Design

## Maintenance

If kept in Active Fleet, most components will cost maintenance equal to their build cost over about 20 years. Machinery seems to be about twice as costly to maintain as other components, costing maintenance equal to the build cost over about 10 years. Maintenance is reduced to 50% in Reserve Fleet and 20% in Mothball.

## Machinery

Small power plants cost about 5 per ton, though this tends to increase for large power plants.

### Fuel

The amount of fuel ship carries is determined by the Range setting. More range means the ship is built with more fuel storage. This is why a ship's range cannot be changed, even when replacing the machinery.

A ship's range is primarily a concern for the strategic layer. It has no effect during combat.

Short range ships cannot move between territories during war. If they are in transit when war breaks out, they are stuck wherever they're at until the war ends. In addition, short range ships cannot function as raiders and are less effective on foreign stations. Using short range on ships that are never intended to leave home territory is a good way to save tonnage, whether to fit more of other things, or to reduce maintenance costs. How spread out a nation's colonies are should also be an important consideration when considering whether or not a ship should have short range.

Destroyers with short range are a special case. Before each battle starts, the game may remove destroyers from the forces available to the player. The chances are based on the distance to the nearest friendly port (possibly also neutral ports).

Medium range is the typical setting. These ships can move on the strategic map during war.

The long and extreme ranges are primarily beneficial for ships assigned as *raiders*. Having higher than medium range will greatly reduce their chances of running out of fuel and being interred in a neutral port for the remainder of the war. It improves their chances of sinking enemy merchants, and their chances of escaping enemy patrols. Ships set to *trade protection* with long range have a better chance of intercepting enemy raiders. However, the fuel for long range is very heavy, and extreme range is out of the question for most designs.

### Unit machinery

This makes engines more resistant to damage, and greatly decreases the reduction in maximum speed associated with engine damage. It multiplies Hull and Fittings weight and cost by 1.02, engine weight (but not cost) by 1.02, and belt and deck armor weight and cost by 1.01.

### Engine priority

This can be set to Speed, Normal, or Reliability. Speed weighs 0.9 times as much but is more prone to engine trouble, while Reliability weighs 1.1 times as much but is less prone to engine trouble. Cost is unaffected. Note that oil and diesel engines are inherently more reliable than coal engines.

## Hull and Fittings

Costs 3.33 per ton.

High speeds can increase the weight and cost of hull and fittings.

## Armor

Costs 3 per ton. High speeds can increase the weight and cost of belt, belt extended, deck, and deck extended armor, presumably due to a longer hull form.

### Magazine box

This multiplies belt and deck armor weight and cost by 0.66, but halves armor thickness apart from magazines.

### Inclined belt

This makes belt armor about 10% more effective, but multiplies belt cost (but not weight) by 1.33.

## Accommodation

0.6 tons and 2 cost per complement, for 3.33 cost per ton. Many components increase the complement of the ship.

### Cramped

Cramped quarters reduces accommodation tonnage, but not cost, by 30%.

Ships with cramped quarters lose morale every turn they are outside of a home region (some nations have two), whether at war or at peace. For best results, this option should only be used on ships that will never leave the home region where they were built. For most ships, this means only ships with short range should use it, but even then, not on short range ships that might be sent to foreign stations. Destroyers are an exception, as they require medium range just to reach everywhere within the home region. The game does not permit the use of cramped quarters on ships with long or extreme range.

### Colonial Service

Ships with this box checked count as having 25% more tonnage on foreign stations. A 4000 ton ship will count as 5000 tons, for example. This allows the use of smaller ships, for lower maintenance costs. While not confirmed, it seems likely that the ship also counts as 25% larger in regards to suppressing rebellions, since rebellion suppression is based on fleet tonnage in the region.

## Main Guns

Guns cost about 10 per ton. Dual-purpose mountings multiply the weight and cost of guns by about 1.5. Autoloaders multiply the weight and cost of guns by about 2.

* Turret positions 1, 2, 3, and 4 do not count as centerline, and therefore do not affect centerline crowding or against any limitations a ship may have in the number of allowed centerline turrets.
* Having a Q, R, V, or W turret will reduce the rate of fire of turreted secondaries by 20%. Secondaries in casemates are not penalized. In addition, a V turret will also reduce the number of AA positions by 10%.
	+ In the patch notes, the Devs wrote that this is to encourage the use of casemates more.

## Anti-Aircraft

 Medium | 3 | 5 | 3.2
 Director | 3 | 15 | 8

All of these cost 2 per ton.

## Torpedoes

Each tube weighs 15 tons (-1 ton per weight-saving technology)? Tubes cost 5 per ton.

Reloads multiply the tube weight and cost by 1.5.

Crew complement:

* Having torpedoes at all requires 4 crew.
* Each mount requires 6 crew.
* Mounts with multiple tubes require 1 crew member per tube.

## Aviation/Carriers

Aircraft capacity usually costs 1 per ton.

Each aircraft requires 20 crew.

The first seaplane weighs 126 tons, with each additional seaplane weighing 2 tons more than the last.

For ships with flight decks, the first 50 capacity weighs 148 tons per aircraft, and the next 50 capacity weighs 128 tons per aircraft. Efficiency drops off rapidly above this.

Catapults cost 5 per ton. Seaplane catapults weigh 10 tons each. Carrier catapults weigh ? tons each.

Maximum carrier displacement at any given time is equal to your tech level in "Shipboard aircraft operation" times 4,000.

A **seaplane carrier (AV)** initially has a maximum of 5,000 tons and 5 floatplane scouts. After the "Improved seaplane carrier" tech, this increases to 14,000 tons (need to check if this increases with higher Shipboard aircraft operation tech) and the limit on the number of seaplanes is removed. Besides scouting, they can also be used to make bombing runs when loaded with floatplanes capable of carrying bombs.

A **light carrier (CVL)** can never exceed 16,000 tons and/or 34 aircraft. A minimum of 5 aircraft are required. Any guns must be 6" or less, and must be in single turrets (no casemates either). The guns can only have gun shields, which means 2" of armor or less.

A fleet **carrier (CV)** requires at least 24 knots and 14,100 tons. There is some displacement overlap with CVLs. Up to 16,000 tons, a CV requires at least 36 planes or it will be reclassified as a CVL. Above 16,000 tons, a CV requires at least 25 aircraft.