Wrf, you have even less to work with than I do...
Okay, each factory you have makes 1000t of materials per quarter. You have two factories, making 2,000 t of materials. When you buy a ship, then you use those materials to build it.
Say you wanted to buy a destroyer. According to the rules, it can be built in (light tonnage/1000) + 9 = number of months (if it's over 500t). Say it's 2000t light tonnage. That means it can be built in exactly 11 months.
The destroyer is laid down in your shipyard and you need to put 2,000 tons of materials into it to complete it. Since that's 11 months overall, you divide light tonnage by the number of months, and discover you need to add 182 tons per month, or 546 tons per quarter.
Of the 2,000 tons of materials you make per quarter, you need to earmark 546t for your destroyer.
Once the destroyer has 40% of the materials (800tons) or 40% of the build time (4.4 months) then it can be launched and the slip used for other ships. Whichever figure is later is the time you can launch it.
For ships smaller than 500t, there's a different system. I'll take the torpedo boat you posted on the Ship Design folder as an example. The light displacement is 325 tons, which means it can be built in (l.d./1000)+4 = months, or 4.325 months. You're putting in 75 tons per month, except for the last month, where you put in... ah... 25.
In other words, you'd put in 75 tons for the three months it's being built, or 225 tons for the first quarter, and 100 tons for the second.
After your torpedo boat is completed, then it will spend three months working up and taking on fuel, stores, ammunition, and the like. Once that's done, she's ready to go fight your enemies.
This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "Brockpaine" (Feb 22nd 2008, 4:32am)