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Fleets won't refuel - 4/21/2011 3:16:16 AM

dayrinni

Posts: 35
Joined: 12/14/2006
Status: offline

Hello,

I am trying to refuel a fleet. I right click on them and select refuel at nearest starport. They seem to fly off and go and refuel. I stop paying attention to them and go do something else. I decide to check the status on my fleet so I can use it (since it was low on gas). It seems the fleet did not refuel at all but is hanging around the star port. So I tell them again to refuel and a few ships refuel. At this time, I stop watching them and go do something else...a bit later I decide to check up on them again. Low and behold, they did not all refuel - only a few (seemed to be only the ones that initially tried to refuel). I tried to refuel them several times after this but I was not successful.

So what am I doing wrong? I am finding this is really crippling my fleets - I can't seem to use the fleets after they run out of gas since I can't get them to refuel!

Any help would be very useful. I am sure I am missing something pretty obvious but I can't seem to figure it out.

Thanks!

Post #: 1

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/21/2011 3:27:28 AM

cookie monster

Posts: 1693
Joined: 5/22/2005
From: Birmingham,England
Status: offline

Refueling points are the systems which have the blue icon next to them when you are zoomed out.

Caslon/Hydrogen mines can be everywhere...but 99.9% of the fuel is reserved for trading and bases etc

This means there will be insufficient fuel there to refuel a fleet

I think the options are

Don't trade with the galaxy weaklings they will reserve fuel, which your empire could be using...Trade sanctions are necessary here

Build Resupply ships for mobile fleet refuelling purposes

Fit energy collectors to all ships and bases to meet static energy needs via the design screen...This will cut down the need to refuel idle fleets etc

Fuel is a pita but a necessary logistics addition to the game

I seem to spend my whole time fuelling and moving troops

Check out this thread here which describes a similiar fuelling problem

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2786671

(in reply to dayrinni)

Post #: 2

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/21/2011 4:45:44 AM

dayrinni

Posts: 35
Joined: 12/14/2006
Status: offline

Thanks a lot for the help. I'm going to read that thread, do some more digging around and explore in game more.

(in reply to cookie monster)

Post #: 3

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/22/2011 12:15:25 AM

dayrinni

Posts: 35
Joined: 12/14/2006
Status: offline

This information was very helpful and I managed to fuel up my ships. I shall now work towards DICTATOR OF THE UNIVERSE!

(in reply to dayrinni)

Post #: 4

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/22/2011 6:19:09 AM

Data

Posts: 3909
Joined: 1/3/2011
Status: offline

Sound familiar...ahh, such pesky little problems like fuel or other races dare stand in our way

_____________________________

...Igniting stellar cores....Recharging reactors...Recalibrating hyperdrives....

(in reply to dayrinni)

Post #: 5

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/22/2011 11:09:10 PM

HappyHedonist

Posts: 36
Joined: 6/16/2010
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: cookie monster
Fuel is a pita but a necessary logistics addition to the game

I seem to spend my whole time fuelling and moving troops

Check out this thread here which describes a similiar fuelling problem

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2786671

This is exactly why I quit playing DW after I learned the basics. I felt like I was playing fuel tycoon and it was in no way fun, just frustrating. I understand the reasoning behind including it but ultimately it turns the game into a chore (IMO). Last time I tried to play I spent the majority of my time sitting and staring at the screen while waiting for my fleets to fuel themselves before engaging the target I had assigned.

I read the recent patch notes and it states something about fleets and idle ships being more aggressive about refueling so I'm going to give it another go but I'm not holding my breath. I really want to love this game though.

< Message edited by Happy Hedonist -- 4/22/2011 11:10:27 PM >

(in reply to cookie monster)

Post #: 6

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/22/2011 11:34:57 PM

Cosian

Posts: 54
Joined: 9/22/2006
Status: offline

I do not seem to experience the refueling problems .... suggestions .....

You must build lots of caslon and hydrogen gas mining stations .... even if the planner does not put them high on the priority list. Anytime I find a spot for a colony, the first thing I do is identify the fuel sources in the area and get constructors building in those locations.

I only have one non-obsolete Gas Mining station design active. I change the design of my gas mining stations to add an additional gas extractor. I also increase the number of cargo bays to improve the amount of fuel stored at the station.

I do not use the big refuel button on the ship card in the lower left corner which sends them to the nearest station to refuel. I right click on the ship or fleet and use the refuel at nearest point option which makes use of gas mining and resupply ships. Many times with a fleet if I need to refuel it, I first send them to a nearby gas giant that has a GM on it. Once it gets there, I refuel nearest and it refuels there.

