Ships Showing Component Errors in Campaign When Refitting

[TechnoSarge]

I have been plagued with designs that pass the quality check (no errors noted, no issues like "limited firing arc", etc.) when saving but which are loaded with errors when I open them again in a few game years to do a refit. I have often wondered why some ships refuse to shoot all their guns or launch their torpedoes - when I pause and zoom in close, they're not even training on the enemy!

Now, I think I've figured out why.

The Big Gun and Small Gun techs promise somewhat better stats on the basic weapon and infer that  - abracadabra! - your fleet suddenly magically produced and installed them. If it makes any real improvement, it's hidden in the weeds, because your old reload time is now erased so there's no comparison, and of course there isn't a base accuracy listed for the weapon to begin with.

But I think the Mk II, Mk III, etc. versions are bigger each time, and the diameter of the turret has to grow as well. Suddenly the guns or torps won't rotate, because there wasn't enough clearance in the design to accommodate bigger stuff. Now you have "better" weapons that won't track and/or fire!

I think this is true because upon attempting a refit on one old CA (see below) the turret shapes were not what I recalled. I think the turrets were "modernized" along with the guns within.

Game-Labs, I offer 2 suggestions (assuming upon investigation this is what's happening):

1. Don't automatically retrofit the fleet with new marks of weapons; save them for refits. (And make the earlier model available to put back after trying a new mark and finding it won't fit. And you know Undo will not work for you here!)

2. Or, don't change the physical look/size of the weapon, so it will always fit, if it did once. (Preferred!)

 

Here's a CA in refit mode. Most of the ship looks to be unusable. It was fine when built.

[Wowzery]

So what you're asking for with the guns is for the player to have the option to upgrade the Mk of the guns when doing refits, not it being automatic.