has been proposed here: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/11946-suggestion-improving-replayability-with-better-racial-techs

Randomizing/overhauling the tech tree design has been proposed here: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/12696-tech-tree-randomized-design

This thread has been linked to both former threads and is moved to the archives.