Matrix Games Forums

Several times it has happened where some political figure demands i build X number of submarines or cruisers.
I agree and get a mild budget increase. No more than 2 turns after starting construction i get a message that
congress has decided to cut the naval budget. Is this a bug? If they are going to demand i build things give me at least
12 months without a budget cut.



Warrant Officer 0/0

Since there's an element of randomness to the game with the game's event system - this doesn't sound unreasonable. The nation you choose to play may also have an affect on this. What nation are you seeing this with?

It;s USA. I did a workaround by putting most of my ships in mothballs.
That freed up enough funds to finish these required ships. It just seems counter-productive
to demand i build things and then within 2 turns cut their funding.


Warrant Officer 0/0

Another thing you can do is start the required production and then stop construction. When the message comes up that the building program is up for review, you re-start construction, get the mission accomplished message, and then scrap the ships under construction. Costs a bit of money but you keep the politicians happy. Or you can accept the mission and just ignore them. It's a prestige hit, but you get the money.

You can't always scrap them immediately without getting complaints and a prestige hit from the politicians.

What I've had to do a couple of times is commence the cruisers or whatever, continue construction of however many I want/can afford (usually no more than two or three of the set), halt the rest, and wait for up to a year until I can scrap them.

You can test whether the pollies have lost interest or not by attempting to scrap them every so often, and if you get loud squawking from the Reichstag or whatever, stop! If you don't, you can go ahead.

Also, bit of a gotcha with putting ships into reserve or MB so you can afford new boats, refits whatever. Yes it's great for freeing up budget, and the AI uses it extensively.

BUT: there is a booby trap here in that when you mobilise, you may find you now have a fleet that you now can't afford for more than a handful of months, and don't forget aircraft...

Also, for the first two or three of those months much or all of the fleet will be working up and no actual use for anything at all.

So, unless you get quick victories, you'll be in a very, very bad place if money runs out.

Ensure to periodically check how much the navy will actually cost when active. You do this by Mobilising, checking your budget, and then putting everything back into reserve. If it's very negative, you can try building up a war chest but don't let it get more than around 120-150k, or the politicians will pinch it. This all requires finessing the need for new or refitted ships, money, and when you're trying to provoke a war with someone. Get one or more of the elements wrong, great sadness ensues.

Another useful trick is to start mobilising ships once tensions are high yellow/orange. Don't need to mobilise all of them in one go, just what you can afford.

That helps cushion the impact of mass mobilisation later on.

Heck, I've taken to not putting Carriers and Airbases into reserve/mothballs due to their high upkeep