A few questions for you Dioxine:
1- I finally am making progress with craft weapons. I have discovered the 50mm cannon and can make it, but I can't find where to get more ammo for it. I'm starting to run low on the starting stash too, so I am getting a bit worried. On the other hand, discovering the 30mm cannon allowed me to build both the cannon and its ammo. Is there something special needed for the 50mm? (Just say yes if that's the case, I don't want spoilers!)
2- I got "Old Earth Books" by interrogating a Guild Hostess (she must have been the daughter of a rich dude I guess?). It feels like I "broke the game" because I am concurrently researching basic tech like the craft cannons or ammo, but at the same time researching superconductive wires and industrial tools. My brainers are a century behind on weapons compared to general tech?!
3- After researching the Slave AI, I got Improved and Heavy interceptors at once. I suspect one is supposed to be more high tech than the other, would it make more sense if they came in succession or is this as intended?
4- I think I shot down a probe like Ivan did (I discovered that reading his LP comments) and I'm pretty disappointed. Are all very small scouts imperial probes for fancy missions? Is there a way to know besides having already played the mod, luckily getting the right mission fluff piece from interrogations or read spoilers? If the player isn't likely to know beforehand, maybe reducing their interception time so they run away before getting destroyed would be good. Then the player would chase the probe to the site and after finding it, we would know to follow the probes instead of shooting them down. Being technically a Star God craft (I think), it would make sense for it to have good evasive maneuvers.
1. Hmm there's slight discrepancy there indeed. You should not generally be able to get the cannon before its ammo, but there is indeed a loophole and you've managed to find it. No there is nothing very "special" needed, just a bit more gun-related research.
2. Schizotech world. Your science is not progressing linerarly; you're discovering bits and pieces. Sometimes you invent, sometimes retroengineer, sometimes you just find how-to manuals. Superconductive wire is actually not that hard to use once you have it and once you've read certain manuals (after all, you don't have to know HOW it is made or how it was DISCOVERED). On the other hand, getting to the "basic" tech of craft weapons required from your brainers to invent a lot of stuff, since there are no manuals available on "how to build an industrial capacity to make big guns". The tech level might seem all over the place but... well, it is: you're in a world that's very, very advanced but with restriced access to tech. It's not that hard to tweak very advanced tech if you don't go too deep inside it. As for the Industrial Tools breakthrough, you simply had all the other bases covered already - 4 varied requirements in total, one of them having those "useless" power tools laying around - the books were just the last piece of the puzzle
3. H.I. IS a tiny bit more hi-tech, but looks like not for you - you got the other prerequisites earlier on. But there is no inter-dependence, since each of these two craft is something different, with a different combat role and profile; they're alternatives, even if the I. I. indeed is a bit more basic.
4. Well learning through trying. It was never supposed to be a give-away or delivered on a silver plater. Some players would always rather trail a very slow, strange-looking craft to find out what's the deal with it. Other players just shoot everything down. This mission is a reward to these former players, as their risk-taking behaviour generally makes them getting burned more often.
About the evasive behaviour - this fragile little thing would never outrun a damned F-4 Phantom, much less the Bonaventura
