No, there's not. You can improve ships with technology, but that's as far as it goes. I believe it's been stated that GalCiv will never have this feature, either. I for one can understand their point of view.
1) It's too easy to come across a design that is far too cost effective. If the AI doesn't learn about that design, it gets clobbered. In addition, getting an AI to cope with squirly one trick ponies makes game design that much harder.
2) What about the AI's ships? Do you stick with standard designs, or do you take the risk of letting the AI design its own ships, leaving it open to possible blind spots?
Yes, ship design in MoO2 and MoO3 is fun, but it throws the balance of the game off. I always wind up with designs that can take out more than their weight in AI-designed craft.
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