Refitting ships or tanks?

[MonkeyFuzz]

With increasing army, navy, and air experience players can upgrade the designs of their ships, tanks, and aircraft. These variants, as has been discussed, can be constructed as new builds by your dockyards and factories.

My question is: is there (or should there be) a mechanic to allow refitting your already-built ships, tanks, or aircraft to the new variant's specifications? I would imagine it akin to taking your fighters and mounting drop-tanks, giving armor skirts to a Panzer IV, or converting a Type VIIC into a U-flak (for what that's worth).

Perhaps in the most extreme examples would be completely repurposing a vessel, say yoinking the turret off that tank and turning it into an AA platform or the conversion of a convoy unit into an escort carrier (something the game doesn't have as a stock unit) or an auxiliary cruiser.

I would expect the conversion from an old variant to a new one would be substantially cheaper in terms of factory/dockyard usage versus constructing a whole new unit from scratch.

 

[Sun_Killer]

for the exampel of the tank to AA, they talked about such a mechanic but i think it didn´t make it into the base game. but i am hoping for a dlc

 

[blue_yonder]

The ability to retro-fit old stuff would completely undermine the core new mechanic of the game – the dilemma between producing quality or quantity. If you can send things back to the factory later on, problem solved and no more strategic headache. Old gear has perfectly good uses: training, lend-lease, reserve divisions.

edit: ships are different; dockyards don't have efficiency, and ships don't have the secondary uses land equipment does, so a good case can be made for them.

 

[MonkeyFuzz]

Not entirely so. I would imagine that the factories would have to fill in the gap of material that is then being used to upgrade units. Altering ground units away from factories might be slower or more expensive. You would still have the larger decision of whether it's worth while to upgrade an old design or to drive ahead with the next research tier. As an example: Type VII U-boats got upgrade after upgrade (B, C, U-Flak, C/41 and almost C/42) and Germany completely failed to move on to better designs until after Black May.

 

[Killerrabbit]

for the exampel of the tank to AA, they talked about such a mechanic but i think it didn´t make it into the base game. but i am hoping for a dlc

That's in the game. But you cannot convert existing equipment (that you already have built) into new types.

 

[gamedude]

The ability to retro-fit old stuff would completely undermine the core new mechanic of the game – the dilemma between producing quality or quantity. If you can send things back to the factory later on, problem solved and no more strategic headache. Old gear has perfectly good uses: training, lend-lease, reserve divisions.

edit: ships are different; dockyards don't have efficiency, and ships don't have the secondary uses land equipment does, so a good case can be made for them.

I think you are missing the point. The idea behind REFIT is not to melt the tank and make a new one. Instead you change already made tanks and add or remove things... however at a cost: Labor, Materials and Industrial Capacity. (Nation wide costs) For the actual vehicle you are retrofitting depends on the retrofit. Example would be if i made a Panzer 3. I could easily add new armor, change the gun or add a new engine. HOWEVER! Retrofitting takes more time and resources than making a tank in an assembly line, but still possible.

Retrofitting is a viable option that doesn't break the mechanic already in use. It allows you to "easily" change current stockpiled tanks to something that could be better used.
Sure i can put it in the front-line but why would i if it is so bad at doing it's job? Instead you could remove the whole turret of the Panzer 3 and add a AA gun to combat airplanes instead.

Let's say i use one factory to make 2-3 tanks a day in an assembly line but when i want to retrofit old tanks, i have to use one factory to disassemble the tank and assemble the new gear on the tank for like 1 week.


For naval ships... There are circumstances where old ww1/pre-war battleships were retrofitted to carriers.

 

[MonkeyFuzz]

I think you are missing the point. The idea behind REFIT is not to melt the tank and make a new one. Instead you change already made tanks and add or remove things... however at a cost: Labor, Materials and Industrial Capacity. (Nation wide costs) For the actual vehicle you are retrofitting depends on the retrofit. Example would be if i made a Panzer 3. I could easily add new armor, change the gun or add a new engine. HOWEVER! Retrofitting takes more time and resources than making a tank in an assembly line, but still possible.

Retrofitting is a viable option that doesn't break the mechanic already in use. It allows you to "easily" change current stockpiled tanks to something that could be better used.
Sure i can put it in the front-line but why would i if it is so bad at doing it's job? Instead you could remove the whole turret of the Panzer 3 and add a AA gun to combat airplanes instead.

Let's say i use one factory to make 2-3 tanks a day in an assembly line but when i want to retrofit old tanks, i have to use one factory to disassemble the tank and assemble the new gear on the tank for like 1 week.


For naval ships... There are circumstances where old ww1/pre-war battleships were retrofitted to carriers.

Exactly. I think refitting is most appropriate for huge items, like capital ships, but it also has its place for smaller items, too.