I did not notice any significant differences between these technologies playing Remix alpha version. Difference have to be very noticable. All weapon specific bonuses must not be 10-20%. They must be 100-200%. Range bonus - 2 times longer attack range. Damage bonus - 2 times higher damage. Rate of fire bonus - 4 times higher rate of fire. And so on. Disadvantages must be noticable too. For example, small damage means that damage had to be 2-3 times lower.
I agree completely, and I didn't really expound on it much in the topic I just made, but that is the line of thinking that got me going. They will each have bigger drawbacks, but stronger bonuses and will be far more different. In v2.29 they mirrored each other for balance reasons... but the new tree will free them up for much larger differences.
I also plan to make POWER a larger role in choosing techs.
Plasma can do increadible damage to everything with some splash, but has very short range. higher power requirements.
Particle has good range and will be specialized for anti-tank, with no spash. Gives a Superweapon. medium power requirements.
Lasers good anti-tank, but also for all-around upgrades that act as a passive to everything. high power requirements.
Microwave good anti-infantry, but also gets lots "microwave only" upgrades, the oposite of laser. Lower power requirements
Ion is good at everything, but it's very late game only and gives no powers and few units than the other trees. extream power requirements.
Satellite has unmatched range, but has very poor damage over time, and its shots have long "focus" time. Its great for siege, but nothing else. As a perk 90% of the observation powers are part of it. No power requirements.
From the earlier verion I found most players loved Plasma and Particle. These techs will still be strong, but they will require promotion points as a way to encourage trying other techs.
Also, Laser and Microwave (I already know will be the most overlooked) will have the only Rank5 powers attached to them.
I'm going to move these notes to the new topic. It would be better to pickup the tech tree topic there.