A Poll on "Supplies, Ammo, Fuel and Energy"

[Trachmyr]

I've been thinking about writing MM and asking if they could split Supplies into 4 seperate catagories:

Supplies: Used by crew, and maybe some special componets; Supplies would get DRAINED at the beggining of every turn, and if you run out, componets that use supplies would be deystroyed!

Ammo: Gets used every time you fire a missile or a projectile weapon, if you run out those weapons no longer work!

Fuel: Used by your engines, if you run out you get NO movement and you ship becomes a derelict!

Energy: Can be generated (and Stored) by POWER PLANTS, and can be drained by componets or used by energy weapons, if you run out of Energy the componets/Weapons will not work on that turn. Power Plants could also use SUPPLIES in order for them to operate... or Energy Banks can store large amounts of energy but not produce any.


Before I bugged MM about this, I wanted to get a feel on how welcomed this addition would be to the game.

So, what are your thoughts?
1) A must Have
2) Would Really Like It
3) Would be nice but don't need it
4) Not worth the work that MM would have to do
5) "What have you been smoking?"



[This message has been edited by Trachmyr (edited 05 April 2001).]

[Daynarr]

I am for no. 4.
This is not because it is a bad idea, but because of the titanic work involved to do something like that (game engine, AI fixing, bug fixing etc.).

[Baron Munchausen]

Adding ALL of these would be a nightmare. I think two much smaller changes would help the game's realism though. Have crew quarters actually USE supplies each turn so ships cannot sit on station for infinity. Right now, even if you set a supply usage for crew quarters they don't have any effect. This would be a good enough approximation of ordinary supply usage without having to have a special type of supplies.

The one "other" type of supplies that might be worth modeling is ORDINANCE. (Or 'ammo' as you call it.) Some types of weapons should realistically have a limited number of shots. Missiles and other seekers, for example. But having to build each missile and carry it in cargo like mines would be a mess. So, let's make a missile component on a ship hold a certain amount of abstract 'missile supplies'. Each shot uses missile supplies instead of normal supplies. When you run out, no more shots. This would put realistic controls on missiles and maybe we could make them more powerful in other ways with this limit in place.

Direct fire weapons are mostly 'energy' weapons and are fine using normal supplies. Torpedos are an interesting case. Some of them might realistically be considered 'energy weapons' but some of them might be 'ordinance' weapons. If there was this 'second' type of supply we could experiment with hybrid weapons and see how the logistics affects their effectiveness.

Solar Collectors should produce supplies only, of course, no ordinance. Being able to regenerate ALL supplies in deep space is an unbalancing aspect of the game. If missiles (ordinance) could not be regenerated but had to be acquired from bases (either planet bases or space bases) it would make the logistical limits on military expeditions more effective.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 05 April 2001).]

[Marty Ward]

I would go for two types of supply, fuel (or energy) and ammo, ammo being used only for non energy type weapons.
I think this would be easier to implement as opposed to doing all the suggestions.

[Suicide Junkie]

Just two supply types would be plenty. Energy-supplies & Matter-supplies, as Baron said.
Then you have solar collectors for energy supplies, and ramscoops (which use lots of energy supplies to function) for matter supplies.

Then you could implement some really cool stuff.

But, one thing that must be done is PREVENT AMMOLESS WEAPONS FROM FIRING! It is really kinda dumb when I'm outta supplies, so I can't move, but I can still fire 10 Massive-mount WMGs at the same time!

[Aussie Gamer]

I think that the game is fine with maybe a couple of tweaks.
Such as weapons stop firing if you run out of supplies DURING combat.

[Marty Ward]

Also is odd that my resupply pod has the exact missles it need for every ship in my fleet.
Two type would do I think. Not to complicated but opening up a lot of possibilities.

[Trachmyr]

Okay, I can live with two types of supplies(Supplies/Energy & Ordinance/Matter)... as long as there is a way to generate supplies (without the need of a star). That way we can finally add power plants!

But weapons MUST stop firing when "out", and some componets need to DRAIN supplies at the start of every turn (like lifesupport), or be deystroyed.

[Lucanos]

I'm actually one of those guys who think that Supplies and Cargo should be stored in the same facillity.

But it's a good idea.

[CaptSpoogy]

Personally, I don't think any should be added. The only one I would tolerate would be power (power plants) but that's it. You don't want to have so many resources that you have to micro-manage - you got enough to do already.

With power plants, it might be a good idea if they were required to supply power to shipyards, mining facilities, etc. If one were destroyed, that planet may not be able to build ships and stuff until another power plant was completed.