Ship design Name change and Upgrade

[dejagore]

I've tried to find the answers for the following questions on this forum and found none, so maybe any of You DW Veterans could help me with two issues I have.

1. Change design name - how can I do that ? If I want to make a new version of a ship/base i simply click 'Add new' and I'm doing upgrades. Then I save the design but I can't change anywhere the design name. Because of that my upgraded ships got names like "Copy of Oregon".

2. How to use "Upgrade Selected" button at the Design panel. Even thou it's my first game in DW I've decided to turn off the automation for ships/bases design. Main reason were research facilities. Instead those 'standard' ones I've edited them so that they are more powerful at the begining (max research per station type). But for the ship I would prefer that AI will do the upgrades (at least at the first gameplay). When I turned automation for designs ON, AI started to upgrade also my Research Stations so I turned OFF the automation again. I thought that "Upgrade Selected" button will upgrade selected ship with newest components but it does nothing. Is it a bug or the funcionality has different purpose ?

[ehsumrell1]

I'll try to help Dejagore, and welcome to the forum.
1. To change the design name, just mouse click in the name box and type in
whatever name you wish or delete the words 'Copy of' and on the end add a
designating suffix if you wish (i.e. Beta Frigate 001, Star Cruiser Mk2, etc.).

2. If I understand you correctly, are you checking the right end of the ship design
line (i.e. placing an asterisk there )?

Post back if you still have difficulty! [:)]

[dejagore]

many thanks for the help ehsumrell1 but it only solve the first issue

1. The reason why I cannot change the design name (greyed out box) is because I already have build (upgraded) few ships to this design





2. Maybe I'm using it wrong but I highlight the ship design and hit the "Upgrade Selected" button. Like this :



As You can see the 'Decurion' ship is the one I has since begining. I have research many types of new weapons so it should be upgradeable ? However when I hit "Upgrade Selected" nothing happens.

Many thanks for help upfront!

[ehsumrell1]

If I'm understanding correctly, it might be because somewhere in your Empire a ship
of that type is either currently being built or is in a building queue of a station
somewhere. You can't edit or upgrade a design unless there are no ships of that type
present or there are none either being built or 'on order' to be built. At least
that's what I think is happening. Hope this helps! [:)]

[dejagore]

If what You say is true, it means that to let AI help with upgrading a design I have to first "Copy as New" existing design (i.e. "Decurion"), then highlight the new copied Decurion and hit the "Upgrade Selected Design", to have my ship upgraded (a new design will be created like "Copy of Decurion Mk2"). And to do a clean up I should delete the copied Decurion as it won't be needed any more. Is that correct ?

[Data]

Yes, that's correct. But you don't need to delete as Copy of Decurion Mk2 will actually replace Copy of Decurion.

[Anonymous]

[Deleted by Admins]

[dejagore]

Thanks Data and ehsumrell1. Two main questions of this thread are solved. However I'm sure more questions from my side will appear.

[balto]

I love designing my own ships and bases. I goof-around with all of them.

Let me tell you what I do, if anyone has a better idea, I would love to hear.

(1) In the SHIP DESIGN window I leave the SEE ALL DESIGNS viewing option on.

(2) Select Frigates as an example, then click Copy As New.

(3) Per the above, change the name to something useful, like FRIGATE. Then start adding and subtracting components.

(4) Save that. Then it takes you back to the main design screen. Go into the original Frigate by selecting Edit. Then click on Obsolete. Clicking on Obsolete means it will not show up anymore in any of the other screens.

(5) Then either by cherry-picking individual ships or using the SHIP screen (which I use), you can Retrofit when you have ships that are not on important missions.

(6) As you reserch New Components (Torpedoes, Countermeasures, Fighters, Targetting, Ion Cannons, etc), you can make some new designs.

I am not sure how well I worded this, but if you follow these basics, it works great.

PS - Remember to not Tech up Colony ships because they only do one thing.., and they are done. Also, Tech Up Gas Mining Stations.., put more Shields an Area Weapon and a Torpedo., it helps. Put more Fuel Tanks in ALL of your ships (including Private).

[dejagore]

Good tips balto. Will try them out in todays DW session.

[balto]

I am always looking for great tips. Please give me some feedback on what you find.

[Bingeling]

I think you do things a bit "hard"

I have not done manual research, but from a quick test.

1: Select your design in the list. Select "upgrade selected design". The old one is automatically set as obsolete, and you can edit the new one as you please, as no copy of the design exists (you did of course do this while paused?).

2: Done.

As for a discussion somewhere else, and cumbersome obsoletion. I can do this in the design list just fine. Select "show non-obsolete designs", in the pulldown select in the list. Obsolete the ones you don't want by clicking in the right column. A red mark appears, and the design should be obsolete. There is no need to enter a design to do this.

As for design, I am tempted to overrule the AI. I got the max level of impact assault blasters as a freebie, and the stupid AI insists on using the 7 damage first step of shatterforce lasers. 10 range, 1 size gained, 15 damage lost (7 vs 22). The Ackie AI loves weak guns.

[balto]

EXCELLENT BINGELING!!!! I cannot wait to test this tonight.

[dejagore]

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

I think you do things a bit "hard"

I have not done manual research, but from a quick test.

1: Select your design in the list. Select "upgrade selected design". The old one is automatically set as obsolete, and you can edit the new one as you please, as no copy of the design exists (you did of course do this while paused?).

2: Done.

As for a discussion somewhere else, and cumbersome obsoletion. I can do this in the design list just fine. Select "show non-obsolete designs", in the pulldown select in the list. Obsolete the ones you don't want by clicking in the right column. A red mark appears, and the design should be obsolete. There is no need to enter a design to do this.

As for design, I am tempted to overrule the AI. I got the max level of impact assault blasters as a freebie, and the stupid AI insists on using the 7 damage first step of shatterforce lasers. 10 range, 1 size gained, 15 damage lost (7 vs 22). The Ackie AI loves weak guns.

It's not 'that' easy. When You select a design on the list which You already build or is in queue, You cannot Upgrade it. You have to make copy and then upgrade. To be sure I will double check it.

[Lorini]

I use copy as new to create new mining station designs, but the existing mining stations won't show a retrofit option. Why? What do I need to do?

[onomastikon]

@Lorini: unless I am mistaken, you cannot retrofit bases which are not at colonies, although some bases not at colonies show the retrofit option (but clicking it does nothing)
@bingeling: balto's workaround has the advantage (despite being long) of allowing the player to avoid problems of hitting the "upgrade" button. I never use that button anymore, because using it often has the AI replace my (good, desired) design with an outdated one, e.g. replacing novacore reactors with fission reactors. I don't see an easy way around that problem