Could you add an “exclude” tag to module and weapon files that works in the opposite manner that the “restricted” tag does (i.e., if the weapon has “exclude = empire”, the Empire cannot have whatever the weapon is, but everyone else still can). If it’s too much trouble to implement, then forget I asked.
actually I’ve been thinking of something similar, but with a tech level and type tag
so various races have better access to all the modules based tech level and type for each of them
Various races would have higher tech in a particular field.
for instance a races supossedly good with shields would have the shield-5 tag; this would allow them to have all the modules tagged with shield-1, shield-2, shield-3, shield-4, and shield-5. A race that was poor with shields would have only shield-1.
you could extend this to
kinetic weapon
lasers
plasma
missiles
armour
etc…
just thoughs