Shipbuilding, Ports, Yards

[The Rock Doctor]

Preliminary writings:

NAVAL INFRASTRUCTURE

There are two types of naval infrastructure to be operated and tracked by a player, shipyards and ports.

Shipyards build, refit, and repair ships.  Shipyards have a building capacity, expressed in tonnage per turn, that includes construction, refit, and repair work.  Smaller shipyards will have hard limits on the largest possible ship that can be constructed there, and the types of vessels that can be constructed.

Shipyards may be expanded by paying the difference in costs between current and future price.  Expansion takes two turns per level, or until the cost is fully paid, whichever is longer.  Shipyard building capacity is halved during this time period.

Unused shipyard capacity is not transferrable to other facilities or bankable in any way. 

Shipyard Table:
S0   1,000 t per turn; Max ship size = 999 t ND; $5
S1   2,000 t per turn; Max ship size = 5,999 t ND;  $10
S2   5,000 t per turn; No max ship size; $25
S3   10,000 t per turn; No max ship size; $50
S4   20,000 t per turn; No max ship size; $100
S5   50,000 t per turn; No max ship size; $250

Note:  S0 can not build DD, MTB, SS, CV, or ships with belt/deck armor

Ports function as bases, and provide operational and logistical support to ships.

These are purchased individually.  Shipyards and ports can share a common location, but are not required to be of equal capability in such a case.

Upon purchase, the Moderator will assign a harbour depth to either a shipyard or a port.  This is the maximum safe drought that any ship in the harbour may have without risking grounding or rock-strikes.  Ports may be dredged at a cost of ($X) * (Port Size) per metre.

Port Table
P0 supports 1,000 t, costs $2 ($0 at a pre-existing city)
P1 supports 10,000 t, costs $4
P2 supports 50,000 t, costs $16
P3 supports 100,000 t, costs $25
P4 supports 500,000 t, costs $100
P5 supports 1,000,000 t, costs $200

SHIP CONSTRUCTION

Ships are built in shipyards.

Warship costs and construction times are based on their normal-load displacement.  This reflects the reality that ships with larger bunkers will have greater physical size than ships with smaller bunkers and the same light displacement.  The length, width, and draught of a ship is irrelevant for determining production costs, times, and which ports may construct them.

Ship Types

-Warship:  Built to 1.00 HS; 2.0% or more of normal displacement is armament and armor, including misc. weight allocated as such.  $1 per 1,000 t normal displacement; round to nearest cent

-Destroyer:  Built to 0.50 CSHS; Must be 30.00 knots or more.  $1.25 per 1,000 t normal

-Submarine:  Semi- and full-submersible vessels.  $2.00 per 1,000 t normal

-MTB:  Fast, semi-planing attack craft that can not be simmed in SS.  $2.00 per 1,000 t normal

-Auxiliary/Civilian:  Built to 1.00 HS; less than 2.0% of normal displacement is armament and armor, including misc. weight allocated as such.  $0.25 per 1,000 t normal

Ship Construction Times

A ship is completed when a minimum amount of time has passed and their dollar cost has been fully paid.

0-249 t:  4 months
250 – 499 t:  8 months
500 – 999 t:  12 months
1,000 – 1,999 t:  16 months
2,000 – 5,999 t:  20 months
6,000 – 11,999 t:  24 months
12,000 – 19,999 t:   28 months
20,000 – 29,999 t:   32 months
30,000 – 39,999 t:   36 months
40,000 – 49,999 t:   40 months
50,000 – 59,000 t:   44 months
MTB (all sizes):  8 months

These completion times are assumed to include trails and work-ups.

A ship is considered to be launched at the end of the turn in which it became 50% complete.  At this point it is non-functional, but may be towed to another location.

[Nobody]

Are these $ numbers build cost or upkeep? Assuming they are build cost, how much - if any - upkeep should they have?

Aren't 30 kn a bit fast? Or do you want to start in the 1920s (tech wise)?

Last but not least: What about bigger ships ;)? Extending the table?

