I was looking back through some reeeeeaaaaallly old screenies and found the “skills” tab~
For those that don’t know, it was essentially the Implants system we have now, but with a bit more variation, and gave you cool abilities and such.
I propose bringing this back along side the implants system with cool new abilities like micro-pulsars and single-missile defence systems and quick-repair functions. It just seems like it would give the game a bit more customisation. And customisation is always a plus in the gaming industry. X3
Examples(?):
Engineering(1); Carnation System (5 levels); each adds a disposable shield module to your current shield, granting 3,000 extra points of shield that does not regenerate.
Engineering(2); Secondary Pillons (4 levels); each gives a 10% chance that two projectiles will be fired in succession, using only one charge.
Engineering(3); Repair Drone (single skill); 5 seconds after your hull is damaged, a drone is launched from your ship, orbiting it, restoring 100pt/s of your hull until it is fully repaired or the drone is destroyed. If destroyed, takes 30 seconds to recharge. Drone has 1,800 hull points.
Engineering(4); Micro-Pulsar (single skill); Allows you to activate a quick 3-burst pulsar, effecting the locked target within a 1,000m radius of you dealing 500 thermal damage every 0.5 seconds for 1.5 seconds. Activation key by default is (5).
Energy(1); Charging Capacitor (3 levels); Each adds a capacitor to your ship that restore 500 energy once your energy is depleted with at least 90 second intervals. If you have more than one, the interval is started after the last capacitor is used up.
Electronics(1); Energy Radiator (single skill); When your capacitor is over half full, excess energy is used to energise the area around your ship, dealing 200 Thermal damage per second to ships in a 150m range of you.
Electronics(2); Radar Overclock (5 levels); each increases radar range by 10%.
Electronics(3); Missle-Popper (single skill); Takes down one missile within 500m of you with at least 30 second intervals.