Calitar

Well, if they want to go realistic then the laser/energy weapons would have a limited lethal range. Lasers suffer from the divergence of the beam, so after awhile the power of the laser is spread over a larger area. The loss of power concentration makes it less dangerous after a certain point, so that could be a way the devs choose to limit the range of a laser/energy weapon.

Forgive me if this has been suggested already. I scanned the idea forum and no title jumped out at me as a duplicate.
 
I think it would be awesome that as we, the players, are discovering planets we can run into indigenous populations with varying intelligence/tech levels. This would add for an interesting wrinkle where you as the discovering player have to decide if you are going to ignore, trade, conquer, or any combination therein with the population you find.
 
Do you decide to trade them higher tech than they have and give them spaceflight? Do you decide they are sitting on something really shiny that you want and it's best to kill them off to get it? Do you decide to place a protection on them and guarantee no one else can come along and harm them? The scenarios are nearly endless.
 
I think this could also introduce the concept of computer generated quests. I know that PvP is a large part of this game, and I also know how much I dislike the general MMO idea of quest hubs, but I think that if done correctly this could be another aspect of gameplay that players could enjoy. I envision quests to be more along the lines of Civ V city-state requests, i.e. "destroy the neighboring tribe", "establish a trade route", "give us your technology". The decisions that are made about what requests to do for what price would allow for different sectors of the galaxy to have more variation and diversity.
 
This could also be a mechanism for NQ to distribute new "alien technology" or other features in a more seamless feeling so that it doesn't seem like a new technology or feature suddenly appears. It also allows for some developer oversight or control over an area to help guide the game in a healthy direction if it suddenly starts going off the rails by driving how aggressive in pursuing their objectives the indigenous population is.
 

I'd argue that reverse-engineering constructs/blueprints is actually a good thing and makes the game more entertaining if done right.
 
tl;dr: An encryption system allows you to protect the important technology so a player that spends a lot of time discovering something isn't cheated, but also allows for others to use your innovation to invent other things.
 
First, I think there are two things to discuss: what you are protecting and the motivation for protection.
 
What you are protecting
 
Say I invent a computer monitor. Do I get to have protection over all electronic displays? Just ones that connect on a certain interface? Just ones that are shaped like mine? When you file for a patent in real life, it's not usually the physical form you are looking to protect, but the technology underneath it. There are many different computer monitor technologies, and the reason we keep getting bigger, faster, more 3D-ish, curved, etc. monitors is that it's the underlying technology that is patented, not the form it comes in.
 
With that in mind, I propose that players aren't allowed to patent something like "rocket engine" but instead "solid-fuel rocket engine using this grain I found on a planet". Allow for the protection of the technology, not the particular form it came in. That way many different types of rocket engines can be invented, even many solid-fuel rocket engines, and if what I really did was figure out how to turn a resource I found into a fuel, it starts to allow for other applications of my technology to be found.
 
Motivation for protection
 
I get the idea of wanting protection. It takes a lot of time and money to get a working construct/blueprint. When you have completed your design and tested that it works, you want to be able to reap the benefits of your innovation. If you then don't have any protection from someone logging in and reverse engineering what you have done in a much shorter time frame, the original innovator loses out big time and you'll lose the interest of innovators.
 
However, there are some drawbacks as well. If I'm allowed to protect my invention too fiercely then I have effectively created myself a monopoly which would allow me to set whatever price I want without worry of competition and ruin the economic system that is being built. I can also just sit back and not bother innovating anymore because I will have a continuous revenue stream that is not threatened. This also gives me an unfair advantage in the economy because my buying power will be so much greater than others (assuming my tech is popular). So I feel both the extremes would both lead to a negative gameplay experience, and I feel the answer is somewhere in the middle.
 
Proposal
How about an encryption system for the core technology of your innovation? You have a certain level of security, but is still leaves the possibility for a thief or copy-cat who wants to spend enough time and money (just like you did to create the construct/blueprint) to crack the encryption and get the design. A side benefit is this system would allow for an encryption market to also be created and sold to innovators. Going one step further, this also opens up the market for decrypters  (maybe black market?), which I think would lead to a really interesting cat and mouse security struggle. The longer you want to be the only game in town, the more you need to invest in encryption. Hello security industry!
 
The other benefits of an encryption system is that not only you can choose to sell your technology to the other players, but you'll also be able to license it. Did you discover a way to turn a resource you found on your planet into a fuel source? Is that resource the only viable abundant fuel source in that sector of the galaxy? You might have discovered how to make a rocket engine out of it, but what about someone wanting to make a automobile engine or power plant? License the tech to them and profit when they do. This will bring a real interesting business aspect to the game that I think has been missing from all the builder games I've played.
 
Whatever system is decided on, I think we need to be careful how much protection we give on what so that the game isn't dominated by the first wave of players and prevents newer players from joining later on.

I think they should at least look at implementing drag/heat due to friction. This has some PvP implications. Can you just warp from the surface of a planet to FTL to escape? I think having landing crafts to go to and from your orbiter/galaxy cruiser is a good idea and makes PvP more strategic. Also, if you implement heat due to friction, you have a mechanism to set reasonable/realistic speed limits once you are inside a planet's atmosphere.