I've planned to build a battlecruiser for 2 turns. Last turn, I revised the design, and it was too big again, so I wanted to build it this turn.
But now, the triumphant launch might be a touch diminished given the cost and reduced available budget.
But if I build them next turn, I lose out on a turn of work for my largest yard.
But then, they are more a prestige project, and wouldn't necessarily help in the current situation. Tricky.
... Damn, the new weapon listing is hardly readable.
Why you want to get rid of them, though? They are your only ship that could actually reliably catch pirates operating in your territory.
Prestige -is- a role for a warship to serve, and arguably an important one. 'Look at my two big SCAAARY Battleships' may have more diplomatic and political impact than 'Here are twenty boring but effective cruisers', even though the twenty cruisers are more useful.
I dont find the weapon list at all hard to read? Maybe my eyes are just used to it, having done the conversion.
Although the phrase 'Battlecruiser' itself makes me think. Real world ship classes represented roles, and were meaningful (usually). They have come to make less sense over time - 'cruisers' and 'destroyers' are often the main combatants of a modern navy, but those terms are used rather than 'battleship' because to us 'battleship' means 'big guns', which are not a major naval weapon at this time.
Heck... consider 'ship of the line' vs. 'line of battle-ship' vs 'battleship' (predreadnought) vs. "Dreadnought Battleship" vs. "Superdreadnought" (and the Battlecruisers that were mostly contemporaneous with the Superdreadnoughts) vs. the post-WW1 'Fast Battleship' (theoretically the marriage of the Superdreadnoughts and the Battlecruisers - sacrificing neither armor nor speed, and paying a lofty premium in tonnage and cost to do both at once).
I imagine that each navy will tend to break down ships by intended roles, and it will take a while for nomenclature to standardize (if it ever does).
My own preference runs to large, multirole ships - I dont think the return on investment in specialization is worth the payoff, in this design space - thus the Quan Yin and Pallada for the Capellan Confederation - both large, and both multirole (though not EVERY role - Pallada does different jobs than Quan Yin, but both cover a lot of jobs - between them, most of the jobs the CC needed done). If I still had the CC, theyd probably keep using the phrase 'Cruiser' for multirole ships... Light, Heavy, and a hypothetical 'Battlecruiser' if they ever go much bigger than Quan Yin.. and would then use more specialized designations for 'pure warships'... Battleship or Dreadnought/Destroyer/Frigate perhaps. Fighter carriage is an independent variable, though a 'Cruiser' is likely to carry DIFFERENT fighters, with different cargo loads to feed them, than a Battleship.
Over on the THN side of things, they are throwing 'multirole' to the winds. The THN just got plastered, and it needs to not lose fights. Its territory is tight enough that 'long range' isnt an issue... no ship will ever be more than a jump away from a friendly world, and no ship is every likely to be more than a month away from Terra. So range is largely a non-issue.
Of these, the Constitutions are still fairly 'multirole', and carry a lot of cargo for the THN - and thus are Cruisers. The new Iron Duke class is PURE Wall of Battle Crunch, and thus Battleships. The Typhoons are a one off 'Dreadnought' Class, probably headed for a role as fleet support and command ships, and unlikely to be repeated (due to the cost of combining LFBs with Collars).
All LFB ships get the designation 'Fast' - to reflect their high strategic speed.
Im not sure about future THN designations. In time, I think the Constitutions will become the 'light escort/maid of all work' hulls of the THN - continue to be mutirole 'do-everything' style hulls. I dont know if there will ever be a PURE 'fleet escort' design - a hypothetical Constitution weight hull with the multirole capacity sacrificed in the name of AAA/PDS fit. Its possible that a Connie successor will just grow more of that over time, and her designation move from 'Cruiser' to "Light Cruiser, with the Iron Duke falling into a support role for a later class of heavier battleships.
Id REALLY like to see the THN add additional specialized classes over time, but right now they need pure combat weight ASAP, and are only allowing themselves one 'multirole' ship. And in all fairness, despite having so many different ship classes, the historic Jutland era navies really only broke down to a few main types.. BBs, BCs (likely a mistake, but not as bad one as some judge, IMHO), Armored Cruisers (a dying class by WWI) Light Cruisers (mostly destroyer leaders and anti-destroyer and escort duties) and DDs (first created to oppose, and later replacing, the Torpedo Boat.. Destroyer was originally short for 'Torpedo Boat Destoryer')
