The unreasonable effectiveness of submarines

[Louella]

Making it a separate hull type rather than a modification of destroyers might actually make it easier.

another problem is that there are only 3 kinds of surface combat ship, mechanics wise. "Screen", "Capital", and "Carrier". I'm not sure how to make the AI build fleet destroyers in addition to convoy escort ships, instead of it going "wow these are cheap" and building convoy escorts and attempting to use them in their strike forces, which would have predictable results.

 

[AFilthyCasual]

another problem is that there are only 3 kinds of surface combat ship, mechanics wise. "Screen", "Capital", and "Carrier". I'm not sure how to make the AI build fleet destroyers in addition to convoy escort ships, instead of it going "wow these are cheap" and building convoy escorts and attempting to use them in their strike forces, which would have predictable results.

If escorts were a separate type, then you should be able to simply set a condition that the AI will at minimum prioritize building enough destroyers for the number of capitals it currently has and are currently under construction, probably more (for leeway/scouting), and enough escorts for the number of convoys it's currently running +some extra.

 

[Louella]

Making it a separate hull type rather than a modification of destroyers might actually make it easier.

I've been looking at the common/ai_equipment folder, and it seems there might be a way to do things that would work without everything going crazy.

there are plans for these:
roles = {
naval_screen
}
and
roles = {
naval_escort
}

which I think would mean that plugging in the "corvette" hull type into the "naval_escort" role strategy, would mean that the AI would build the corvettes for convoy escort, but build proper destroyers for normal destroyer roles.