Relatively new cheat (sort of)

[Chaingun]

While this possibility is bad, it's not really very alarming given the way it is done.

I won't waste that much time doing it in SP, and it's not a very good tactic in MP...

Indeed. In SP it is so that you can choose whether to use such an exploit or not. I certainly do not regard this as a bug; just a side-effect of the current system. In MP you cannot choose yourself how others will behave (though that's why games have lots of rules). Still, there is no need to worry about this in MP as neighbouring players would exploit this immediately (especially once it becomes clear someone is exploiting).

Then again, if Johan has some free time, he could limit tech level advances so that extra progress is lost upon acquiring a new level.