I think skill and tech trees are slightly different in effect, mechanics-wise in strategy-games tech is the second factor next to economy and that's it. In RPG-like mechanics, like starsector, opportunity, economics, fighting skill-and style and other things contribute, making skills a much smaller factor. I don't think the skill tree lacks in complexity, as it already modifies almost everything in the game that can be scaled, the thing is, with hard caps, the game is limited. Economic growth is limited by the fact that at some point it makes no sense to grow as Your enemies don't "grow" beyond a certain point and a bigger fleet is impossible to support without a proper use for your fifth paragon. But skill growth still gives a feeling of progression. It's a singleplayer sandbox game. Why limit it? Balancing for the sake of a challenging and interesting progression is important, but eventually You will come out on top. Once there is economy and playerfaction war/development going on, the game can go to a next level at that point, not taking on "that hegemony fleet" but "the hegemony", but that is not here, and neither is a new skill system. Till then I'd like to create an option, for myself and possibly others, to go above and beyond. Imbalanced powergaming is not boring if You earned it somehow. Increasing the XP needed per level would make a single playthrough (if You can fit it between version updates...) quite epic... if You were not stuck on lvl10 in every skill.
Also, the balance is somewhat tilted here. You grow in skill, but so do enemy officers. Having a ship twice as powerful with a maxlvl officer or player does not do You much good if the enemy has the same advantage in quality - also, it can always be balanced out by quantity. Just go get another ship then. It's a matter of playstyle and feeling - a maxcap just tells me at the start of the playthrough - this will hit a dead end, everything You collect will be worthless - and it makes me sad. Especially in a sandbox open world, as mentioned. There is no need to make skills more powerful, just let them grow without limit to stop this nagging feeling of futility. As power per XP does not change, the progression through most of the game would remain unchanged, and with aptitudes as limiters, min-maxing could not go overboard either. The eventual effect would be some lategame advantage easily balanced out by economic means (the bonus through skills is static, so +2% when You already have +20% is not going to impact that hard... especially as this one skillpoint is much harder to earn than the first few...) but it would feel better to know that You stop when You feel finished with this incarnation of the corvus sector, not when the game mechanics say "no more growth now, stop".
Also... I already did my file-digging and did not find anything. That's the issue, I'd like some pointers where to look, or if looking makes sense at all.
