Light Cruisers as Destroyers?

[unmerged(11858)]

I noticed that in HoI that all cruisers are lumped together as a single national class. However, in virtually all nations, there were some very old, and virtually useless Cruisers.

For example...

Royal Navy
C-Class CL/CLAA (Caledon, Ceres, Capetown, etc...)
D-Class CL/CLAA (Danae, Durban, Dragon, etc...)

Imperial Japanese Navy
Tatsuta Class CL
Katori Class CL
possibly all early war IJN CL's will fit in this category

Royal Netherlands Navy
Java Class CL
Tromp Class CL

United States Navy
Omaha Class CL

and so on...

My thoughs are, is it possible to have these certain ships no longer as Cruisers (in the game all Cruisers are Heavy Cruisers) but as Destroyers? This would certainly weaken their stats to a more believable level (since most were around destroyer, or at least destroyer flotilla capability). The only problem that I see is the AI or human sending these CL/DD's on convoy duty.

Or merging old CL's together (like what was done with the Italian army Divisions). For example, you would have the "Danae and Durban" as one cruiser instead of two, or have these cruisers represent a cruiser squadron of old CL's.

Or, since most of the old CL's (especially in the Dutch and Japanese navy) were used as destroyer flotilla leaders, how about merging them with destroyer flotillas? For example, you 0might have 'Sendai and 4th Destroyer Flotilla' as a single unit.

Any other thoughts on weakening these old CL's?

 

[unmerged(6469)]

There are pre war cruises and then basic cruiser there a bit different. Let paradox work out the bugs first then we can do light cruisers/heavy cruisers/battle cruisers/pocket battleships etc. :>

 

[unmerged(11713)]

I can't see how you can say that the C and D class prewar cruisers were virtually useless. They have plenty of advantages over destroyers; namely far better range, much improved see keeping, useable large calibre guns for dealing with raiders etc. They found all sorts of uses in the war from traditional scouting, some convoy work to supporting army evacuations. The may not have been able to do toe-toe with a pocket battleship or 11in battlecruiser, but theres more to war and HOI than slugfeasts.
Additionally they were large ships, so even their siloutte might help to deter attacks by some small enemy forces.
Obviously they'll suffer in the later years of HOI as the improved cruisers and upgraded ones appear.

 

[GeoZero]

Naval strength can be modified to reflect older less powerful ships, althouth their "cruiser" designation may not change. I've done this with a 1936 Grand Campaign that I am currently playtesting.