I felt like I don't want to talk about stuff before playing it myself, so I took my time to play with each of the new skills. Unfortunately what the other commenters are saying is true, the skill system is really not good. I'd actually say it's worse than the one we had. As others have said, it has problems. Must-have skills, useless skills, respec-restricting skills high up, boring skills, skills that you want both of for your playstyle, skills that you want neither of. It's all over the place. Some harsh criticism:
First of all, tech tree. The worst offender. Special Modifications is broken, it's the strongest skill in the game by far. It's basically the Loadout Design of 0.9.5, except even better. If you want to have a good fleet, you will take this
Every. Game.And if that wasn't enough, it also competes with Automated Ships, one of the more interesting and fun skills, and can't be respecced. Flux Regulation is also broken, in a similar manner to Special Modifications. It's power level, too, is close to old Loadout Design. And again, it competes with Phase Corps, another fun/interesting skill. Then there is Electronic Warfare, which I consider another must-have. Although it's competitor isn't as interesting as the above two, it's still not even a choice, whether you're running carriers or not. And then, in a tree which is all about buffing one's fleet in combat, the first choice is between campaign bonuses, the second between flagship bonuses. This is not how a class system works.
To sum up tech tree:
Choice 1: Campaign bonuses in a tree of fleet buffs. Usually want both for quality of life no matter the fleet, but the explorer/salvager/trader playstyles heavily benefit from both QoL or not, while mainly combat fleets don't need them.
Choice 2: Flagship bonuses in a tree of fleet buffs. They straight up don't belong here, although both are decently strong. If one doesn't like piloting their own ship, or if their playstyle doesn't require the flagship to be strong, both of these are wasted skill points that need to be taken to access choices 3,4 and 5.
"Choice"3: For now Electronic Warfare is practically mandatory. Doesn't help the fighter bay limit in Fighter Uplink is ridiculously low at 6 bays/fleet.
"Choice"4: Flux regulation is way too good to pass on. Phase corps sounds (and is) fun, but can not compete against a flat power increase similar in strength to good old+10% ordnance points. Also phase corps DP limit is too low. This choice is between Good and Fun.
"Choice"5: Loadout Design 2.0 is mandatory. Doesn't help that Automated Ships DP limit is ridiculously low. Another Good vs Fun choice, even worse than last one.
Second worst, Leadership tree. Weapon drills is the most unimaginative and boring skill in the entire new skill system. Wow, a damage boost for everyone! ...That's it. Auxiliary support is actually really interesting, but gets held back by its incredibly low DP threshold, similar to skills in the tech tree. I get that it would be unhealthy to have a Venture float around with 3000 armor, but on the other hand, in order to justify having militarized combat ships in one's fleet they need to be at least somewhat competitive, which is why I propose the bulk of power from militarized subsystems and Auxiliary Support be moved to Assault and Escort packages. They would scale in strength with ship size, similar to how ECM and Nav Relay do, but inversely. This would be easier to balance, and it would be easier to justify a higher DP threshold. Now, don't get me wrong, Wolfpack Tactics is an incredibly good skill and a fun one too, since it fundamentally changes how one approaches fleetbuilding. However, the issue is that it competes with Coordinated Maneuvers and is the second to bottom choice. Either you put officers into frigates, or you put officers into frigates or destroyers. Crew training is the heavy hitter of the leadership tree. Another pretty much mandatory skill due to its power level. While its competitor is strong, it's held back by low fighter bay threshold. Officer skills are the best designed ones in the tree IMO, but they, too, compete with each other. For some reason two colony skills are at the top.
To sum up leadership tree:
Choice 1: Two weak and boring fleetbuffs. Usually pick Weapon Drills and forget about it. Feels like a waste of skill point due to low power of both choices.
Choice 2: Either you put officers in frigates, or you put officers in frigates and/or destroyers. If one doesn't want to put officers in these types of ships, this is a waste of skill point that needs to be taken to access choices 3,4 and 5. If wolfpack tactics is a playstyle one enjoys (it is really fun) they want both.
"Choice"3: Crew Training is much stronger than Carrier group, partly due to low fighter bay threshold of Carrier Group.
Choice 4: Actually a hard choice that depends on ones playstyle. Not quite powerful enough to be considered mandatory in my eyes, which is good since both are permanent. Kinda sad though that again choices with synergy are placed against each other, class system doesn't work like this.
Choice 5: Colony bonuses and a raiding bonus in a tree of fleet bonuses. They just straight up don't belong here. If one's playstyle isn't having themselves as colony governors or raiding planets, this choice is a waste of skill point that needs to be taken if one wants to access, say, both Wolfpack Tactics and Coordinated Maneuvers.
