Tech Epochs

[Elouda]

I tend to do 'generations' every 2 engine techs until Fusion, and then once per engine tech. Other tech keeps up or it doesnt, but as the engines determine so much in terms of design, I like to use those as a milestone.

You might find this article interesting: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota-class_battleship_(1939)

It discussed some of the research and development limitations faced by one of the largest battleships ever produced. It took nearly 25 years to produce these ships from their initial inception and their designs were constrained by several global political factors, notably total tonnage, gun size, and gun number.

I find this design interesting because it was the best available 'off the shelf' design in the US arsenal at the outbreak of WWII. So from a practical standpoint it is a balance between best available technology and industrial capability. Combat testing revealed design deficiencies however these ships were expected to be highly capable when produced.

I should also perhaps note that in my youth I had the opportunity to tour USS Massachusetts.  Even today she remains an impressive artifact.

The choice of name is about as far as the relationship between the pre-Washington Treaty South Dakota and the pre-WW2 South Dakota goes. Design work on the pre-WW2 design started in 1937, and its essentially an improved North Carolina.

[skoormit]

Build with wathever techs you have and call it a day. It doesn't matter that your ships will be obsolated later on, just refit them.

This. This concept is entirely plausible and somewhat realistic. It's depressing to think about too deeply however...

There's another game I've been playing that's helped accustom me to the idea, but Aurora doesn't have some of the aspects that help set the pace there. (Rule the Waves II. For most of the game you've got to always at least have the next generation of battleships under construction or you'll have a dire capability gap in about three years time.)

You might find this article interesting: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota-class_battleship_(1939)

...

I should also perhaps note that in my youth I had the opportunity to tour USS Massachusetts.  Even today she remains an impressive artifact.

The U.S.S. Alabama is in Mobile Bay, and open to the public. I've gone a few times, as recently as a few years ago.
Each time I am more impressed.

[misanthropope]

because of how central engine tech is in aurora, i have always found ship generations occur pretty naturally.

let's say you're sitting on an ion engine fleet and are contemplating magneto's plasma.  OK.  make a list of the military techs that are higher-priority than the subsequent engine (Internal Fusion I mean, in this example).  by higher priority, i mean "more worth the effort than accelerating my timetable for IF engines".  Personally, i'd have a reasonable number of 8k techs, and very few 15k ones, in the queue between MP and IF engine projects; i've learned to be fanatical about engines, ymmv.

Once you have that list, you know what your next gen capabilities are going to be, and probably have a good guess what the actual ships will look like.  then you ask yourself:  what C/P stuff will (net) speed up the delivery of this bolus of bountiful belligerence?  you really gotta play this one by ear, since youre spending research time to save shipyard and factory time so it's hugely circumstantial.  but, you pays your money, you takes your chances.  and now you have a gameplan for a whole ship-generation cycle:  the CP research period, the giant exertion of the next engine project, and the follow-up scrabbling to get a tolerable assortment of toys to strap to those cool new engines.  as you're laying down those new ship classes, you're maybe eking a last bit of military power out of your labs, the ground forces research and upgrading your missile tech.  new ships start coming out of the slips, go find a civilization to ruin, and start the whole beautiful thing over.

eventually there comes a time when having your best two PP scientists using maximum labs on engines and plants doesn't put a critical strain on, well, everything else.  at that point generations pretty much go out the window, but in VB6 that was about the time the universe collapsed, so i look forward to dealing with that particular "problem".

[Graymane (OP)]

Thanks everyone, I've gotten a lot of great ideas reading through the threads.  I underestimated the power of refits.  It makes me less afraid of creating ships.  I decided to start normal with one other NPR after reading about the warnings some gave me.  I SMed some starting techs that I wanted (mainly things like harvesters, modules and the like) and set research speed to 5% for after that.  It has been a much more interesting game for me.  Thanks again everyone!