Author Topic: converted auxillary ships  (Read 2531 times)

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Offline sneer (OP)

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converted auxillary ships
« on: December 08, 2017, 08:26:07 AM »
With so many C++ aurora revolutions I see recently posted I have one more thing in mind which is far from being important but may bring some flavour to game.
In crysis times civilian shipping was militarized , either for self defence or for secondary tasks or from pure desperation as last resort.
In current Aurora this is not prevented in theory  but mechanism is far from being convinient.
Especially later in the game there are plenty of modules left off scrapped old ships or simply looted from enemies. Installing basic sensor , fire control and guns on freighter or liner should be a short operation in contrary to hull/armor or engines changes. Such designs would be fragile but allow player to boost its defence capabilities if needed.
Here comes a problem as you need military docks for such operation on civilian ship which are often many times smaller. End if you need to convert civilian your military docks are usually full of navy jobs.

In game terms I'd see game mechanism allowing adding some classes of military equipment for a given percentage of current tonnage  on civialian design in civilian yard ( as Steve mentioned some possible changes to diplomacy there may be some trigger that allows this only after civilian design being destroyed by hostile forces )

Another story would be militarizing ships belonging to shipping lines but I think of it as far too complicated so only player controlled ones would be convertible
« Last Edit: December 08, 2017, 09:15:19 AM by sneer »
 

Offline TCD

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Re: converted auxillary ships
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2017, 11:23:53 AM »
Its a nice idea but I'm not sure how you could achieve it in the current game structure without leaving a gaping loop hole open (ie you could build all your military ships as civilian vessels and then convert them). I think the only way it could work is by removing the military/civilian shipyard distinction which opens a lot of balance/gameplay issues up.
 

Offline alex_brunius

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Re: converted auxillary ships
« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2017, 11:40:53 AM »
As long as the mechanics can ensure that the total cost of building Civilian + Conversion always end up higher then building the same design as military from scratch it should make exploits pretty hard I think.
 

Offline TCD

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Re: converted auxillary ships
« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2017, 01:09:10 PM »
As long as the mechanics can ensure that the total cost of building Civilian + Conversion always end up higher then building the same design as military from scratch it should make exploits pretty hard I think.
Even if the total ship cost is higher, you have to square that with the much cheaper cost of civilian shipyards compared with a military shipyard of the same size, and the much quicker construction times as well. And also with maximum size against time (think about the size of your largest civilian ships vs your largest military ships at, say 20 years into the game. Unless the total costs are a lot higher for the conversion model then it would be pretty compelling to only build civilian shipyards.

I suppose one way to fix it would be to apply a relatively small limit to the total military components in a civilian ship? Would limiting military components to 10% of total volume be enough? I don't have access to the game today to try and work out the actual proportions of military/non-military components in a standard warship.


 
 

Offline ExChairman

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Re: converted auxillary ships
« Reply #4 on: December 08, 2017, 04:13:26 PM »
By placing a gun or missile launcher on a ship for self defence, I see no big problem, by rebuilding a civilian ship to military design it would be expensive and almost impossible to make it as "sturdy" as a real warship, shock should be a big problem and all damage beyond armor should be double...
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Offline sneer (OP)

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Re: converted auxillary ships
« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2017, 05:17:11 PM »
big no for full rebuilding as I wrote earlier
converted auxilary means zero to minimal armor + slow engines - they are no true warships
any conversion with hull / engine / armor component should be treated as major one and damn expensive and long
putting small reactor, fire control and few guns on the other hand should be a really small easy work for every shipyard  ( especially true if you already have components needed stockpiled )





 

Offline Father Tim

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Re: converted auxillary ships
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2017, 04:05:32 PM »
I, too, would love to see a way to recreate WWI / WWII era 'armed merchant cruisers'.  Maybe just a modification that allowed CIWS to be used offensively (probably only at 10,000 km, since that is its default range). . .  Though I do like the idea of strapping a 10cm railgun on a freighter, or a four-pack box launcher on a harvester.
 

Offline jonw

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Re: converted auxillary ships
« Reply #7 on: December 13, 2017, 04:11:27 PM »
Add tractor beams to all your civilian designs, so they can tow small military 'ships' as needed. If the ship being towed is simply a fighter design with box launchers and no engines, then that should work.

'Burea of Ships will not approve plans for civilian vessels unless they mount an avaionics package (1HS passive), countermeteor systems (CIWS) and towing equipment (tractors). All registered vessels need tobe built according to these basic safety standards, and be capable of giving towing assistance when needed...'