DWMagus wrote:First off, let me start by saying "Grats on trying to solve the puzzle"
MyNameWuzTaken wrote:"Hello captain. Our ship currently has enough fuel to travel X amount of distance. Fuel prices of (your required type of fuel) at this location are X amount (above/below) what we pay on average. Would you like to purchase fuel? I do not consider it to be critical at this point in time."
The logistics officer doesn't consider it to be critical so we click the nice little button that says "no". No fuel is purchased.
Now, the re-occuring issue has been 'how do we handle it for FLEETS. Something like this is great for single ships. But if I have a fleet of 1000 ships, all in different statuses of fuel, there are usually two camps;
1) You have a single button that says "Refuel all ships". If it's a single button, why even bother with the player having to click it? Might as well make it automatic.
2) If you have to click 'yes' or 'no' for each ship, it gets old fast and becomes tedious at best when you need to choose a selection for each ship.
It's the logistical reasons when it comes to fleets that cause headaches since handling them in the same way as single ships doesn't really make sense.
It doesn't really make sense to use fuel when you're exploring, as then you're essentially putting limits on the 'explore' track and sense most people wouldn't be gaining income when just exploring, you're basically telling explorers that they can't explore.
It doesn't make much sense to use fuel when you have a fleet, because by the time you have a fleet, the cost of fuel becomes minor if even a problem at all due to how much (probably) money you have.
Trading is about the only one that seems plausible to add fuel costs to since the whole basis of trading is 'ship from place A to place B' and then the challenge is whether or not the trading run is worth it.
But by now, I'm mostly just rehashing what has already been stated many times, so I digress.
The running assumption though is that there is a maximum limit to fuel. Don't think of it in that way. Fuel takes cargo space just like anything. Its not like pulling up at a gas station and filling your tank. Its like filling your tank and deciding how many canisters of gas to store in the trunk, because the next gas station is a hell of a long way away.
And for fleet mechanics, there will be trade-offs with speed and the mass of your ships. Choosing to play it safe and bring extra fuel means your ships will be slower, but woe is you if you have ships run out of fuel during a fleet battle. Also, if your fleet of 1000 ships remains stationary in a system when you aren't out conquering and defending, I see no reason why they have to consume fuel. Just tie the fuel expenditure to distance covered.
This way the decision is about the amount of fuel you want your ships to carry into battle or campaign. Or maybe you want to bring supply ships that are dedicated to carry extra consumables. Once again though, you now have to protect these ships.
Fuel is a mechanic that can create meaningful gameplay decisions. It causes fleet combat to stretch beyond just killing more ships than the opponent.
For instance, what if I am heavily outnumbered, but the opponent has chosen to store his extra fuel in a few ships that remain on the edges of combat. I maneuver myself into position to destroy these supply ships, and withdraw from the engagement, picking up extra fuel and then burning all of my fuel supply line in the system as I leave. Then I wait for my opponents fuel to run out, ship by ship, as his fleet retreats to the closest location that has fuel. I pick off the stragglers with overwhelming firepower. Once he manages to refuel and re-evaluate, he decides that he still wants to fight. Luckily, I have evened the odds enough to win the engagement.
Consumable goods add complexity to fleet battles. In Space, over vast distances, supply lines will be very important until technological advances reduce that necessity.