Softer limits on ship construction + System for handling it.

[alias72]

Hello, I have noticed that there is a tendency for certain design features of ships to unlock late, thereby preventing historical escalations in ships. Furthermore, certain technologies unlock rapidly and find adoption well before they are necessary. Consider the Naval bureau event for aircraft carriers with guns below 6/8 in. Essentially this system would be an expansion on that idea. Nations pay prestige to unlock a design. First nation to adopt triple turrets, quads, superfiring, cross-deck firing, etc. Nations would have to balance prestige (Their victory points) against improving their navy. Do you gain an edge in the arms race in the short term or bank points in the long term. To that end I propose the following:

Eliminate the following technologies from the tech tree and implement them as design quirks (costs are examples only):
Heavy secondary battery - Enables secondary guns heavier than 7 inches in casemates or single turrets (2 prestige)
Medium wing turrets - Enables secondary wing double turrets up to 10 inches calibre (3 prestige)
3 centreline turrets - Enables 3 centreline main turrets on ships (2 prestige)
Main battery Wing turrets - Enables main battery wing turrets on ships (2 prestige)
Cross deck fire - Enables cross deck fire for staggered wing turrets (positions D & F or E & G) (2 prestige)

Superimposed X turret - Enables superimposed X turret on ships (Deleted)

Superimposed V turret - Enables superimposed V turret on ships (3 prestige)

4 centreline turrets - Enables 4 centreline main turrets on ships (3 prestige)
Light cruiser armour configuration - Enables light cruiser armour configuration (3 prestige)
Superimposed B turret - Enables superimposed B turret on ships (4 prestige)
5+ centreline turrets - Enables 5 or more centreline main turrets on ships (3 Prestige)
DD of up to 600 tons displacement - Enables building of DD up to 600 tons displacement (Deleted)
DD of up to 700 tons displacement - Enables building of DD up to 700 tons displacement (Deleted)
DD of up to 900t displacement - Enables building of DD up to 900 tons displacement (Deleted)
DD of up to 1100t displacement - Enables building of DD up to 1100 tons displacement (Deleted)

As well as the other purely design limitations. The aircraft carrier limitations could also be overriden using Prestige

Whenever a layout is being tried for the first time the design board / politicians will "complain" and you will have to spend political capital (Prestige) to get them to accept. The first nation to do so pays the full cost (2-4 prestige per innovation) The next nation spends half and subsequent nations spend nothing. In addition, the following design decisions will always confer a cost (costs are examples only):

Ship is more than 10% heavier than existing ships of this type (1 Prestige)
Ship is more than 20% heavier than existing ships of this type (2 prestige)
Ship is more than 30% heavier than existing ships of this type (3 Prestige)
Ship is more than 40% heavier than existing ships of this type (4 Prestige)

Ship is less than 85% the displacement of existing ships of this type (1 prestige)
Ship is less than 70% the displacement of existing ships of this type (2 prestige)

Ship is notably (15%) more expensive than existing ships of this type (1 prestige)
Ship is significantly (30%) more expensive than existing ships of this type (2 prestige)
Ship is considerably (45%) more expensive than existing ships of this type (3 prestige)

Ship has an outdated weapons caliber (<2 in other ships of type (DP guns treated separately)) (1 Prestige)
Ship has an obsolete weapons caliber (<3 in other ships of type (DP guns treated separately)) (2 Prestige)
Ship has an irrelevant weapons caliber (<4 in other ships of type (DP guns treated separately)) (3 Prestige)

Ship has unnecessarily superior weapons (> 2 in other ships of the type) (1 prestige)
Ship has excessively superior weapons (>3 in other ships of the type) (2 prestige)

[zederfflinger]

It may need some balancing, but I think that this is a fantastic idea! It provides a historical reason to not just always go to the largest and most futuristic design. Making prestige matter would also be nice.

I really hope the devs would consider adding this system, or something like it, if at all possible.



I think that personally, I would keep the research requirements for some of the major ship design features, ie. superimposed turrets, main battery wing turrets, and 4+ centerline turrets,

but that's just my personal preference.

While building large, expensive ships would hurt prestige initially, I suspect that big, impressive ships would be good for prestige later on. Worth including, perhaps?

[alias72]

May 23, 2022 21:56:11 GMT -6 zederfflinger said:

It may need some balancing, but I think that this is a fantastic idea! It provides a historical reason to not just always go to the largest and most futuristic design. Making prestige matter would also be nice.

I really hope the devs would consider adding this system, or something like it, if at all possible.



I think that personally, I would keep the research requirements for some of the major ship design features, ie. superimposed turrets, main battery wing turrets, and 4+ centerline turrets,

but that's just my personal preference.

While building large, expensive ships would hurt prestige initially, I suspect that big, impressive ships would be good for prestige later on. Worth including, perhaps?

Building massive ships may earn you prestige with the press but the government will hate you for building "unnecessarily large" ships relative to your opponents. I think having a tech like "closed Sighting hoods - Allows  use of superimposed guns" might be a good idea if the V superimposed position doesn't require it. With regards to main battery wing turrets they drastically increase the required displacement but are not technologically challenging. Perhaps another prestige cost for having excessive primary armament.

Ship possess significant armament compared with other ships of this type (>3 guns other ships of type) (3 prestige)

Ship possess significant armament compared with other ships of this type (>5 guns other ships of type) (4 prestige)

Other ideas:

Large ship (>4000 tons) without torpedoes (3 prestige)

Battleship with light secondary battery (<1 in other ships of type) (2 prestige)

Battleship with very light secondary battery (<2 in other ships of type) (3 prestige)

Battleship with ineffective secondary battery (<3 in other ships of type) (4 prestige)