quick glances at their forum seems to indicate taht ai modding is possible though, so its generally only a matter of time until someone fixes that
Well, modding doesn't necessarily mean that the AI is moddable. SoaSE was very much in that boat, for example. But I hope the Star Ruler AI is moddable; assuming it either doesn't have any major flies in the ointment or they can be successfully modded out, I could see myself enjoying that one for many hours
I still need to check out Distant Worlds, though.
Anyway, the reason I brought it up was to see if there was anything we could learn from it. The ship design screen actually reminds me of my own plans for a UI to manage ship modules and that kind of thing (don't want go into too much detail, I'm bad about saying I'll do xyz and while it's quite doable I just don't find time for a while, etc), though of course ours wouldn't be that involved since the underlying tactical simulation doesn't do stuff like directional damage, per-module power management, etc.
The tech web idea also sounds interesting though I don't think AI War's tech system could readily be changed into a tree or web, nor do I think Chris would buy that it should
psuedo-edit: Interesting info, Otagan; looking at their production values (i.e. all that 3D art) I had wondered how they managed it as an indie. I guess the answer is "by the hair of their chinny-chin-chin"
But assuming they make good on the design, etc, I'm glad they did.