[Taqwus]

There are two details you need to know about refits...

a) The cost limit is based on the cost of the current design, not the original.

b) You don't need to repair a component before you can refit it.

This means that if you have a series of designs of the same hull type where each iteration increases the cost of each resource by no more than 50% (by default; moddable), you can do perform ALL the refits from the start to the end in one turn (as long as you can afford them).

IOW, you can build a cheap starbase in X turns; refit it to a sphereworld base in 1 turn; and then repair it in another turn. You end up paying for it all up front, which could be nasty; I don't know how the cost compares with the maintenance required for the normal multi-year way, which would in any event vary with race.

I've never bothered to work out the design chain, but it can and has been done before. I sometimes refit-chain 600kt+ warships, bringing up older designs (especially captured AI ships) to expensive, new designs, and that rarely takes more than one or two intermediate designs.


------------------
-- The thing that goes bump in the night