You can't nerf Cargo Sensors without making them useless compared to combat hulled scouts. The sensor radius is already set at 12 or 15, so it's not as if you can see everything for 5 sectors anymore. The only time it really counts is for smaller maps, and if that's the case, then the best way to nerf that would be to scale down sensor radius, or scale up sensor size.
If I'm looking for an Alliance or Technology victory, then conquering minor races becomes the modus operandi. If I'm looking for a conquest, though, I love the minor races, because they're low-risk trade partners. Plus it's fun to see the little guys make an impact for themselves with the right support. With my techs and trade the Snathi have taken 4 Arcean worlds. So proud. <img src="http://images.stardock.com/gc2/T_DL/smiles/Smile.gif" border=0
All of my anomalies and event triggers have been pretty boring. My co-worker got some Ranger ships, though, that he used to harass trade routes and extort tech from other civs.
Essentially no different from the Sensor Probes in the original galciv, only potentially faster. Making it so you can't put sensors on cargo hulls sort of defeats the purpose of letting the player design his own ships.
Generally I've found that the AI tries to compensate with its own Influence Starbases and by building Embassies on their own worlds. If the player has access to an Influence Resource, though, nothing short of a fleet of Dreadnoughts is going to stop you. Maybe Influence could be balanced by getting rid of Influence Resources. If the player could choose what types of resources spawn in the galaxy that could alleviate the problem.
Looking at Draginol's gameplay example, where he used Drengin hulls as a Human, the ships he designed looked absolutely nothing like standard Drengin fare. Like somebody said before, the differences in modules have to account for something. Of course, if they don't, it'd be more than simple to set those aesthetic differences in an update or a user-mod. Nothing to get your knickers in a bunch. <TABLE cellpadding=8 width="95%" align=center bgColor=#FFF394 class="mb-Body-Quo
Targetting specific ships or modules is already entering the realm of tactical combat, since you're implementing basic tactics to gain leverage in a situation where your ships otherwise might have none. Besides, the combat viewer itself appears to be designed exactly like that, as a viewer. I haven't played the Beta, so correct me if I'm wrong, but since ship combat is basically just a replay with all of the hit rolls pre-determined, it'd be impossible to code any tactical functions
