Infinite Power is OP

[Deleted member 392097]

I think that having power generators which can for ever generate a certain amount of power is a little bit OP. It would be much better if we would have to charge up our ship's batteries with solar panels or something.
So the ideas around that (and you could have different types of ships powered by different mechanisms) are:

• Solar
• Nuclear
• Fossil Fuel
• Power Transfer

Solar:
You would have solar panels on your ship (which would either be revealed by a Plex door opening or a sliding door on a rail (if this feature is in at the time)) which would be connected to the power generation unit which would be linked to power cells.

Nuclear:
You would have a nuclear reactor with cooling stations etc in your ship (you would have to have quite a large ship for this).

Fossil Fuel:
You would have some sort of furnace inside your ship and you would be able to put Coal and other fossil fuels into it, and then through the appropriate process, it would generate electricity. You would have to mine for these fossil fuels in planets and asteroids. You would maybe be able to use special devices to tell when there is oil under the surface of a planet and then you would be able to build some sort of oil extraction point. Maybe even a drill which slowly drills down.
This would definitely make the need for mining much greater. And the trading of fossil fuels would become much larger and more realistic.

Power Transfer:
This would be when another ship or station creates the electricity through one of the methods above (or another method). To make this possible you would need to have some power connection devices on the outside of your ship, and the outside of their ship or station.
Then you would link to their ship or station through those devices and it would transfer a certain amount of energy (which may cost you a price if they request it - for instance it could be set that for every kilowatt of energy it costs you 5 credits) to your power storage units.



An additional idea would be for when you connect different devices together in your ship (like connecting a module to a computer), they would be connected through wires. When I say wires I mean that when you would connect the two systems together wires would appear between them on the blocks between them. This would make it more realistic. But also would possibly mean that when you destroy a block you could also destroy the wires, stopping the devices connected with those wires. If this would be the case and the wires would not just relocate, then the wires would have to look as if they were broken and maybe even make sparks or little noises.

 

[Incap]

Here we go again...

 

[wolfboyft]

http://starmadedock.net/threads/fis...-way-nuclear-fuels-and-power.3237/#post-50944

That's my thread on this... nice stuff, though. I like the wires. What are they, like the factory connection pipes!?

Care to join this here thread? And lock the older one

 

[Valiant70]

Given previous reception by the community, I doubt something like this will happen any time soon if at all. I'm not really opposed to the idea of different fuel and power generation, but the idea of using fossil fuel onboard a starship is pretty strange so I don't agree with that portion of your post.

One idea I had was to use solar panels and a simplified fusion reactor. These would both spit out an item called a "Dynamium Capsule" which would act as fuel for ship power grids. You could put panels or a reactor on your ship or on a base - whichever happens to be more practical. This would prevent most of the micro-management (scrounging for fuel) that comes with fuel being added to the game.

 

[Deleted member 392097]

but the idea of using fossil fuel onboard a starship is pretty strange so I don't agree with that portion of your post.

Just something which would allow you to convert fossil fuels to electricity would be good. It wouldn't have to be on a ship. You could have special factories that would only be built on planets so that you could get oil and coal etc out of the planets. You would then have special power stations which would use the usual method (steam turbine) to generate electricity. And this could also mean that eventually there would be so much smog in there air from the power stations, that you would have to wait a while for the plants to absorb it, otherwise the sun would be blocked out and the plants would die and the planet would become uninhabitable.

This would also mean that you could have a special station which absorbs that smog and converts it to normal air again.

 

[ToyotaSupra]

Oh boy, you suggested something that might force players to make a very minor occasional effort! And may also stop capital spam! Prepare for certain members of the community to really shit all over you idea! God forbid...

Look, this is a good idea and sooner or later the game WILL HAVE TO HAVE some kind of fuel thing, sorry but it will. The idea that you can cruise forever in a planetoid of pure steel and guns can, will and has made players think it's missing and it continues to do so and it will continue to do so. Almost every free roam space game has it for a reason.

What makes me laugh is the types that go nah, that would be repetitive, because there ain't things that are boring and repetitive with this game? What like, mining, crafting? Hell even shipbuilding is getting old for me personally...

This would solve so many issues people have with the combat gameplay it isn't even funny. But of course, that's my opinion, many people think planets would be fixed by making them instanced, which I disagree with so what do I know.

 

[Incap]

Look, the devs have always said that they want everyone to have the freedom to customise. I see 'fuel' severely limiting that. I mean, the lore for the TE says that their ships use a zero-point energy generation by spinning a element called Chronosite in a massive super conductor. Imagine an entire universe undergoing a Big Crunch and Big Bang over and over ago, thousands of time in a mere atto-second. Constant power generation.

