Colonial "Station Command" Ships

[The Rock Doctor]

In other games, I've typically responded to the need for "Station Command" roles in distant colonies by sending over older, expendable crap that can still scare local neighbours and deter the small fry of genuine threats.

This game, I figure I'll shake that up and built some custom stuff.

I figure that means the ships needs to have:

-Some fixtures for the specific climate the ship will be home-ported at; this implies sub-classes for tropical waters and for the sub-Antarctic.

-Some accommodation for marines or troops

-Good wireless set

-Maybe easily repaired guns and machinery rather than new-fangled stuff, since there are no shipyards or docks at these locations

-Flag accommodation

What do you think your approach is going to be?

[Walter]

Stuff as mentioned and I do not think big guns are needed. Low draught would be useful in order to get close to shore or move far up a river...

... so I guess I would have to make a few of such ships for my Amazon Campaign, in order to protect my troops from all the hungry cannibals there. :)

[The Rock Doctor]

I think you can run 6m draught all the way to Manaus. 

[Walter]

Who says my campaign will end at Manaus? :)

[Jefgte]

Who says my campaign will end at Manaus?

He really wants to meet cannibals   :-\

[The Rock Doctor]

Who says my campaign will end at Manaus?

He really wants to meet cannibals   :-\

I hear there are some fine young cannibals there.

[Kaiser Kirk]

Good question,

I'm still playing with options.
I have put forward the long range cruisers and dispatch cruisers I plan to build some of to provide sea control and communications. I may make some Zeppelin squadrons for LR commo.
I expect I may refurbish or replace older torpedo boat squadrons and deploy them for local defense.

I already have some river gunboats on the Tigris, and some patrol gunboats for the African/Bengal coast. They are antiquated, but adequate for showing the flag for now.

IF we had coast defense guns, I'd be buying them and mapping where they were relative to my harbors, but we're not doing that level of detail.
I've played with a variety of station battleship designs meant to be able to thwart a BC or Armored cruiser and either defend a port or a critical convoy, but I'm not sure that's a good use of resources. 

I'm also looking hard at rebuilding older ships, but leaving them with coal as a partial fuel to operate in colonial areas where any merchant fuel sources would be coal. Parthia may have copious amounts of oil, but that may not be readily available at my Atlantic bases or adjacent trading ports, and would be difficult to take off of captures.

[Darman]

Refurbishing older ships and refitting them with commo equipment and additional small boats or other cosmetic changes may be better than wasting BP on new designs