Shipbuilding, Ports, Yards

[Carthaginian]

Now, as far as the actual ships being built- we need to decide a few things:

1.) How new is the reintroduction of naval warfare? Have we been building several different types of (presumably small) dedicated warships over the years and quietly plugging away at each other on rare occasions? Have we been building a few escort-type vessels for convoy security and mostly cargo ships beyond that? Has there been no attempt to bring warfare back to the seas yet, meaning that we're going to basically be starting with auxiliary cruisers and armed trawlers?
2.) How will the ships develop? What level would the tech tree immediately allow us to start building at? What will we do about powerplants- start with 'the best' or have 'generations' for engine year? Will we have limitations on gun bore relative to part facilities?
3.) Are there 'prior considerations?' Is there some kind of treaty in place regulating the use of submarines and mines, or have they just never really been used before?

[The Rock Doctor]

To my thinking:

1)  Probably a history of coast guard/fisheries protection/anti-piracy stuff, with appropriate ships in service.  Skirmishes are possible.  I envision actual warfare as being relatively new, probably not more than three to five years in the past - the result of one NPC city deciding to whomp another.

2)  No strong preferences.  I expect anybody seeking to immediately build Yamato would regret the decision when another dude sails a Dreadnought into his harbour just after Yamato's launch.

3)  I think civilian submarines are a logical pre-existing item:  They'd be used in constructing and maintaining the underwater portion of a city.

[miketr]

I am withholding comments till Rocky can give more details on what he has in mind.

Michael

[The Rock Doctor]

To elaborate, then:

1)  There isn't much tradition of wars in the past.  Nobody could afford the commitment involved in building up and maintaining a military.  There were skirmishes here and there over issues - good sites for city building, underwater mineral deposits, etc. 

One year before the sim starts, that changed.  An NPC state with a long-standing, unresolved issue against its neighbour built up an expeditionary force.  It used civilian transports to haul troops, and escorted them not only with their usual gunboats but also a couple of new armored ships akin to monitors.  These latter units were able to suppress the target city's limited batteries, troops were landed, and the city was occupied.  NPCs and PCs worldwide have an "Oh...uh...shit", moment.

As the sim starts, players would have done a "spending spree" to provide:

-A relatively modest quantity of gunboat/cutter/patrol boat type vessels.  It was suggested to me that the "Gunboat" clauses of the London Treaty would be a good baseline for what was possible of ships already in service.

-A relatively modest amount of infrastructure

-A relatively modest amount of marines.

2-3)  I'll post my preliminary rules set in a new thread and you can my thoughts on tech.  I'm open on things like engine years.