Can players advise me on how they tackle the problem of upgrades to components for ships.and defensive planetary items . For example do you await and upgrade a ship / planet defences when you have perhaps4/5 different upgraded components to install or do you do it each time a vital item has been researched.
With warships is it better to recall the ships to the shipyard ( and have to retool ) each time you have a component that will increase its effectiveness or should you wait and have ships in the fleet with obsolete weapons etc waiting for more items to be reasearched. I suppose that if a ship was sent for refit every time an upgrade is researched it would spend more time at the yard than in space.
Also how does one keep track of all the myriad combinations of weapons on ships that require upgrading on a regular basis .Do players resort to paper and pencil to make a note to upgrade a certain class of vessel when an item/ batch of items is researched. I get bogged down with researching many items then wonder how best to utilise them , especially if many of my ships are equipped with the same components - e.g sensors.
That depends on RP, doctrine and game settings. For instance, doing upgrades one component at a time is much more feasible with reduced research speeds.
But, as for me, I do upgrade ships in “generations”, i.e. when I have a whole set of techs improved (engines, weapons, sensors you name it) even when playing with 25% research.
Speaking of component combinations, I use the same components and just different quantities on different ship classes. The only exception is, ships which are too small to fit general purpose components. That way I know that every mk3 engine should be replaced by mk4 engine, and every mk3 thermal sensor should be replaced by mk4 thermal sensor. No spreadsheet needed.
That approach has its drawbacks though. As you correctly said, entire fleets often are near obsolete. Also, it limits ability to change designs on refit. I have to deal with suboptimal decisions made decades ago and fix those only when mass savings due to armor/CDE tech allow to.
I play with 25% research speed because I don’t like refitting ships every few months whenever a new component finishes.
It makes the game much more relaxed. I usually try to synchronize a couple of important research projects so they finish around the same time. Once they’re done, I redesign the ships and start the refit cycle.
Depending on the ship, I’ll either retool and refit the existing class or, if it’s been in service for many years, retire it and design a completely new class from scratch.
For example, in Nov–Dec 1971 I’ll finish Ceramic Compound Armour and Crew Quarters 40%. Once both are completed, I’ll redesign several ship classes, retool the shipyards, and then gradually recall ships from the fleet for refits instead of upgrading everything at once.
The extra internal space from the new components can go into higher speed, more DPS, better protection, or whatever that class needs most.
It really does depend on what sort of game I am playing. Multi-faction Sol starts - every little advantage matters so ships get upgraded often, even just for a single component. If I am doing a more ‘normal’ game with just one faction, then I usually do generational upgrades to a class. I either keep track via spreadsheet or just checking the ship designs once a new tech level is reached.
I usually try to synchronize a couple of important research projects so they finish around the same time. Once they’re done, I redesign the ships and start the refit cycle.