Nice tech trees and the addition of enabler extensions is a nice touch . Maybe I missed something but is the branching off random, how does it work exactly?

Edit: nvm: My guess is you decide a certain path, but would you need all the first column researched to move to the second or just the extension?

very nice.
but i have one essential question:
we need the unlock extentions, what is totaly fine. that works good on a personal level, but how does it work on corporation level. does the ceo need the extentions? or are there no preqisites for corporations? or do you need the extentions if you want to prototype them even if you dont have the tech yourself and take it from corp knowledgebase?

Good question We haven't quite worked this out yet, but I'd say corporation-level research should be connected to the same personal extensions too. Obviously there won't be many officers within a corporation who will have access to spending research points on the corp tech trees, so I don't see a need for separate extensions.

Prototyping using the corp knowledge base while you don't have the enabler extension is another thing though. I'm personally leaning towards allowing this, because those who want the production bonus will have to install the extensions anyway and I guess the serious prototyper/production guys will simply do that.

Some thoughts:

Why doesn't the syndicate get its own tech tree? Giving more space for that research to expand with the game as you could add more syndicate bots and specific modules.

Give all grids more room too, for t5 modules and new bots.

So if/when there are more haulers added or hauling specific modules (cargo expander, anti cargo scanning module, stc ) it will all be common ???

I think i may be wise to make a transport sub~section in the industrial tree now instead of having your hands tied later. just take the whole sub tree LWF >>> Scarab and move it to industrial ...

Im just thinking a year into the future when it will cause confusion as to why
some industrial robots take common kernels and some take industrial kernels ... <<< does that really make much sense ?

Tux: Items being in one tree or the other is just a UI matter, with the goal of easy overview. So transport robots can still require indy points, despite them being in the common tree. And vice versa, LWFs would still only require common points even if they were in the industrial tree. Still, in my mind transport robots in the common tree make more sense than LWFs in the indy tree. (I know, let's separate the LWF and the transport robots and then we have two tiny trees somewhere )

Yeah these are the grey areas...

Heliaso: 6 new extensions (Nuimqol, Pelistal, Thelodica, Industrial, Common, MPC), and we havent decided about the complexity yet. Definitely less than 9 though, since we need to leave space for the advanced extensions too.

Luckily, you don't need to research everything right away!

I think this is mentioned in the December blog, but items will require a mix of RP types (up to 2). So even a thelodica laser won't just require simply thelodica kernels, but common kernels too. High-tier items (probably T3 and up) will require a mix of factional RP and hi-tech RP. Common items will only require common RP but more of it (though hi-tech for high-tier will also appear here), and buildings will be probably pure hi-tech. I'll try to make the needed RP types apparent on the UI too.

I see that it's possible to research Mesmer before Yagel

Great to see this going on and important steps towards release are taken.

Who said anything about 7-8 months of EP?. They haven't even decided on extension complexity. Such an important role should not be left barely on a grind, and research will become much easier to attain a specific t4 module.

Still would ask for the removal of the basic research extension with an EP refund. This extension should be at lvl 10 anyways so there is no point in keeping it.