[The Rock Doctor]

Shipyard and port figures are build costs.  I figure upkeep would likely be the same as ships (currently, 4%/2%/0.5% per turn).

We're likely to start with engine year = 1950.  On that basis, there should be no trouble building destroyers with that speed.  Similarly, I wanted to discourage the kind of 24 knot "destroyers" we had in N3.

I would be pleased to extend the ship table if some megalomaniac you have need for it.

Edit:  Even if we do start with an earlier engine year, I think anything past ~1914-16 will allow competent 30 kt+ destroyers.

[The Rock Doctor]

I agree you can design it; the idea is that such a small shipyard doesn't have workers capable of fitting armor and doing other fancy military work.  Think a civilian shipyard put into service building minesweepers or sloops.

[The Rock Doctor]

Jef was noting that small, armored ships like gunboats could be small enough to be built in S0 yards without the tech restriction. 

I think I somehow deleted his post.

Anyway, my answer to his comment is above.

[Carthaginian]

I agree- only shipyards with experience in building complex designs would be able to build destroyers.
The smallest shipyards would have to settle for something more like a destroyer escort or frigate, built to 1.00 composite strength.

[Jefgte]

Jef was noting that small, armored ships like gunboats could be small enough to be built in S0 yards without the tech restriction. 

I think I somehow deleted his post.

Anyway, my answer to his comment is above.

Sorry Rocky, I have deleted the post about 980t coastal armored gunboat...
I have not tested with SS this kind of ship but I think that she is too small or with poor performances...


Jef

[Delta Force]

If you wanted to, the S5 could produce eleven 50,000 ton warships at a time devoting just the amount of steel needed per turn to each ship. I know it is expensive, but it does seem a tad high for one facility, at least with thr kinds of global populations I am envisioning. I do not think that even the largest World War II shipyard had such high production either.I think the current options give too much production. Even a S2 can make a 50,000 ton ship at full speed, and with only 90% of capacity too.

[Carthaginian]

We're not worried about WWII shipyards, DF.

This would be more like a Vietnam-era shipyard building ships lagging behind in tech. We're not absolutely recreating the WWII shipbuilding environment- we're creating a totally unique environment that combines WWII tech with modern shipbuilding techniques and a post-modern technology base that the people are trying to build back up to.

[Delta Force]

How much money will we have each turn?

[The Rock Doctor]

You'd start out with $40 to $240 a year, depending on your tax rate decision.  That's $13 to $80 per four-month turn.

I think anybody who actually buys an S5 either has the cash to back that up with capital ships, or has completely wasted a fistful of cash on something they'll never need.

[Carthaginian]

The next question on shipbuilding: Guns- how will they be worked?

Will we be using the most modern guns (date: 1950), or will there be some kind of progression?
Will we only be using historic guns, or will fictional designs be allowed (BigGun, NAaB)?

This will make us more aware of things we need to gather to pull things together to prepare.

[The Rock Doctor]

I think historical designs will be necessary at first; a nation's got to know how to build them, the weapons' characteristics, and their own needs before they start designing their own weapons.

As for the era - good question.  Probably late '30s stuff, though a case could be made that DP guns wouldn't make sense (yet).

[Nobody]

We're likely to start with engine year = 1950.

That's a bad idea, at least in my opinion.
Two reasons: 1) 1950 is the end of what SpringSharp supports, which means that new ships could not improve, and that would take the fun out of designing new ships and 2) I don't believe that you can start reinventing steam plant at a 1950 level. You need experience for that which no book can tell you.

Based on what I recently learned about the complexity of even a simple ship engine and how turbines are designed, I would say early turbines and other engines of that period are the most complex ones one can build without predecessors even if better ones are in theory known.

[Carthaginian]

An additional 'perk' of using SS3 that I just thought of: the ability to specify where misc weight is- above deck, on deck, hull above waterline and hull below waterline- could allow for the inclusion of primitive SSMs and SAMs into our designs. This would allow us to, in the very latest stages of technology, give us the opportunity to include some rather advanced things on our ships. ;)