Now, the Industry tree. Used to be my favourite in 0.9.1, now its probably my least favourite, although it has its moments. Good earlygame, swap out late game. Bulk Transport is a really good quality of life skill, and a good example of how diminishing results thresholds should be in other skills. its a great bonus for just 1 point in the industry tree, a real gem since it allows one's cargo ships to have similar burn level without militarized subsystems(which in turn would count for DP thresholds of skills with combat ships). Salvaging doesn't hold a candle to it IMO, but they do have some synergy together. Since none of the industry tree skills are permanent, one could put lots of skill points into industry and respec away later, making a lot of money during it. Damage Control and Reliability Engineering are flagship buffs in a tree focused on economy. They don't belong here. Containment Procedures and Makeshift Equipment could both be a bit more interesting, they suffer from the same "boring" problem as leadership trees first skills, although they are more powerful and for that reason don't feel like a waste of a point. Field Repairs vs Derelict Contingent, here it gets interesting. Derelict Contingent is another skill like Wolfpack Tactics that drastically alters the way one approaches fleetbuilding. This skill, however, is really really broken right now and it's been confirmed it will get nerfed, so it will have to be re-evaluated after the nerf. Field Repairs is a good skill for the early game, and probably worth swapping out of once one can afford pristine ships. However, it does its job well during the time it's utilized. At the top sit, again, two skills that would synergise with each other. Why, I don't know, but it's actually really infuriating. What makes it worse is the former two, Derelict Contingent and Field Repairs, have
literal anti-synergy, because Field Repairs will take d-mods out of one's ships and there is no way to stop it.
To sum up Industry tree:
Choice 1: Bulk Transport is underrated IMO. A really good skill. If one wants to wrap around Industry tree in the early game, Salvaging has synergy with it.
Choice 2: Flagship bonuses in a tree focused on economy. They don't belong here, get them out.
Choice 3: Two a bit boring but strong nonetheless skills, neither is noticeably stronger than the other. Both are good early game.
Choice 4: Two really interesting skills that unfortunately have anti-synergy with each other. Field Repairs is good for the early game when you're scavenging for ships, Derelict Contingent will get nerfed but is really strong right now.
Choice 5: Again, two skills with synergy in the same choice. Even worse since Choice 4 don't work well together.
Combat tree is the best designed tree in my opinion, however it would benefit from more choices. I don't like how far missile buffs are in the tree, and I don't like how there is nothing at Choice 4 for players with Shield Shunt. Other than that it's great, the buffs are well balanced and skill placement seems proper. Again, a lot could be fixed with a third choice to each slot.
To sum Combat tree up:
Choice 1: Straightforward; Either one plays a carrier or gets a nice speed and maneuverability buff.
Choice 2: A choice between offense and defense; offense tends to win out though. Point defense is still really good and might be a consideration for some more defensively oriented ships.
Choice 3: Another choice between offense and defense. Defense wins in general, but for a more specialized officer/player, Offense might work. A well balanced choice.
Choice 4: Either one pilots a phase ship or doesn't. Sad for people with Shield Shunt. A third choice would help this one especially.
Choice 5: More missiles or more special abilities. It's a bit odd that missiles are so far up the tree, but Systems Expertise is exactly where it belongs. Missile Specialization elite is a bit weird, Systems Expertise a strong all-arounder. Don't put it on a paragon though.
All in all, it feels like the developer likes to dictate how players play the game. This is not how it should work, and ideally the skill system gets another major rework, since it's really not in a good shape now. One commenter put it well:
The entire system feels to me like there a constant undercurrent of "play the game this way. no, not like that, like this. no, only like this. no you're not doing it right, you're not getting the thing until you do it right."
Especially choices Leadership 2, 5, Tech 2, and Industry 2 and 5 give me this feel. Don't force me to pilot a ship if I don't want to, don't force me to put officers in ships I don't want to. Don't exclude clearly synergistic choices from each other. Another commenter told to take a look at Skyrim, and I concur that. Imagine if in order to play a stealth archer I needed to level and put perk points into, say, healing magic and two handed, because some essential perks were at the top of those skill trees. And that I'd also have to make a choice of whether I want to shoot with a bow or sneak. Can't have both now, or there aren't enough perk points to get two essential things from healing magic and two handed! This is how it feels like in starsector at the moment. Now, I'm not saying it isn't fun playing like the developer wants, it actually is, but that fun doesn't last forever. It's essential a game like this has replayability. A well designed skill system that enables different ways to play the game is a major part of it.
) and don't seem to be able to navigate back. Luddic path fleets still aren't scary enough, since they get big accessibility penalties leading to almost permanent shortages and also haven't got access to even a single heavy industry, so they get a massive penalty to ship quality. (to be honest they really could use one, they are a joke in the base game too) The nanite swarms are fine.