I voted no, feeling that this would be unpleasant micromanagement.
Caveats:
1. I am making the probably-wrong assumption that power generation will be primarily fusion-based in this universe.
2. H2O (water in its various forms) would provide key fuel for this fusion, at least in the game universe, to keep it simple.
3. Any Power-core factory mechanic should be forced to include at least a couple of Ice Crystal or Water blocks in the crafting formula (either should work, but would provide the fuel for the power cores.)
4. In the finished game, there should be a "maintenance fee" that pops up randomly like I see in OoLite which covers basics like refreshing life support systems and fueling up your power cores. This maintenance fee should scale to the number of cores your ship contains.
By using pre-existing ice crystals as your main form of fuel, you don't need any new kinds of blocks.
Similarly, caveats for engine blocks:
1. I am making the probably-wrong assumption that sub-light propulsion will be provided by super-accelerating ions into a stream opposite of the direction you want to go, utilizing equal-and-opposite-reaction physics.
2. Any block could provide ions.
3. Any engine block factory mechanic should include at least one random, non-tech (non-hull, non-power-core, non-etc...) block to use for an ion mass store. Again, we might want to stick with ice crystals.
4. The maintenance fee discussed above would also refresh engine ion mass.
Problem: By removing the micromanagement of fuel, you never really face the possibility of being stranded, or at least slowed greatly, by being out of fuel. See the Firefly episode "Out of Gas" for an idea of how interesting an out-of-fuel scenario can be. However, I do not think fuel micromanagement would be the appropriate response to this problem.
A better solution might be a maintenance timer. If you go longer than X hours without paying the maintenance fee when it pops up, there is a random chance every 5 minutes or so that your power cores and engines will suddenly start running at 10% efficiency, with a 50% cut in maximum speed. (Actually, those numbers might cut too much, making one suffer the wrath of a passing pirate.)
(Signature)
jayman38,
Jul 23, 2014 