 

[Planr]

Starmade ships are supposed to represent a high level of technological advancement/civilization. Adding fuels subtracts from that purpose and would require major gameplay changes. It'll render every ship out there totally useless and require them all to be refit since the addition of fuels means your ship has to have space for fuel tanks and a completely new power generation assembly.

Furthermore it is impossible for starships to use fossil fuels as a power source since in order to burn fossil fuels you need a large and constant supply of oxygen. There is no oxygen in outer space, so in order to have a fossil fuel power system, you'd not only need a fuel tank and a new power assembly (for burning the fuels), but you'd also need massive pressurized oxygen tanks to provide a medium for those fuels to burn in. Then you'd need to either have exhaust ports for those Co2 emissions to be released out of the ship, or have yet another large volume of space taken up by Co2 recirculating machines that convert the Co2 back into Oxygen. We're probably talking about 25% of the volume of your overall ship just for this power system. Totally impractical.

However, I am only speaking about the hypothetical scenario of requiring fuels for power being a default setting. I'm sure once the game is mainly done that Schema will open it up more to modders and people will be able to have fuel mods as they wish. But I for one like constant power generation on my ships and I do not want that to change.

This is an interesting idea, but it has many drawbacks, and it means a major distraction from allowing players to simply fly their ships around, explore, and enjoy the game, since they'd now be spending even more time doing these secondary things just to enjoy the primary purpose of the game. It is an adventurer's worst nightmare.

 

[Valiant70]

Look, the devs have always said that they want everyone to have the freedom to customise. I see 'fuel' severely limiting that. I mean, the lore for the TE says that their ships use a zero-point energy generation by spinning a element called Chronosite in a massive super conductor. Imagine an entire universe undergoing a Big Crunch and Big Bang over and over ago, thousands of time in a mere atto-second. Constant power generation.

The fact is, not having fuel as even an option severely limits freedom to customize. Given the mixed feelings of the community, it is obvious that there would be an "unlimited fuel" parameter in the configs. You cannot ask for better customization than that. There are simply no arguments against fuel that can be turned off in the config. Don't worry - you will retain your ability to customize. I too believe fuel is necessary to balance enormous starships and generate more faction competition/conflict although I'm a little worried that the hostile community response will hold it off from being added until early beta when it should really b

 

[Megacrafter127]

Furthermore it is impossible for starships to use fossil fuels as a power source since in order to burn fossil fuels you need a large and constant supply of oxygen.

Unless the fossile fuel is "burned" in nuclear fashion. (fission/fusion reactors)

 

[Valiant70]

Unless the fossile fuel is "burned" in nuclear fashion. (fission/fusion reactors)

What the heck???

 

[Megacrafter127]

What the heck???

I was nitpicking planr's post, nothing more.

 

[CyberTao]

It'll render every ship out there totally useless and require them all to be refit since the addition of fuels means your ship has to have space for fuel tanks and a completely new power generation assembly.

If we were to bar new features because of people having to refit their ships, we would never had gotten the new weapons. Game is still alpha so having to refit your ship every so often because of a new major update should be expected, as it's been done before with thrust and power changes anyways.

I dunno, I just feel that is a really bad excuse that Schine has shown time and time again that they just don't care for, especially if they made it optional in the configs.

 

[Valiant70]

I was nitpicking planr's post, nothing more.

Nothing more? You just about imploded my brain. XD

 

[Lecic]

GET OUT OF THE WAY LOSERS MY COAL POWERED SPACESHIP IS READY FOR BATTLE

I'm gonna say "no" to fossil fuels. Especially since the only way to get the stuff would be planets, which beginners aren't going to get to immediately.

If there were fuels, there'd need to be three types of power gen, in my opinion.

Solar power- needs the sun to be active. Electricity generation depends on proximity to the sun, as well as using the solar lighting calcs for power gen.

Hydrogen fueled- uses water as fuel. additionally, a new type of storage that holds water and fills up as you put water into it, giving you fuel tanks.

Microfusion/Muon/whatever generators- infinite power, like the current gens, but produce less power. Best for vessels that don't want to worry about fuel or stopping for solar regen.

Along with the changes to fuel, power tanks would need to hold significantly more power to make "recharging stations" viable.