If your gas mining station cargo is always fully reserved, you do not have enough fuel sources .... or you could reduce the demand by using some of the other suggestions others have offered.... don't worry about reducing demad because that also reduced sales and income ... I just build more gas mining stations.

I always manage my designs so I set private sector ships to be cheap and fast..... I research the techs that allow early speed improvements. The flow of goods ... especially fuel makes a big difference.

I also keep my fleets of reasonable size so no single fleet places undue fuel demand at a single station.

< Message edited by Cosian -- 4/22/2011 11:36:16 PM >

(in reply to HappyHedonist)

Post #: 7

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/23/2011 6:06:14 AM

Data

Posts: 3909
Joined: 1/3/2011
Status: offline

Reasonable size depends on each one of us.....maybe the guy with 100+ destroyers will pay you a visit

_____________________________

...Igniting stellar cores....Recharging reactors...Recalibrating hyperdrives....

(in reply to Cosian)

Post #: 8

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/24/2011 9:08:25 PM

Undecided

Posts: 17
Joined: 4/19/2011
Status: offline

Another tip I've found is adding more docking ports. When I have a 50-ship fleet it used to take AGES to get them all fueled up using the default 4-dock gas extractor design. So I doubled their cargo, quintupled the number of gas extractors, and gave them 30 docks each. Now I can refuel an armada in 3 minutes, not to mention my allies' fleets as well.

For smaller empires this approach is costly due to the size of the stations, and should only be used in key hub systems (where fleets are based in).

(in reply to Data)

Post #: 9

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/24/2011 10:56:38 PM

Data

Posts: 3909
Joined: 1/3/2011
Status: offline

Yap, each of the elements involved in such an operation can become the bottleneck that affects scalability. More extractors, more cargo bays, more docking bays...and one commerce center iirc

_____________________________

...Igniting stellar cores....Recharging reactors...Recalibrating hyperdrives....

(in reply to Undecided)

Post #: 10

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/25/2011 1:32:46 AM

cookie monster

Posts: 1693
Joined: 5/22/2005
From: Birmingham,England
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Undecided

Another tip I've found is adding more docking ports. When I have a 50-ship fleet it used to take AGES to get them all fueled up using the default 4-dock gas extractor design. So I doubled their cargo, quintupled the number of gas extractors, and gave them 30 docks each. Now I can refuel an armada in 3 minutes, not to mention my allies' fleets as well.

For smaller empires this approach is costly due to the size of the stations, and should only be used in key hub systems (where fleets are based in).

I use two resupply ships for major fleet refuelling. I was reviewing my game earlier I had made some bigger mining bases than stock, but they didnt seem to carry more cargo, even though they had the space. Maybe there was not enough extraction engines. I need to test it more or the AI needs to at least maintain a private sector should I say.

(in reply to Undecided)

Post #: 11

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/25/2011 9:31:38 PM

Undecided

Posts: 17
Joined: 4/19/2011
Status: offline

The way the AI works, when a fleet refuels it (typically) always goes for the same refueling station. Usually the closest one, or the home space port. Which means having many, small, low-yield gas mining bases is counter-productive to fleet refueling, as compared to a few, massive gas extractors as I mentioned above.

My default setups now use 10 extractors for mining/gas stations instead of 1 extractor. When you consider doing this only doubles or triples the maintenance costs of the stations -- but you get 10x the yield, don't forget -- it has the bonus of being extremely cost-effective. And defensible, since with only a few mines you can now afford to arm them heavily

For bonus points, if you learn limit your empire sprawl: you can run an empire with only one super space ports (40 constructors, 100 docks, 200 cargo bays, etc) per 50 colonies or so. That way you never have to worry about balancing resources between stations or planets when the AI auto-assigns construction orders to space ports across the entire empire (i.e., no more god damn production bottlenecks due to lacking a resource type at some distant space port). This method also makes fleet assembly easier since you don't have to wait 5 minutes for all your ships to rally in a single system after they're built: they're already in a single system. But I think I now digress.

< Message edited by Undecided -- 4/25/2011 9:32:23 PM >

(in reply to cookie monster)

Post #: 12

RE: Fleets won't refuel - 4/25/2011 10:09:56 PM

Data

Posts: 3909
Joined: 1/3/2011
Status: offline

Please do, digress away.

I'm finding more and more merits to this idea, I'll try it also.

_____________________________

...Igniting stellar cores....Recharging reactors...Recalibrating hyperdrives....

(in reply to Undecided)

Post #: 13

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Fleets won't refuel