Okay, this disagreement makes no sense. I just re-read the last few posts and here's the distilled version:
Bremen: We need to focus on more yards, not faster yards.
Cerej: No! We need faster yards. More yards is a waste if the enemy blows them up in the next year or two. Thus, recommended orders are to build more yards.
Bremen: I disagree. Yards are expensive.
Cerej: They are, but it's worth it after a few years.
Wha?
FWIW, here's the trade-off situation:
If we build new yards, the old ones can still be retooled/increased/producing while the new ones are being built. But we lose industrial capacity that could be making ship components.
If we build new slipways, it's cheaper and quicker in most cases than building new yards (when you factor in that new yards will have to be built up in capacity slightly). And the factories can be building engines, meson guns, etc. But the yards can't be retooled or increased while the slips are being built.
However, in both cases, production of FACs can continue. Given that a 2nd-generation FAC isn't going to be produced for some time until all the new engine, armor and reactor research is done (and possibly weapon research as well) and the new components designed and researched, the inability to retool in the near-future is not a problem.
Additionally, more yards is useful if you're going to have a wide variety of classes. If we're focusing on producing a lot of ships but just a couple of designs, then slipways is the way to go.
So....my recommendation would be to have our yards constantly adding slipways, our industrial capacity cranking out ship components, and once a stockpile of components is established, then we have the yards building ships at the same time they're adding slipways.
I had to go back and look at the data to be able to make concrete recommendations:
Benevolent: add slipway.
Merciful: add slipway (secondary priority)
(Ideally, there should be a ratio such that 9 Hufufs and a Mersin can be cranked out in the time it takes to produce one Ashdod.)
Industrial capacity should build 30 B'ewed FAC engines, 27 Anhena'h, 27 Qatela, 27 Kanwen, 6 K'shaf, 3 Beri and 42 Jewad engines. Once complete, that gives up enough parts to fast-assemble three entire complete Ashdod strike groups. I'll have to run a mock-up later to estimate how long this would take. Once the stockpile is finished, construction orders should be given such that we wind up with 27 Hufufs, 3 Mersins and 3 Ashdods.
By my rough estimate, by the time all those ships are built, the research should be about done and it'll be time to retool the yards for the 2nd-generation designs.