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Yay! I've finally made it through the barrier, I've mined all the ogonite and avorion I could stomach and I'm going to take on something really scary. Pew pew pew, death destruction and loss of lesser ships ensues. Boom big loot piñata, oh look at that rail gun!!! Lots of damage lots of Fire rate, penetration and all that good stuff and I love rail guns and I want more of these. *queue sad trombone* Tech Level 52? Awesome I can put one of these on one ship and I'll occasionally use it for when I want to just shoot something far away but I cannot rely on it for any real DPS. Little pop up, Hey there explorer we see you have a Tech Level 52 turret, would you like more? Just plop down a Turret factory next to that nice big pile of wreckage and get to work bring us all the components and we'll pump these puppies out for you like crazy! Oh thanks helpful popup I didn't think of that. Yeah... and neither did anyone on the DEV team, I'm here to rebuff the suggestion that the challenge of endgame should stay in the disparity of Level 50 turrets to the power of level 52s that bosses can drop. It's not the ideal situation you think it is, it is completely disheartening to people who love your game enough to plough through hours and hours build reputation up get allies build extra ships and finally get through your end game content only to be given fools gold. If that player cannot extend their playtime and enjoyment by replicating the new found joy in higher level guns then they're simply going to stop playing. I speak from experience on this, I've played Destiny, WoW, The Division 1 & 2, a few other games, and once the Carrot or the Chase is gone then you have less and less players. Most games increase the chase by upping levels or adding new tricks, Avorion is more or less bottlenecked, so you have to work with what you have, and what you have is an RNG chase, that once it fulfills someone's dreams they could create more power for themselves. But you didn't find it applicable to let them do that? From my experience in other games it seems like you don't want players to stay past a certain point. But if I'm wrong and you want them to stay, I would highly advise changing the Turret Factories in the 4 Most center Galaxy Zones become capable of churning out Blueprints for Level 52 turrets. <<< This also adds that "Challenge" you're so hungry to saddle people with, defending a Center 4 zone from all the invasions will be a task in and of itself, way harder than Mr. Big Scary. This will make people more inclined to get those 52s to drop until they get one they like, and it will keep them engaged long past getting them to drop well into getting ships decked out with them to further invest in their fleets and get more 52s and so on and so forth. This is a good carrot for Avorion, and if the argument against it is "challenge" go talk to anyone who has played for over 500 hours, there isn't much challenge in the center, there is just a lack of investment opportunities. We need more, and this could be that carrot to keep us chasing and playing. Thanks and I look forward to the discussion.

Volumetric Hazards or other obstacles would certainly make sectors more diverse, memorable, and challenging. Some Ideas: Solar flares that you have to evade to avoid damaging your systems, leaves the hull/armor untouched. Like evacuating the sector within a countdown timer, like time trial race. Or you have to find 'shade', opposite the star, behind an asteroid that's bigger than your ship. Could scale this to multiple sector areas on the galactic map for 'supernovae' events where you have to escape the area or get systems damage, dead crew, or other such things. This could create ore rich sectors afterwards as a reward. Speeding meteors/comets to dodge like traffic. Different volumetric nebulae that disable different kinds of weapons, systems, and shields. Or they could damage/destroy cargo, crew, or hull/armor the longer you stay in them. Or just 'smoke clouds' that obscure view and sensor readings. Neutron stars or black holes rendered on the skybox, with a 'wind' type effect that pulls your ship toward them, so you have to 'sail against the wind' and compensate your flying because of the additional acceleration vector from the gravity source affecting your ship. Magnetic minefields with mines that slowly float toward your ship if you get too close. Making smaller faster ships easier to fly through, but larger ships would get pummeled. Space 'infestations' such as flying through nebulae of corrosive acids, or importing organic infestations via looting, that you have to visit a station to repair or purge, to remove (trouble with tribbles episode of star trek), like a 'disease' would affect a character in a survival game and they need a certain medicine or npc to cure it. Could apply a debuff and generate a quest/mission showing where to go to 'fix' it. 'Away missions', where there is a space platform, or a large planet in the skybox, and you can send some of your crew to the surface or to the structure. This could enable a narration story and a series of choices for you to make which would determine what happens to the crew and any rewards you receive. Good way to add plot and flesh out the galaxies lore. Maybe market it toward 'faction' story lines, depending on the which factions territory it takes place in, or between factions if it's in a border region. Maybe 'tag' factions with different keywords or descriptors that would determine which kinds of stories could play out in that territory. More events. They don't have to be combat related, could just be funny quirky easter eggs or unique handcrafted landmarks, like the actual station that spells out 'avorion' on the title screen appearing randomly in an otherwise empty sector, fun/weird stuff like that.