(this is expanding on Zhopah's idea of Item Sets w/ bonuses)
For some people they're currently very little reasons to keep killing NPCs due to them having gotten all/max usable amount of loot from certain NPCs, to fix this I suggest that NPC modules be made trade-able for "Research Tokens" of the NPC organization that the Module was gained from. i.e. Getting T.O. Harmonic MegaPulser and trading it in will get you a "Terran Outsiders Research Token". These tokens can then be traded in for modules that are simply renamed versions of what one would get from a Radiant Weapons Locker (or the equivalent research tier for other modules), except that when used in combination with other Modules gained from that NPC Organization your ship is given bonuses, these becoming more powerful and/or unlocking more powerful bonus with a certain amount of their modules being used.

So each NPC Organization would have their Tokens be trade-able for modules of different types, Orgs could have buffed versions of two types of modules instead of one but have weaker bonuses then Orgs that specialize in that module.
I.e. Rogue Science League would have powerful Shields and Scanning. While Terran Outsiders would just have even more powerful Shields with no Scanning bonuses.

Now to keep people from just getting the most powerful sets for each module type I believe there should be a limit to two sets at a time being equipped.

Thoughts?

so these tokens represent reverse-engineering the extra NPC modules? Great Idea.

Excellent Idea Coth! I'm maxxed on most of what I'm after for my level and have been skipping most NPC's so others can hit them, this would be real sweet.

nice.. this might be worth our while with the NPC hunt. specially if we dont need anything from them anymore..

Yep, awesome idea.. Tired of scrapping excessive modules.. Would be nice to be able to trade those excessive modules to a NPC trader or researcher to get something good out of it.. Anything that makes NPC farming more interesting is always good.

I believe this is a good idea, however I have a caveat...

Lets say you get 1 token per turn in. The token recieved would change depending on your rank at the time of turn in. There would need to be more than one tier of modules that could be bought.

Tier 1 would be Fighter-Rank 1-50
Tier 2 would be Destroyer-Rank 51-125
Tier 3 would be Battleship-Rank 126-250
Tier 4 would be Dreadnought-Rank 251+
...
...
...

Or something along these lines. Also the higher the tier, the more tokens required to purchase.

Tier 1 3 Tokens
Tier 2 10 Tokens
Tier 3 25 Tokens
Tier 4 100 Tokens
...
...
...

Also, a Tier 4 module purchased at 100 Tokens would yield 1 token when turned in. This would stop Nocifier (just using you as an example) from deciding to turn in modules every day based on his wants at that moment. Would add balance and make it harder for those at the top by requiring more time.

Numbers are just random, it shows the intent of my post though.

+1 agree w/ this Idea

"Scrapping" common artifacts in missions opens the door to a lot of possibilities. Any artifact that people complains about --> oh hi, convert 25x subspace seekers into a really nice unique scan buff or module. Now people think about it differently. That's one really good way to balance out artifacts that seem to lose their value over time (but you still will get a lot of).

Item sets are something that can add to the game. If hey where added in a rock-paper-scissors format like many other games I have seen. You can onl have one full set. You get the bonus from one full set. But picking up the set that fits you (and levels of said set) are up to you.

But this would fallow the basic combat style idea. Heavyweight (tank), heavy hitter (could be a glass cannon), and the one hard to damage. I could see such sets have a base from the player races (adding even more flavor to them).

this topic need to be looked at by the DEVS

looks interesting and I think the complex parts in place now are building to something of this nature

Like the idea...