I'm not sure if I read somewhere that in the game it will be possible to build factories, producing one or two different products from raw materials.
It would be nice to have industry build on more that one layer - maybe like
- the 1st level - mining, harvesting,
- the 2nd level - producing basic products (such as steel, for example)
- and the 3rd level- producing complex products, such as parts for the spaceship.
For every level of production to have several type of buildings which depend on what they extract/mine/produce.
My opinion is that the solution for the industry to be based on simply producing the shields or some equivalent to shields is to abstract. For real strategy decision it is cruical that the player's decisions depends deeply on the need of the industry and economy.
The products can be linked with the basic need of population, capability to build civilian buildings, or military one, equipment and so on. It could also enhance the trading between the empires.
