The idea of being able to change the design is so that if you make a serious mistake, especially when learning, it is relatively easy to fix. To avoid accidentally changing a design then use the Lock Design button when you are finished. As John mentioned, it is easy to cheat in single player but what would be the point?

Steve

Just to be clear, I'm in the "almost never use it, and don't use it to fix design flaws" camp as well.  On the other hand, I'll use it in trivial circumstances when it doesn't make any gameplay difference, and doing it the right way would be more trouble than it's worth.  For example, I recently did a retool of a FAC shipyard to a new FAC design (don't remember the difference).  About a week after the retool finished (after I had launched a build but before any were completed) I researched small engineering.  It wasn't worth it to me designing a new class, retooling the SY yet again, then refitting the ships under constuction up to the new standard just to trade some engineering space for a little fuel, so I simply changed the design.  Prior to that, I can't remember the last time I changed a design.  A few (game) weeks later, a similar situation showed up when I researched 50% thermal engines.  In that case, I went ahead and did it the "right" way, since I considered the difference in engines significant.

Since most of Aurora is single-player, I put this in the same category as cheating at solitaire - I trust myself enough not to cheat to not want Steve to limit my ability to modify reality in a non-cheating way.

John

Not hated by me, I dont use the feature often, but it has saved me when I have needed to do some reality changeing.  would really hate to see it dissapear.  I dont use it to fix errors in design, those I play thru(just fire the design staff LOL).  I have used it when I decided to change an empires total design style, ex: getting rid of all frigates and turning them into Cruisers, I dont do this often but do use it occassionally.

Mark

Quote from: "Magnnus"

If you change a class design does a ship of that class change to the new design when you overhaul it?

there is a bug, if u change desing, which u used to build any ships, every one of that model will instant change. if u dont want to use this bug u have to copy design and change copied ver. (then use refit to)

This is not a bug, this is a feature that allows you to change reality if you don't like it.  If Steve wanted the "unbugged" behavior he could have locked the designs when a construction of a new ship of that type was started long ago ... and promptly faced a rebellion from his users

The procedure you describe is correct for creating follow-on designs - copy the design and edit it.  Think about e.g. Arleigh Burke Block 1, Block2, ... designs - the Pentagon didn't throw away the Block 1 "blueprints" when they designed Block 2 - they cloned them.

John

If you change a class design does a ship of that class change to the new design when you overhaul it?

Quote from: "sloanjh"

Quote from: "Erik Luken"

Overhauls are to prevent your ships from falling apart. If you checked "No Overhauls needed" in the game setup, then you can ignore them. Otherwise, you'll need to periodically send your ships in for overhauling.

On the F12 screen, there's a column "maintenance clock".  As this number gets bigger, the probability of a breakdown increases.  Overhaul unwinds this clock, but there's a time penalty if you want to abort the overhaul early (since the parts are strewn all over the deck).

John

On one of my ships, it's at the Aquarii system by the way-It's telling me there's n0 maint. Facil. big enough on the colony, and i was wondering what tab that was to upgrade the maint. fac. so it can overhaul it.[It's the scout ship, by the way. 1950 tons.

That would be the Maintenance Facilities, produced by Industrial Capacity. I believe they come in increments of 250 tons. So you need 2000 tons of maintenance facilities (or 8 ).

Overhauls are to prevent your ships from falling apart. If you checked "No Overhauls needed" in the game setup, then you can ignore them. Otherwise, you'll need to periodically send your ships in for overhauling.

On the F12 screen, there's a column "maintenance clock".  As this number gets bigger, the probability of a breakdown increases.  Overhaul unwinds this clock, but there's a time penalty if you want to abort the overhaul early (since the parts are strewn all over the deck).

John