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Thanks, you are on the list and i will let you know when i have a suitable build available

Great. I think you are using Godot for this yes? Interesting as I'm familiarizing myself with the basics of that engine anyway. Might come in handy.

Hi.
I would love to test and hope you consider me.

I have two machines available, one running Win 7, the other Win 10, both 7th gen i5, 8, 16 GB ram respectively, HD integrated graphics on both. Nothing great but they do the job.

I've a couple a years experience testing and am also credited as a writer (lore), games are a passion, can't help myself. I've also recently gotten into my first programming language as a hobby.

If you need a an extra hand, and someone that will give you a good effort, I'm at your service.

A basic idea may be to use different shapes as well rather than just rectangles. Or if you prefer, use symbols inside the rectangles to signify increasing levels of danger.
It's a game, so I think simplicity is a must,
Normal= no alert
Ready= yellow
Action stations= red

Something along those lines.

There are pros and cons to both approaches, but I have to lean towards B myself.

The main drawback in procedural is that you may give the player the feeling that the factions are really just a bunch of numbers, the name may change, but the faction encountered has been encountered before.

Static factions on the other hand allow you to hand craft them, which in turn allows for greater immersion. This route would be more beneficial if there was a pool of these factions and it was randomly determined at game start which factions participate in a session. The idea being that the player would enjoy a different experience each time the game was played. Of course, and not to get too far ahead of things, it would be something that could be built upon via expansions.

Had an idea while driving the big rig today, maybe a weapon used by the scrapper faction. Some kind of grappling hook to help them attach and pin down floating debris, or other ships. Would make them an easy target though too as it would kind of lock both ships into each other. No idea how feasible this would be or if it would even be a good idea lmao.

Sorry I'm still getting used to your forum software, what I wanted to quote was you desiring to keep weapons realistic.

I got to play a sim back when PCs were the size of a closet, it centered around combat within the system with realistic tech and capabilities.
While I found it exciting, it was a different time, and the excitement came more from being able to experience something most people could not back then, not so much the combat itself. To make a long story short, we were exclusively firing missiles at each other with nuclear warheads. In space, they don'y have the damage output most people would think.
As a starting weapon, I would think some kind of missile is a must, but you will need more.
You expressed a desire to stay clear of lasers, I kind of agree as they would not be what we see in sci-fi movies. The beam itself would hold little destructive power and could be negated rather easily (IRL).
Charged particle beams on the other hand may work. Here the laser would act as a containment field so that the beam does not lose cohesion, and you could get some good offensive power, (a basic explanation I know, but it should suffice). Electron beams, Proton beams, etc, these would qualify. You could also make something up or just leave it generic without a qualifier.
Finally you can go with something Kinetic, anything from actual space borne artillery to mass drivers/rail guns. These may be handy for shorter range types of weapons.

Anyway, there are many options available that would be interesting and believable, options where someone could claim 'we can do that now" (or the very near future).

Is this the effect you are going for with weapons?

P.S.
Grappling hooks, cables, or even nets would be workable, but not as a primary weapon IMO, they could be the equivalent of tractor beams.

Edit

Even basic weaponry such as this could include qualifiers and modifications, for example
Missiles would be highly destructive, but a limited resource as they take up space
Artillery could be ballistic, meaning a dumb projectile intended to pierce a hull without exploding (thus decompressing the target and making boarding easier), or explosive to cause maximum damage. Again ammo may be introduced here but at a higher level than missiles
Rail guns/mass drivers could be a shorter range weapon requiring some energy to fire
Charged particle beams would require no ammo, but a lot of reactor energy to use.

Realistically, even "basic" low tech weapons such as these could offer a lot of variety and options to game play.

It would be cool to use scanners to explore space to find things not normally found on a basic star map, things such as wrecks of battles (scrap them for mats or even background story (if any is going to be present). Also would be cool to find hidden asteroid belts or unknown planets to check out. All in all I believe there could be a great deal of events added to the game based on it, possible hidden treasure troves even that ping a single to pirates to try to jump you as a trap. Just throwing more ideas out there

Yes. The idea of "what you see is not what you get" is a must in a game like this. The sense of wonder stays alive longer and if it can be randomized, the replay value goes up.

I found you at Indiedb, where I constantly scour the site looking for possible gems. I've been playing games since the time PCs were science fiction, and I've even written lore for them.

Now a days I do some part time reporting at SSC (and hope to preview this there at some point, and eventually review it), I've also written a couple of articles for explorminate as well. So I guess I'm kind of a veteran with these things, lol.

My being here means there something in Space Slog that grabbed my attention and has me hopeful, best of luck from a fan.