Retro-fitting older ships

[Cornflake]

Question or suggestion. unsure.

If i have some ships out in space, and i unlock "advanced damage repair" or "reinforced hull", do these ships built before i unlocked that tech get "retro-fitted with this new tech auto-matically ?

If not, can we consider adding this. I could park those ships at any world with a "basic shipyard" and for the cost of X turns those ships would get those new tech items added ? This would just be for tech unlocked that you do now add on the SHIP BUILD screen. So new armors or guns would not be retro-fits. reinforced hull would be.

And are there more items like "reinforced hull" and "advanced damage repair" in the works ? Particularly at the lower levels before you start unlocking armors and dampeners ? Improved gunsight maybe ? or escape pods to save the crew ? Maybe an item that can make refueling in deep space faster (if unlocked and equipped) ?

And when this tech is unlocked, how do we determine this with the existing ship stats ? What should we see change ?

[Dilvish]

If i have some ships out in space, and i unlock "advanced damage repair" or "reinforced hull", do these ships built before i unlocked that tech get "retro-fitted with this new tech auto-matically ?

Those techs do, you can see that the structure meter for the ship now has a contribution from reinforced hull. Upgrades to weapons don't automatically roll out to existing ships, but there has been some discussion of the possibility.

[MatGB]

If i have some ships out in space, and i unlock "advanced damage repair" or "reinforced hull", do these ships built before i unlocked that tech get "retro-fitted with this new tech auto-matically ?

Yes. Specifically all the damage control techs are fleet wide and not dependent on individual parts. The way the game works is that it's easier to code a fleet wide bonus that applies to all than for it to apply to just newbuilds.

for Reinforced Hull, it'll normally also apply immediately unless the ships are in combat at the time when it sometimes doesn't apply, but getting them to a drydock or letting damage control kick in will do the job.

And are there more items like "reinforced hull" and "advanced damage repair" in the works ? Particularly at the lower levels before you start unlocking armors and dampeners ? Improved gunsight maybe ? or escape pods to save the crew ? Maybe an item that can make refueling in deep space faster (if unlocked and equipped) ?

Possibly, I definitely plan more work in the damage control area, but I/we would need a solid idea to script up—for what it's worth I started knowing very little about coding at all and just dug into the scripting language to "fix" a few things, then started going into more and more detail as I got the hang of it, I still make rookie mistakes but the more experienced Devs point out what I've missed when I do.

For space refuelling, you want to research Deuterium Tank, it also unlocks the Ramscoop, which possibly ought to get its own tech at some point.

And when this tech is unlocked, how do we determine this with the existing ship stats ? What should we see change ?

Always depends on the tech, damage control won't show up directly but will have an affect turn by turn (I did code in sitreps for the techs but they were far too annoying so never pushed it for release), other things will, hopefully, show up and do what they say.

[Revlot]

Say I have a fleet of Organic hulls and I want to upgrade them to Robotic hulls? My feeling is that ships in deep space away from lines shouldn't get it, but ships within the empire have ready access at all ports of call. Some upgrades should be instant and others should take time, as in a new scanner the ship can fabricate on-board so its instant, and a new engine needs to be in a dock. TBH I have not gotten to upgrading ships yet so I will play around with it in my current game. But I do wonder what happens to the PP of scrapped ships. In deep space I assume that the PP is lost, and in my borders it is recycled at a loss.

Perhaps these questions have been answered and I have not fully understood if I have read it already. But I do keep reading the forums.

[Dilvish]

But I do wonder what happens to the PP of scrapped ships. In deep space I assume that the PP is lost, and in my borders it is recycled at a loss.

Location does not matter, and there is no explicit recycling of materials. But, scrapping ships reduces the overall fleet count, which reduces the 'fleet upkeep' portion of new ship cost, so the scrapping process could be understood as including some implicit recycling.

[Geoff the Medio]

But I do wonder what happens to the PP of scrapped ships. In deep space I assume that the PP is lost, and in my borders it is recycled at a loss.

PP from scrapped ships is intentionally not given back to the player. If it was, it would have to be given at a particular location, presumably where the ship is scrapped. That would let players move PP from one supply-connected group of systems to another by producing ships, moving them, then scrapping. This would be very micromanagement intensive, so is not allowed.