With a not-insignificant portion of the community dissatisfied with the new skill tree, I thought a fresh set of ideas might be worth considering. I apologize if any of your favorite skills aren't included in this rework, there were only so many places I had to cram in skills. I also don't claim this to be expertly balanced, rather as a showcase of what a new skill layout might be.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17RwOe5-Fq4KyAUpNMFn-Gr01uLkHhvxuX-CklMOQ4V0/edit?usp=sharingThe skill trees have been redesigned to be more combat-oriented, along with organizing them around fleet compositions instead of generic ideas like "Combat", "Leadership", or "Technology". Five trees are present - 4 combat-oriented paths along with 1 fleet-oriented path. With the addition of a fifth skill path, at least 5 additional skill points are needed to get a basic sense of the tree. Each path continues to be laid out in the new skill tree method - 5 tiers, 2 skills each, with wraparound feature. However, the way the paths are laid out has been changed - each path has a general fleet theme to it, but their layout is more predictable. Tiers 1, 2, and 4 have personal combat skills to the left, and fleet combat skills to the right. Tier 3 has Nav skill on the left, and ECM on the right. Tier 5 has Raiding skills on left, and Colony skills on the right. The Tier 4 fleet combat skill is also the capstone skill of the tree, which provides a large bonus for playing to the strengths of the tree.
ECM has also been reworked slightly - it does away with the friendly ECM rating vs. enemy ECM rating, ECM is now an activated effect based on what skill you're running, where both you and the enemy can suffer from ECM disadvantages at the same time. Each path also includes it's own unique Nav and ECM-boosting skills on the third pick, so no matter which way you go, you will always be able to get at least one form of each.
Grand Battlefleet focuses on engaging and destroying the enemy fleet in a single, extended engagement. Receive bonuses to survivability, peak operating time, and combat readiness, while sticking together with Defend and Escort orders provides more bonuses. Use the capstone skill
Decisive Battle to end the enemy fleet rightly once their peak operating time runs out.
Cruiser School focuses on the battle of maneuver and creating opportunities to exploit through the judicious use of overwhelming firepower. Receive bonuses to raw damage, speed and maneuverability while your ships follow orders. Use the capstone skill
Task Force to overwhelm an enemy with combined arms of different ship sizes.
Interdiction focuses on rapid strikes against isolated enemy targets. Receive bonuses to damage, speed, and phase vessels while your smaller ships dogpile larger ones. Use the capstone skill
Commander Profiles to take advantage of the Clean Disengage feature to pummel your enemy to pieces through deadly short engagements.
Carrier Primacy focuses on use of massed fighters to solve battlefield problems. Fighters receive a number of bonuses to their survivability, damage, and speed while engaging the enemy. Use the capstone skill
Carrier Group to give a wide buff to all fighters depending on what's currently deployed.
Fleet Management, the fleet-oriented path, condenses many of the previously important skills that weren't directly combat-oriented. Many have been combined with others, or had new effects applied. Includes bonuses to salvaging, campaign movement, combat readiness, officers and administrators, and ship loadouts.
Each path also includes one Raid-buffing skill and one Colony-buffing skill, depending on theme. Grand Battlefleet and Cruiser School focus on larger fleets and the use of Heavy Armaments in Raids, Interdiction removes the Free Port stability penalty and gives bonuses for the first time you Raid a location, and Carrier Primacy boosts accessibility through military assets and increases Raid power through fighter wings. Administrators can get any of the four Colony skills from any tree, though only the player can get the Elite bonus, which applies to all Colonies.
That covers the general aspects of this proposed skill tree rework. Hopefully the goal is clear, and hopefully that goal looks better than both the current and preceding skill trees.