Hardcore Emperor – Disable Tech Aptitudes
This is a mod that increases the difficulty of Empire Mode by removing the tech aptitude bonuses your empire normally provides when landing on new planets. No more landing on the planet with most of the research trees unlocked for your high level races / secret techs.
Full description:
Empire Mode is great and some players like the challenge of the planetary modifiers and strategically picking what units / ops / items to bring with them, but dislike certain always-on mechanics that are overpowered and make the game trivial in the hands of a skilled player.
Among these is the huge amount of free techs you get via "tech aptitudes" the higher your empires level up. This mod stops the game from giving you the free techs when landing on a new planet. The Tech Aptitudes will still unlock normally between planets as you progress (and you can disable this mod for future planets), but you won’t get the benefits on-planet while this mod is enabled.
