One thing that’s been giving me trouble while trying to finalize the Admiral Hipper‘s externals is the weapon loadout. I don’t like having one more than one weapon mod, but Northwind has the right type of main battery gun I need for most of the Hipper class. If the SBY mod by ribera manages to fix whatever’s wrong with the small grid of the shock cannons, I might be able to make working custom turrets, but for now it’s a waiting game.

I’m not just waiting for him to fix the small grid shock cannons–that’s probably a tricky combination of factors. What I’m waiting for is the phase 1, or Garmillas update. Adding those weapons will give me a much better selection of possible primary and secondary weapons for the Kaisers and KI. I still want the Kaiser energy projectiles to all or mostly be red, so there are a few weapons I’ve got my eyes on.

I’m also lowering the number of CIWS on the Hipper since, big or small, no weapon in the SBY mod costs less than 300 PCU. Since the torpedo/missile count is fixed at this point, the only way to dial down Hipper’s PCU cost and try to keep it below 70k is to trim down the AA as much as I can get away with. Fortunately this limitation is making things interesting on the outside. You can tell there’s room for upgrades, as if the Kaiser’s own economy was catching up with them during the building phase and–like me–they had to cut back on a few ideas to make the whole thing work.

It’s far more annoying on the inside. With the interior rapidly filling out, it’s getting harder and harder to stay under the 70k PCU cap I’ve set for Kaiser cruisers. I still have several major areas to do, including the 2nd bridge, and I’m already in the 65-70k PCU range. A few too many interactables and doors here could make all the difference, and I need a good deal more of them.

I don’t expect the phase 1 update to help me fix the PCU budget, but the closer I can get the ship to how I want it as a whole, the easier it’ll be to whittle her down to her most necessary parts and then polish things up.