Resupply ships seem wrong

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Resupply ships seem wrong - 6/1/2014 6:29:39 AM

ReviewGameX27

Posts: 17
Joined: 5/26/2014
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Hi,

I am trying out resupplyships. But it seems there are some problems with their gamedesign.

First of all, I only can refuel ships once my resupplyship is deployed. This means I have to find an object in space to do so. It also means I cannot just fly toward and ship that needs refueling. Also if there is a station on a object, in late game mostly is, then i cannot deploy my supplyship there. And last but not least I cannot deploy more than 1 supplyship at a time which means the refuelling process is super super slow for bigger fleets.

Next issue is the fuel it mines. It seems the resupply ship is mining any kind of ressource on a gas planet. This leaves my cargo often with at least one type of fuel i cannot use. And since there is no option to drop it in space after a while my resupply ship is full of the wrong stuff and useless to me.

So to sum up, resupply ships in this game seem wrongly designed and I was wondering if there is a patch coming to make the useful? Also does anybody know a mod that might already solve that issue?

Post #: 1

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 6/1/2014 6:53:20 AM

Bingeling

Posts: 5186
Joined: 8/12/2010
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A mod can not help you with any game mechanic, like how resupply ships work.

I doubt anything has changed or a while, so I think you are off in some complaints on them. My main experience with them is in older versions, though.

You should be able to deploy at any planet if necessary. I have however never really had issues with finding somewhere to deploy them. On the "two fuel" problem, I will prefer to deploy at "one fuel" sources, but two is really not a big problem. When I build them or are at peace, I will usually try to find a decent percentage "one fuel" spot for them to sit at, though.

It should make sure to balance the fuel it carries. I have seen resupply ships stuffed with caslon manage to switch to a 50/50 caslon/hydrogen mix just fine.

I have never had an issue with deploying multiple resupply ships at the same source. Two in the same gas cloud, no issue for sure, but gas clouds are a bit more flexible in that in general. A resupply ship and a gas mine at the same planet should not be a problem either. I think I saw a deployed pirate resupply ship deployed under a pirate spaceport of another faction just yesterday, but I do not know for sure that it was deployed. That was on a gas giant.

"Bigger fleets?" Do you run fleets of 300 escorts or something? :) Two resupply ships may indeed be necessary if I run multiple big fleets that see a lot of action and all depend on the resupply ships. There should very rarely be a shortage of fuel sources in an area where many fleets operate. Big fleets may fool the resupply ship into thinking that it lacks enough fuel, so the fleet wants to head way back. Target the resupply ship specifically if this happens, as it will mine more fuel before they arrive, and fleets almost always reserve more fuel than they will require on a refuel order, giving more fuel available than what the game thinks. Never mind that it may be quicker to wait at the resupply ship for it to mine fuel, than to go a long way to find some.

Example. A ship with 1000 fuel capacity has 500 fuel and refuels. It reserves 1000 fuel because that is its fuel capacity, but will only refill 500 fuel. There is 500 free fuel that appears "taken" until this ship is done refueling. If two fleets are to refuel at the same resupply ship (or at any other refueling spot), this "extra fuel reserved" can be a significant amount. A "second fleet" arriving in such a scenario won't find fuel until the first fleet is done refueling, though.

(in reply to ReviewGameX27)

Post #: 2

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 6/1/2014 12:02:25 PM

ehsumrell1

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Joined: 8/17/2010
From: The Briar Patch Nebula
Status: offline

In addition to what Bingeling stated, also make sure your Resupplyship's design
has plenty of docking bays to facilitate faster fleet refueling. I put at least
16 on my designs.

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Post #: 3

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 6/5/2014 9:28:32 AM

thefinn12345

Posts: 91
Joined: 5/29/2014
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I have to say I am a little perplexed by them also - if I can fly a resupply ship to a gas planet, why can't I just fly a constructor there and make a mining station ?

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Post #: 4

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 6/5/2014 9:38:33 AM

Bingeling

Posts: 5186
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A puny (or not so puny) mining station?

