I just realised I missed the tech R & D rules and the ComStar rules from "Second Succession War". Both these sections add a lot to the game and require the GM to keep track of who might be getting the upper hand,.... and then bringing in ComStar, ROM, etc.
But more on that later. :)
R and D rules definitely add a great element. From a canon perspective, it's too easy. A good couple rolls and investments and a Successor House that is able to fund it can be recovered from the Succession Wars in a little over a year, especially the DC and LC. However, from a game play perspective, attempting to balance a budget with research thrown in works quite well.
Oddly, the extra amount from industrial tech is what makes raids profitable (that and trade, and faction abilities).
There was an article awhile back with basic game play that showed that investing in upgrading worlds is pointless, that you get a better return on your investment to simply collect your interest of 5%
However, most of the factions - if not all (I haven't done the math for the FS) - benefit from upgrading in the long term for rps when factoring for a level 4 industrial tech and trade.
An example, from current campaign.
The Lyran Commonwealth, 3025 era, gets merchants kings +20% on rp income
They have trade with: FS, TC, OA, MoC, FWL and CC for another .+35% Yes, the FWL trade with each other even though they continue to both be engaged in a raiding war with each other.
And finally, have gained level 4 industrial tech for another +20% base income.
That's a whopping 75% extra they get out of a minor industrial world.
in the calculations for the initial feedback at
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=50912.0 for ISaW, everyone (including me) forgot about all the modifiers. admittedly, second succession war wasn't out yet, so that mod would be gone. However, the general assumption was that it would take 24 rounds for a return on investment, and still would net less than the interest that would have been generated if it wasn't spent on an upgrade.
However, with that minor world now generating the equivalent of 42/round instead, the LC see a return on investment in 14 months, and the interest rates also go up and accrue accordingly too, so it actually ends up being even less. It's a long term strategy still, of course, and is dependent on
It also makes raiding (a topic that has been discussed previously in this thread) a viable strategy as the cost of the raiding unit, with a successful raid, is worth the damage inflicted. It ALSO makes sabotage and terrorism with special ops very, very valuable missions to perform if successful.
The investment for a Major World isn't beneficial still, admittedly.
The investment for a Regional Capital, however, is.
In our campaign, Research for Battletechnology (achieved by the DCMS) has netted them the ability to field LAMs at normal cost, which they have experimented with to some success. It also minorly increased the combat effectiveness of their troops, which has led to some victories in invasions, though not overwhelming. Comm and transport tech have not (yet) had an impact on the game. Actually, in 3025 rules, transport tech can't have an impact, it's for other eras.
The Comstar rules require more GM intervention. They've been pretty handy at keeping some game balance, especially at trimming research efforts. All players know that their research efforts are being attacked and meta-wise, that at least some of it is Comstar (though not by any means all of it).
We created an extra house-rule for Comstar, as the Research rules don't seem to indicate HOW to reduce a technology level below current levels, even though it clearly occurred in the Succession Wars. Current sabotage research rules only remove Development Points; which is all the House and Periphery special ops teams can do.
Comstar special ops teams ALSo destroy development points, but they can also (with a good sabotage roll) if reducing a player below 0 threshold for that level of research, knock that Research back to the next lower level. This means that players are constantly investing at least a few points in DPs for all types of research, just to make sure that they are above a 0 DP level and don't get "knocked back to the Stone Age" in a certain field of research.
The Interdiction rules work as intended. They are exceedingly crippling to a power if it occurs.