[geoschmo]

Slynky, there are two things I do on a regular basis to all but eliminate the problem.

Every time I create a design for a ship I am goign to build (Design name: Alpha) I immedietly copy the design (Design name: Alpha II). Both designs are identical, and I don't build any Alpha II's, so it stays in my design list as a prototype. When I want to upgrade Alpha later with new tech, I then edit Alpha II. You can safely retrofit to a design on the same turn you edit it, it's only on the turn it's created that you are at risk.

Secondly, early in the game I create several dummy designs which I don't use for anything. I even set their design types to Weapons Platform even though they are ships just to keep them out of the way on the list. These I use whenver I have an important retrofit and I have forgotten to do what I described in the previous paragraph, or if I need to retrofit ships of a single design to two more than one new design on the same turn. These are a little more painful to use since you have to edit the entire design, not just a couple components, but it's better then losing progress at an important point in the game.

Of course the downside to this is my design list gets tremendously bloated. It's not uncommon for me to have 50+ ship designs to wade through in a game. Of course obsoleting helps, but it's still a bit of a chore.

Geoschmo