Making units obsolete

[T_K]

It would be nice if there was a feature in the game to make units obsolete. This is useful if you want a branching tech tree and want to keep some older units in production and at some point decide you don't want them in your production list anymore. I guess it's possible right now if you just add a "declare obsolete" research with no cost but it'd be nicer if there was such a feature already.

[T_K]

To expand on this:
I would like to simulate older units being kept in production because switching to new models would take some time and reduce production temporarily. Like the Pz IV was kept in production till the end of the war despite the Panther being available in mid 1943 because if everybody switched at the same time to building Panthers, tank production would have practically halted for months.

I am not entirely sure how to do this right now.

[mgaffn1]

I believe this can be accomplished in the editor via the ITEM submenu. I have done it by accident so am sure you can do it deliberately. There is a line in the Item list that says "upgrades to" followed by a blank. Instead of the SFType number, enter "-1".
I *think* this could do what you want...
(if not, you could also dabble with the SFType screen in the editor - this should enable all new tanks to be panthers, but wouldn't allow you to upgrade your Pz IV's already in the field...)
good luck

[T_K]

Yeah I already know how to do that. But then there's no way to obsolete a design unless you add a 0 cost dummy research for that.
And I have absolutely no idea how to go about having a brand new design being expensive to produce at a certain factory and then getting cheaper over time.

[mgaffn1]

Why not create a research field that costs 1pp called "improved tank production" that enables you to produce an new SFType called "cheaper Pz IV" or something like that. Set up an identical item type to the Pz IV, but make it cost less raw materials to make.

OR

for the research cost of building, say, a Panther tank (Med. Tank IV) , the research field also enables a new SFType: the cheap PzIV (Med. Tank III). One research field can trigger different SFTypes, and via Itemtypes you can make them "cheaper".


As far as doing it over a span of time, you'll need to ask someone who knows more about programming than me.
good luck...