 

[Valiant70]

I'm just going to leave this here...

http://starmadedock.net/threads/a-manifesto-on-fuel-balancing-and-various-play-styles.5130/

 

[xlBlackhawklx]

Currently....there is NO purpose in continuance of play past building a 1 Million Mass Ship and eating everyone alive, which on some servers gets you banned. There is no CONSUMABLES to stock up on so you can endlessly & logistically move assets to gain more ores without burning CONSUMABLES. There is no sporadic need for trade as anyone can plop down a factory and boom make blocks with their own checkerboard/logic miner. Put simply, there is nothing to hoard and other games have realized the sheer purpose of factions coming together is to work together to survive. This means CONSUMABLES, I.E FOOD/FUEL/OXYGEN....if you want continued "lore" nothing does this better than real situations you're put in because you didn't plan properly or because your ship is damaged and slowly loses oxygen. Meanwhile, your fleet scrambles to send search parties and outfit ships to carry supplies all the while pirates crash upon you in waves as you hold what you have stalled in space. These are things space games are made out of...so far the only thing we can trade are ores....ores that can make infinite power blocks, massive shields, and more hull than anyone can imagine without the need for expending ANY resources. CONSUMABLES need to be in starmade to keep the players interested, maybe a Survival Mode and Creative Mode so that the players who do not wish to spend time gathering fuel or supplies for food/oxygen can build their titans freely without worry but for those seeking lore and tales of legend in space give them survival and put them in situations seen in space movies time and time again!

thanks for reading.

 

[Valiant70]

Currently....there is NO purpose in continuance of play past building a 1 Million Mass Ship and eating everyone alive, which on some servers gets you banned. There is no CONSUMABLES to stock up on so you can endlessly & logistically move assets to gain more ores without burning CONSUMABLES. There is no sporadic need for trade as anyone can plop down a factory and boom make blocks with their own checkerboard/logic miner. Put simply, there is nothing to hoard and other games have realized the sheer purpose of factions coming together is to work together to survive. This means CONSUMABLES, I.E FOOD/FUEL/OXYGEN....if you want continued "lore" nothing does this better than real situations you're put in because you didn't plan properly or because your ship is damaged and slowly loses oxygen. Meanwhile, your fleet scrambles to send search parties and outfit ships to carry supplies all the while pirates crash upon you in waves as you hold what you have stalled in space. These are things space games are made out of...so far the only thing we can trade are ores....ores that can make infinite power blocks, massive shields, and more hull than anyone can imagine without the need for expending ANY resources. CONSUMABLES need to be in starmade to keep the players interested, maybe a Survival Mode and Creative Mode so that the players who do not wish to spend time gathering fuel or supplies for food/oxygen can build their titans freely without worry but for those seeking lore and tales of legend in space give them survival and put them in situations seen in space movies time and time again!

thanks for reading.

Well put. This pretty much sums up the desire and need for survival content, which I 100% expect to see in Starmade in one form or another.

 

[ToyotaSupra]

Currently....there is NO purpose in continuance of play past building a 1 Million Mass Ship and eating everyone alive, which on some servers gets you banned. There is no CONSUMABLES to stock up on so you can endlessly & logistically move assets to gain more ores without burning CONSUMABLES. There is no sporadic need for trade as anyone can plop down a factory and boom make blocks with their own checkerboard/logic miner. Put simply, there is nothing to hoard and other games have realized the sheer purpose of factions coming together is to work together to survive. This means CONSUMABLES, I.E FOOD/FUEL/OXYGEN....if you want continued "lore" nothing does this better than real situations you're put in because you didn't plan properly or because your ship is damaged and slowly loses oxygen. Meanwhile, your fleet scrambles to send search parties and outfit ships to carry supplies all the while pirates crash upon you in waves as you hold what you have stalled in space. These are things space games are made out of...so far the only thing we can trade are ores....ores that can make infinite power blocks, massive shields, and more hull than anyone can imagine without the need for expending ANY resources. CONSUMABLES need to be in starmade to keep the players interested, maybe a Survival Mode and Creative Mode so that the players who do not wish to spend time gathering fuel or supplies for food/oxygen can build their titans freely without worry but for those seeking lore and tales of legend in space give them survival and put them in situations seen in space movies time and time again!

thanks for reading.

Absolutely correct. Sadly, yet again it will be drowned out by the 'it's boring crowd'.

There's no logistics, there's no real resource wars because every planet has all that you need, there's no real reason to fight apart from 'it's fun' and 'collect their blocks'. That gets old real fast. And so we build, in some f'd up cold-war style arms race ever building and building to insane extents to no end because there's no punishment for it. And yes, there should be because there's absolutley no drawback for doing so. There's no point in light fighters, tactics, fleets or anything but bigger and better. Nah it's just CAPITAL V CAPITAL

Why do you not (well, apart from Murika) see people drive F650's all the time? Why are our cars getting smaller and weaker? Because of fuel economy, that's why.

Spoiler

Barring other things like maint, parking, ease of driving etc bad metaphor tbh

 

[Proxima_Centauri]

I'm all for this idea
My ships already have mock-up fusion reactors so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to make the switch

Also solar would never be able to power something like a warship. Just look at the ISS solar panels and consider how little those giant things even power.