Professor Wayne King-Meiouf of the University of ProximaThe first draft of the 2112/3 Ship Building Plan was interesting reading but one thing that stands out from it is the fact that a few of long standing ship classes will be coming to the ends of their production lives. The Type 35 will come to an end when the last Indies are made and the Extender will be finished (at least as built by the DDS). Although some Isometrics and Solaris will be outstanding for 2113/4 there are only a few left of those too.
In 2114 the DDS is due to begin production of the Dragonfly 16A* bomber and the Corkscrew 51A medium combat ship but that does mean that in 2113 we could have a quiet year ship building wise!
Reconfiguring the production jigs will take some time of course (though the Extender/Provider line will be rejigged from late next year ready for the new bomber) but the DDS may have to try and fit in a few extra ships from somewhere, i'm sure no one apart from DDS Finance will complain about a couple more Indies! (By the way the Type 35 jig will be used for the Corkscrew now as the Isometric jig will be needed for the Terran Sea ILU and Unification programme around 2115.)
The DDS will want to keep all jigs maintained though so is there a new ship class as yet unannounced that is waiting in the wings?
* The official name of the new bomber has yet to be revealed though i have heard that Dragonfly is a current favourite.
