[IDEA] Moddable/upgradable/tiered blocks (production, ship parts...)

As mentioned by many players, tiers are currently missing. Here is a well-described example regarding thrusters: https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers2/pc/topic/46639-idea-moddableupgradabletiered-thrusters-more-types-of-each-category

However, I would like to go further and suggest implementing tiers for every functional block. I have always played on servers with mods, and this is exactly what I am missing here. Right now, the design philosophy seems to be “bigger = better,” but that is not necessarily true. You can have blocks of the same size with different levels of functionality and performance (as an engineer, I can confirm this 🙂).

For example, you could have a refinery Tier 1 with the ability to process basic ores. Tier 2 would have the same size but support additional materials. Tier 3, still the same size, would expand capabilities even further. Then, a larger refinery could also have its own tiers, with higher tiers enabling processing of exotic materials, faster throughput, or better efficiency.

This concept should not apply only to refineries, but also to assemblers, thrusters, and essentially all functional blocks. Even conveyors could benefit from this system - currently they behave as if transfer is instant, but in reality transfer speed could depend on conveyor tier, allowing upgrades that improve throughput and reduce transfer time.

This would add meaningful progression, more design choices, and greater depth without forcing players to simply scale up block size.