I have revamped shipyards for v2.4, based on the recent shipyards thread. The changes are as follows:
Each shipyard now has a name and consists of a Shipyard Complex plus one or more Slipways. The cost of the Shipyard Complex is 3600 (was 4800 in old rules) and it is built exactly as before using construction factories. When completed, the Shipyard Complex has a single Slipway with a capacity of 1000 tons. Additional Slipways and extra capacity for existing Slipways are built by the Shipyard Complex itself (without affecting the building of ships). Each Shipyard Complex is dedicated to building a specific class of ship and may build one of that class in each Slipway. The Complex may be retooled (see below) to build a different class of ship and this does not affect any ships currently under construction but once retooling is underway, no new tasks can be started. This simulates a shipyard getting ready for future construction while completing work on existing shipyard tasks. In effect, a Shipyard Complex has two distinct levels. The Slipway level, where ships are built, refitted, repaired and scrapped at the Racial Shipyard Rate, and the Shipyard level, where extra slipways are constructed, extra capacity is added and retooling is carried out, also at the Racial Shipyard Rate.
The functionality of the existing Shipbuilding tab on the Economics window has been cut down. The tab now shows the list of current tasks and the following buttons (all of which function identically to v2.3): Delete Task, Pause Task, Higher Priority, Lower Priority, Schedule. The list of shipyards has been replaced by a list of slipways, which is identical to the v2.3 shipyard list except that the first column shows the name of the shipyard at which each slipway is located. All the other columns are as before.
A new Manage Shipyards tab has been added. The top section is a grid control for shipyard complexes with the following columns:
? Shipyard Name: Name of the shipyard complex
? Total Slipways: How many slipways are in this shipyard complex
? Capacity per Slipway: The maximum size ship that can be built at this shipyard complex
? Available Slipways: How many slipways are empty. If this is zero, the Add Task button is greyed out when selecting this shipyard.
? Assigned Class: The only ship class that can be built in the slipways of this shipyard complex
? Current Complex Activity: What activity this complex is currently engaged in (this includes no activity, adding a slipway, adding extra capacity to all slipways or retooling for a different class).
? Progress: Percentage of current activity that has been completed
? Completion Date: When this activity is estimated to be complete.
Below the grid control is a section entitled Shipyard Complex Activity. This is where the expansion or retooling of the shipyard is set in motion. The player selects a shipyard complex and can then choose can choose from the following activities:
? Add 500 ton Capacity per Slipway: This tasks adds 500 tons to the capacity of every slipway in the complex and costs 120 BP per slipway. So setting this activity for a shipyard complex with four slipways would cost 480 BP. Mineral use is split between Duranium and Neutronium.
? Add 1000 ton Capacity per Slipway: As above except it costs 240 BP per slipway and adds 1000 tons instead of 500 tons
? Add 2000 ton Capacity per Slipway: As above except it costs 480 BP per slipway and adds 2000 tons of capacity
? Add Extra Slipway: This costs 120 BP for every 500 tons of capacity per slipway at this shipyard complex. For example, if a shipyard had a capacity of 5000 tons per slipway then adding an extra slipway would cost 1200 BP. Mineral use is split between Duranium and Neutronium.
? Retool for Selected Class (class chosen from separate dropdown): Costs 0.5x ship class cost plus 0.25x ship class cost per slipway. So if a shipyard with two slipways wanted to start building a class that cost 800 BP, the cost to retool would be 800 x (0.5+0.25+0.25) = 800 BP. If there were four slipways, the cost would be 800 x (0.5+(0.25x4)) = 1200 BP. Mineral use is based on the minerals used in the class. Only classes that are small enough to fit within the shipyard?s capacity can be selected.
Shipyard Activity can be paused, to conserve minerals, or abandoned. If an Add Extra Slipway or Retool activity is abandoned then all work is lost. If an Add Extra Capacity activity is ended then the percentage of work done on the task will be added to the shipyard, rounded down to the nearest hundred tons. For example, if a shipyard has done 75% of an Add Extra 500 Capacity activity when it is abandoned, then the shipyard gains 300 capacity (500 x 0.75 = 375).
The rate at which extra slipways or extra capacity is added is based on the shipbuilding rate of the population at which the shipyard is based. So adding an extra slipway for 1200 BP would take an amount of time equal to 1200 / pop shipbuilding rate. This includes any bonuses from commanders and any penalties for unrest, radiation, etc. The rate at which retooling takes place is based on the shipbuilding rate of the population at which the shipyard is based multiplied by the number of slipways. So changing to a new class for 800 BP would take an amount of time equal to 800 / (pop shipbuilding rate * slipways). This actually means that shipyards with a lot of slipways will take slightly less time to retool than smaller complexes and will pay a little less per slipway, although the overall cost will still be higher. This is to simulate the benefits of mass production.
While all the above is happening, the shipyard can still build ships. A third section called Create Task is at the bottom of this tab. This is very similar to the existing Shipyard Tab in v2.3 and includes the following controls:
? Task Type dropdown: Tasks available are Construction, Refit, Repair and Scrap
? New Class text box: Shows the class that can be built in the currently selected complex
? Refit Class Dropdown. Slipways can refit any other class to their dedicated class. This dropdown and the accompany ship dropdown allow the user to select a ship to be refitted to the new class. This dropdown is also used (with a different label) for Repair and Scrap. Any Slipway can repair or scrap any ship as long as the ship?s size is within its capacity. At some point in the future I may replace this with some type of Repair Yard
? Ship Name box: Name of ship about to be built
? Build Cost: Cost of the construction, refit, repair or scrap task.
? Task Group: The fleet in which new construction will be placed
? Completion Date: Estimated date on which the task will be finished.
? Required Materials: Shows list of minerals that will be consumed by this task.
The new manning requirement for shipyards is equal to one million for each shipyard complex plus 100 per ton of total capacity. For example, a Shipyard with two 5000 ton slipways would be 1m + (10,000 x 100) = 2m. The new signature of shipyards for sensor purposes is equal to the manning requirement in millions x 20.
Because of these changes and the extra detail they add, shipyards can no longer be transported by freighter. They will also no longer appear in ruins so you don?t have a useless shipyard you can?t move.
New races will get half the number of shipyards they had in the past but each shipyard complex will have 1-3 slipways and will have a capacity of 2D5 x 1000 tons (2000 ? 10,000).
This probably sounds a more complex change than it is in reality. In game terms, the differences are that shipyard capacity is actually a little cheaper than before but takes longer to build. However, because you can build up capacity while your construction factories are working on something else and also while ships are being built, in reality I think that shipyard capacity will grow more quickly than before. It also means that you need to put some thought into buliding your fleet and what ship types you will need in the future. Building additional slipways is easier than creating new shipyards and yards with many slipways are cheaper to retool on a per-slipway basis. However, more shipyards gives you more concurrent classes to build.
Steve
