Brainstorm This Thruster Fuel

[Reviire]

Fuel, if any is ever added, needs to be a late game material to help power larger ships (instead of docked reactors), rather than a constant material that every ship needs. A requirement for everything to be fueled turns the game into a grindfest where you spend all your time collecting fuel.

If fuel usage scales well enough, it would be fine. Small ships shouldn't need to refill much, while your large battleships should be refueling quite often, unless you've got one hell of a fuel supply.

 

[ZektorSK]

This discussion was already closed, nothing like this is going to be added to the game... I think discussing on this more is a pity of time

 

[djthekiller]

if we provide enough reasons it might be considered, as it hadn't been officially closed, or removed, or in any other way kept from actually being implimented in the near future

 

[lupoCani]

Oh dear, you're at it again. Having skimmed the discussion so far, I'll repeat my main stance on the issue-

Fuel, as a concept, is an infrastructure mechanic. If implemented, it should serve to translate an amount of efficient, operating ships into a required amount of infrastructure.

Thus, firstly, fuel should not be overly specific. It shouldn't be used to replace docked rectors, it shouldn't be used to run thrusters, it shouldn't be used to buff small ships. In time, of course, it can be used to balance many aspects of the game, but first and foremost it's a new dimension to the game, not something to implement to resolve X issue.

Second, infrastructure is machines being in the right place at the right time, not one person mining. Naturally, fuel acquisition should be automatic, depending only on strategically valuable machinery.

Third, everything should be entirely possible, to some extent, without fuel. It should be a practical necessity, not an absolute one. We don't want to strand players entirely, only cripple them.

 

[djthekiller]

what im suggesting is not to make it an over op way to cripple someone, i just want some RP aspect, like water doesnt have a flow, can we get flow for water?

 

[Bladeriker]

As it has been said above either this is a late game mechanic for larger ships or a mechanic for a extreme survival mode.
Fuel could also be used for.

• Boosting systems, kind of like nitro in race cars.
• Needed increase the energy soft cap on larger ships after the default soft cap is hit.
• Could act as the current docked reactors do now.

 

[Raisinbat]

I don't think fuel is something that new players should have to deal with. It implements a higher learning curve for newbies, in a game that's already got a pretty steep one. This is why I think fuel should instead be a system used by larger ships to somewhat bypass the power softcap, similarly to docked reactors.

...Lecic can make sensible posts?

Dear, here we go again with the fuel talk.
In favor of both sides, let's just add another kind of thruster!
The old one will be weaker, but will not require fuel and instead depend on stellar power!
The new one will be much more powerful, but will require fuel!

Trying to appease both sides is nonsense in this issue. If you have both the fuel powered ships WILL be superior, so people who aren't using fuel will be forced to use it or handicapped; this isn't in favor of both sides.

Just:
1. include fuel in startpack
2. make small ships use small amount of fuel but it will grow exponentially as engines grows
There are tons of games with fuel and they're fine. Also there are many ways to lose SM forever (lose cash and die) but other ppl help them.

You can always mine ores by hand and craft basic refinery by hand; even with nothing you can build an empire in time.

Having to fuel your ship is just another annoyance and doesnt add realism to the game. Schine has said there wont be any hunger in this game and fuel is ship hunger.

Okay this is the post i really want to adress. First of all: REALISM IS NOT GOOD GAME DESIGN, SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT IT! You can carry entire planets in your pocket, you have infinite power generators and like i said above, can make refineries and factories with your bare hands. Whatever the fuck it is you actually want from this game realism sure as shit isn't it.

Secondly, i think too many people have missed what requiring fuel means for a game like this. For me starmade is all about building crap floating in space, but people don't just build random shit for no reason: You need the things you build to serve a purpose.

Adding fuel to the game encourages the addition of :

• Fuel harvesters
• Fuel refineries
• Tankers
• Fuel depots

Go check the community content and see how many ships/stations fit that description; All i found were 4 fuel depots:
Small Fuel Outpost
Deep Space Fuel Depot
Refueling Station (STATION CONTEST)
Trade Guild Fuel Depot (Space Station Contest Entry)

You would see a much more dynamic universe with fuel: even if its harder to get around, there'd be a lot more to see and do.

Noone plays games for convenience; Throwing obstacles and "grind" at a player encourages them to find ways around it. With the fleet system you could have your own tankers standing by that you can order to jump to you and refuel you. I agree this is a terrible idea for the earliest part of the game, but games NEED limits; overcoming them is what games are fucking about.

 

[Proxima_Centauri]

IDEA:

Ships are already mass/block limited as it is. Instead of having separate fuel storage blocks, just make the thrusters store the fuel themselves.

 

[RODLON]

If fuel is added to the game it would be cool if you can harvest it from the center of the stars at lategame. You would need a lot of armor, will lose some in the process, but you will get a lot of fuel, so you won't waste your time getting fuel, but it would require a big infrastructure to get it.

 

[Reviire]

If fuel is added to the game it would be cool if you can harvest it from the center of the stars at lategame. You would need a lot of armor, will lose some in the process, but you will get a lot of fuel, so you won't waste your time getting fuel, but it would require a big infrastructure to get it.

That's actually a pretty cool idea. I wouldn't mind diving in with a fuel scoop, or setting up a station with it's own giant fuelscoops. Would add some more stuff to the game, and if only certain stars provide fuel, would encourage trade between players.

To not totally fuck people over, alternative fuel (albeit not as good) could be gathered from I dunno, planet cores? Random non-spawn shops?

 

[lupoCani]

Planet cores and stars are both viable fuel sources, as far as gameplay goes. It's realesque enough, they're readily available, and unlike the gas giants/nebulae/whatever that's commonly suggested, they're already in the game. And really, diving through a star to refuel is cool.

One thing in particular I like is the use of binary stars. In real space, one star is often leaking matter to the other. If you could harvest this mass transfer for fuel, those would be some pretty awesome harvesting stations.

 

[Shaker]

Okay this is the post i really want to adress. First of all: REALISM IS NOT GOOD GAME DESIGN, SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT IT! You can carry entire planets in your pocket, you have infinite power generators and like i said above, can make refineries and factories with your bare hands. Whatever the fuck it is you actually want from this game realism sure as shit isn't it.

I never said i wanted realism, if i wanted anything like that id be in space engineers instead of dying slowly waiting for the next patch like everyone else here. I just dont see any benifit to adding fuel to the game when we already have infinite power. And coming up with work arounds for power will include ways for alpha strikes which isnt a good thing.

fuel is an outdated technology anyways.

If your looking for more ships to be flying around in space your going to be waiting for a big upgrade to the AI, only then when they can mine out of sight with regenerating blocks planets and searching asteroid belts for minerals without a player to watch them... Only then we will have a living universe as you will need to have patrols around planets/asteroids to protect miners from enemy fleets, hell it might even get those titans undocked from homebases.

 

[ZektorSK]

 

[Zedrackis]

I like the idea of fuel, just not in the context of thrusters. In fact I think reactors and weapons should need fuel/ammo sources to deepen the immersion and add handicap to running massive capitals or silly large weapon arrays, and add nice point to in game economy. We really need a proper consumable item in the current game economy. All of it should have a on/off option in the configure file of course. It would also give a meaningful purpose to alternative fuel sources like solar, Geo-thermal. What I wouldn't want is for systems to shutdown completely at any point. Maybe reduce a fuel-less system to sever configurable, 10% by default, capacity.