You know who I think would benefit the most from making naval pieces cheaper? ANZAC
Yeah, Japan and USA could both buy a lot more ships, but they would also just be slugging it out with each other so no real change there.
Same thing really between UK and Germany/Italy. Germany would still have to invest more in land units to fight Russia so even at a cheaper price, they couldn’t afford to put too many ships in the water. It would be easier for Italy to put more ships in the Med, but it might also be easier for UK to send more ships to the Med also.
ANZAC, however, might be a real secret weapon for the Allies. ANZAC’s main contribution isn’t really making land units to take over Jap territory, but making warships to harass Japan’s efforts in the SE Pacific and help support the USN’s efforts. Usually, ANZAC makes so little they can only get one or two ships per turn so they can’t provide a strong enough force to really hamper Japan, unless Japan’s navy is just spread too thin. With these radically cheaper prices though, ANZAC could really build a powerful little navy. With Japan busy duking it out with the USN in major fleet actions up north, the ANZAC navy could be big enough to sweep through all the island areas (DEI, Philippines, etc.) and eliminate any Jap naval presence there. If Japan has already taken some or all of those islands, ANZAC could convoy raid them like crazy and basically nullify any income from those islands, which could give the USN the upper hand when replacing losses in the great battles further north. Eventually, Japan’s navy will be smashed and they won’t be getting enough income to properly replace their losses, even at the cheaper prices. Meanwhile, the USN will have a huge, steadily growing fleet which will base itself in SZ 6 to convoy raid Japan itself. Then the US takes Iwo Jima, bases some bombers there and SBRs Japan into the stone age. Ahh, I love it when a plan comes together.