Some of the modules available do not seem like they should take up an entire slot. things like targeting computers, laser painters and micro crew modules all seem to small to justify a full slot. i propose a “micro module” that allows you to turn one big slot into 2 to 4 “micro slots.” this means that you can add small things to a ship without using up valuable slots for other full modules.
some likely candidates for this are:
anything that is more or less just a computer (computers in the future are supposed to be small)
anything that is “micro” in the first place (“micro crew module” or a new “micro power module”)
anything that currently has a limited use and could conceivably be small (the above mentioned laser pointer for example)
components that are either reduced effectiveness , extremely expensive, or both (Anti-emp etc.)
things like officers quarters(as mentioned in previous threads), robot quarters etc.
anti-missile chaff dispensers, or other 1 use devices
this could be applied to hard-points and bays, or just bays.
discuss.
It could work but this would shake up the current balance too much and everything would have to be rebalanced again.
I’d say someone has nice ingredients here for a mod but too bad this can’t be done just by modding. 
i think it could actualy help balance, as some of the more useless modules could be made “micro” (or have a micro version). since they no longer take up a full slot and you could pair them with someting more usefull (like that last 10 crew you need) they would actualy be used.
Hybrid modules would probably be a more workable solution. If I was putting together a mod I’d probably have modules like this:
- Bridge:provides a bit of extra thrust and some crew
- Engineering: provides a bit of power, a few crew and some damage repair
- Damage control: provides a few crew and a lot of damage repair, but a slow rate
- CIC: provides targeting boost a handful of crew
- Fire control: provides targeting boost and some point defence scanning ability
The reinforced versions of modules could do with being reworked possibly to provide extra armour. As it stands, does anyone take them for their extra hitpoints? By the time a ship is in a state to benefit from that, it’s pretty much doomed and you’re not getting much advantage out of it. I choose reactors and crew modules on the basis of my power and crew needs. Picking on any other basis would probably mean sacrificing a shield, a weapon or an engine, which just isn’t worth it for an extra couple of shots of survivability.
that is a workable solution, but it lacks flexibility, and would need an insane amount of modules to get even close to the possible combinations that would likely be available in a micro-module setup. i guess we can just leave it up to the modders for simplicity’s sake, but i still think some sort of sub module functionality would be neat.
From a game balance perspective… It’s to force you to make choices. If you didn’t have to pick between, say, a targeting computer OR another weapon, then you’d pretty much always mount a computer. Similarly, the target painter is a powerful weapon, if it didn’t take up a full slot, I’d be inclined to mount it on most of my ships. (Make my fleet’s missiles hit 100% of the time instead of ~50%? At a cost of a quarter of a slot on each front line ship? Hell yes! Oh wait, I have to sacrifice a FULL slot, hmm. Now I need to think a little…)
In term of imagination… I imagine ‘targeting computers’ to be a lot more than a few computer consoles. I imagine huge arrays of sensors, to more accurately determine the opponent’s position and movement at vast distances. It seems reasonable to me these could take up 15% of the space in my ship. Simiarly, it seems plausible that targeting lasers also consume large amounts of space, asthey have to be ‘brighter’ and constantly on to have the desired effect (nevermind that in-game, they’re visually the least spectacular of the lasers 
)
All said though. I’d like a more flexible system. Drag and drop modules is very easy to get into (and suits the playful style of the game,) but the geek in me wants a ship designer with a bit finer control. Each hull would have a certain amount of space available, and each item would use a certain amount of space, rather than all consuming the same amount of hull space. I’d like to be able to dedicate 1% more space to power generators, rather than having to either cut down my power usage, or doubling my generation. That can wait for a “GSB 2 suggestions” thread though 
i could totaly go for that. if you wanted to get realy nerdy you could have a mass/volume system that you would have to tweak.
the power issue is one of the things that bugs me, especialy when i need only 5 more power to run the loadout i want, but am out of slots. removing someting else and adding a power core(even the smallest one) is a useless waste.
perhaps you can enhance crew moduals, power cores, engines, armor and sheilds (etc. etc.) for a heavy price premium. kind of like running the engins at 110% or making the crew share bunks. enhancing the performance by 5% could carry a 25% price premium or something (kinda like the high end GPU market. . . )
Target painter is so big and heavy because it requires huge amount of computers to calculate fast and accuratelly the position and distance data from the targeting laser and then have these huge and heavy radar dishes and whatnot sensor arrays to send that calculated data fast and preciously to the missiles which are zooming 1000km/h in the space. 
Hence the target painter requires one slot and is so heavy packet. ^^