After playing with for a couple hundred hours it I've been trying to put my finger on what I like about it and what I don't, so bare with me. Skill System feels like a rough prototype. Skills are a mixed bag. I like the idea of a tiered progression system, where you have choices to make. I love making builds and what not in games more than I like a free form system, but this one doesn't feel good. Yet, at least. There are a number of problems with it's current incarnation:
If Generalist (Left) vs. Specialist (Right) is the goal, then early iterations of these brackets fail at this- and I think that makes people feel bad or just confused:
There are several wonderful tiers that really make you think about what you want to choose: Navigation vs. Sensors or Damage Control vs. Reliability Engineering are good examples of tiers that really make you think about what you want and both pull their weight.
Leadership is probably the key example here. Weapon Drills is weak due to fleet cap, especially compared to Auxiliary support's numbers. But, you don't always want Auxiliary Support depending on how you like to set up your logistical ships, leaving you feeling like Weapon Drills is doing very little for you. Leadership 2 gives you the choice between two specialist skills that deal with frigates, which bucks the trend of the rest of the system and leaves a player with a non-frigate strategy with skill that's not necessary working towards their goals. With precious few skill points, this feels bad. Though, personally, I'm all about Wolf Pack and Auxiliary Support.
Industry 1 kind of feels bad because you have to choose between getting more loot or actually being able to carry it. It's also not clear to me how the Salvage skill interacts with diminishing returns from Salvage Gantrys. Between the caps and diminishing returns it feels like you're just choosing between alleviating part of your fleet composition (less salvage rigs or less logistics ships) The + 1 Burn Speed of Bulk Transport would make more sense rolled into Auxiliary Support I think, where as bulk transport could receive some kind of other nudge. If you're not taking Auxiliary Support, then you're likely militarizing your logistics vessels for + 1 Burn and lower maintenance on cargo expansion. Maybe the intent is opening up more ordinance points?
Personally, I'd almost like to see Auxiliary Support moved to Industry tier one, with the + 1 burn from bulk transport rolled into it. I think industry feels weird because of where the choices are. I think maybe the choice breakdown there should be Fleet Buff vs. Logistics buff instead of Logistics Buffs vs. Logistics buff- then going through three tree you could specialize, mix and match, or whatever.
My favorite parts of the industry tree are the parts that don't feel like an economic difficulty slider. At first I was kinda iffy about the Containment Procedures vs Makeshift Supplies but there is some synergy here. Damage Control on your officers + Field Repairs helps you on the supply front while Salvage + Containment Procedures can help you keep your fuel topped off from fighting. You don't have the passive supply boons of Makeshift Supplies, but you do recover a big chunk ship damage after battle for free, lose less crew, and so on. I'm not good enough at math to figure out which saves me the most money, but my gut says Makeshift Supplies probably does anyway due to the amount of time spent in systems as opposed to traveling.
Leadership, Technology, and Industry are kind of chaotic, thematically and mechanically. Industry isn't so bad, I think it's placement that makes people feel weird about it:
Leadership is another example here too.
Ideally, early skills should be Generalist vs. Specialist. Deeper skills should be Specialist vs. Specialist to reflect the investment in climbing that lane and solidifying playstyles. Categories are now an eclectic mix of fleet buffs, personal buffs, logistics buffs, and colony buffs with little in the way of a cohesive theme in most trees. Leadership has an odd first couple of tiers, then goes right into
I'll echo the sentiment that T4 in Leadership and Engineering feel like the 'capstone' abilities due to the colony skills.
I think this is also jarring for a lot of people but not necessarily bad. And, if you do get rid of the colony skills, maybe Industry and Leadership will feel less chaotic. I do like the idea of a personal combat/piloted ship buff in every tree though. Maybe if you remove colony skills then this would feel less chaotic? Another idea, might be to roll some of the logistics skills in Industry together, adjust the numbers if need be. There'd be room for it without the colony skills. Or, it could make room for colony skills if you kept them.
