On Old Ship Designs

I can't think of any reason why this would be a problem from an RP mechanics or fairness standpoint, so I am inclined to say that this goes beyond the level to which the Whills need to make a ruling. I would imagine that some writers would prefer to write old ships as if they are old, and others would prefer to write old ships as if they are brand new. So long as no unfair advantage is being gained, both approaches are equally valid, and I would encourage the community to decide this for themselves on a situational basis.

In general, assuming minor improvements in technology (whether ships or otherwise) should be fine so long as those improvements are not used to exceed the capabilities and firepower of their more modern equivalents. If anything, to be fair, the older tech should still be slightly less powerful than the most modern equivalent. And obviously, any replacements need to be equivalent parts, not swapping out a single turbolaser for a quad cannon that draws 3 times as much power or something like that.

Actually, I made a list a little while back when I edited together a new map of the planets on the site for the Civil War SL. I listed on the map the planets that (In Canon) were considered major shipyards. As, to be fair, the one linked above is ... very much out of date & frankly not that intuitive to read.

This is it several edits in (as of 7/5/2017): map

It isn't official by any means but it seems to have at least become fairly commonly used. Which I am personally happy about, as figuring out where to put all the dots was a real pain in the back side.