If you want my suggestion, don't have players buy tech; just say you use all tech that costs 10,000 RP or less (there's a nice button to do this in SM mode). Trying to allocate research points just makes things more complicated and encourages over-specialization.
Yeah, I think that's a much better idea, at least in terms of ease of setup, but I might just go ahead and test it out with some specified amount of research points.
I'm interested. I agree in principle with Bremen's suggestion (component research should also be free), but 10,000RP is on the low side for a cutoff.
Yes I agree on the component research. We could also have different tournaments for different levels of technology:
- 10 000 RP - Low Tech
- 100 000 RP - Medium Tech
- 300 000 RP - High Tech
or something similar to those ranges. Not exactly sure what those numbers should be but I think you get the idea.
Also I'll start the list, so, Bremen, does that mean you are also in?
I might join if you don't get enough players, but don't count me in just yet. I'm actually considering a possible followup to your tournament, taking it to a more strategic level (sort of combining it with the battle scenarios I mentioned earlier).
Another thing you might want to consider for your tournament is minimum deployment times and ranges (with parasite craft being excepted if they're aboard a mothership, obviously).
But 300k RP cutoff is... like TL4-5 at most, less than halfway up the tech tree.
Actually, 300k RP cutoff is T9 for most techs. It's Solid Core Antimatter drives, a tech which I don't think I've ever gotten to in a normal game.
10,000RP: Ion drives, Ceramic Composite Armor, 20cm Lasers
100,000RP: Magnetic Confinement Fusion Drives (Not Magneto-Plasma), Biphase Carbide Armor, 35cm Lasers
300,000RP: Solid Core Antimatter drives, Superdense Armor, 50cm Lasers
By my standards, 100,000RP is high tech; by the time I get there I usually have a sprawling interstellar empire and am on the verge of declaring a game "won."