Resupply ships fly around with fuel. They are powerful warships typically with a long range scanner giving extra utility. They are not mining station, so no stupid freighter is ever going to steal the fuel required by the military. Constructors? That flee on the first sign of hostilities?

Resupply ships can be used with attitude. Want to bust the capital system of a powerful enemy and blockade it? You know that fighting big battles burn fuel fast? Have the resupply ship move in at the tail end of the fleet heading for the capital structures. Deploy it right on the very fuel providing gas giant that the capital moon orbits around. Refuel your fleets at the very spot of fighting.

Try to do that with a construction ship and a gas mine.

Have a sore fuel spot in the empire? One colony a bit off the side, with just one caslon source and the need for a fleet to operate to keep pirates at bay? Long supply lines and the freighters suck at providing fuel? Deploy a resupply ship besides the gas mine. It will give some protection, but more importantly, provide fuel for the defensive forces. Ever tried building two gas mines at a gas giant? That usually does not work out well.

See a gas cloud that your enemy has its core colonies around? Got a spare, powerful fleet? Send a resupply ship to set up shop, it can bust the owner's mine on arrival. The fleet can travel the core systems and waste any mines and structures, refueling at the local resupply stop.

They are lovely

(in reply to thefinn12345)

Post #: 5

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 6/5/2014 10:25:34 AM

thefinn12345

Posts: 91
Joined: 5/29/2014
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Cool, I was just wondering, I am just really getting into the game, I have restarted more times than I could reasonbly count.

It's like start game, realise u totally whiffed something or one of the settings was completely off after playing 10 hours, restart with fixed setting.

For instance pirates, I found when I get a good start, I colonise a lot, but then cannot possibly defend against the number of raids coming in with the cash I have.

Now I make pirates few but strong and respawning - they will always be in the game, but not 100% OF the game.

Perhaps I can find something good to do with resupply ships to help ;)

(in reply to Bingeling)

Post #: 6

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 6/5/2014 6:18:02 PM

Jeeves

Posts: 940
Joined: 9/28/2010
From: Arlington TN U.S.A
Status: offline

In my current game, I have two half built resupply ships size 4500 for invading the Guardian's homeworld. Each carries 256 troops and has over 15k shields, speed 72. That is in addition to the cargo bays, docking bays, and mining engines. You can pack a huge punch with resupply ships once you get colossal construction. Only problem is that it takes a large colony two years to build one LOL...

Lonnie Courtney Clay
p.s about 7 months at my homeworld equipped with Bakuras shipyard.

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Post #: 7

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 6/5/2014 6:31:46 PM

Bingeling

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For those that try to break every concept of the game, it is also useful, as mentioned above ;-)

(in reply to Jeeves)

Post #: 8

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 7/13/2014 12:09:12 PM

Tcby

Posts: 342
Joined: 12/16/2013
From: Australia
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I'm getting a great mental image of those colossal ships descending upon the planet though :D

(in reply to Bingeling)

Post #: 9

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 7/13/2014 6:34:59 PM

Airpower

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You put troops in a resupply ship? When I tried to use them as a troop transport, I wasn't able to get the troops to invade an enemy planet. The troops simply wouldn't leave the ship when I attacked a planet.

Resupply ships are bad. They can only mine up to 30100 of either type of fuel, making them unable to refuel large fleets that have more than 30k total fuel. Their deployment takes too long, and if they are part of an actual combat fleet, if they deploy at a planet and the rest of the combat fleet isn't nearby, they instantly undeploy and fly away. So they are only useful when not part of an offensive fleet, or in a fleet by themselves. When they're deployed, they can't fight back, so if they get jumped, they're dead meat.

I still favor using a non-resupply chassis for my tanker ships. They can refuel in open space, and once they've dropped their fuel off, they can fly away to safety.

(in reply to Tcby)

Post #: 10

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 7/14/2014 12:43:13 AM

Miravlix

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Joined: 7/6/2014
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Airpower

deployed, they can't fight back, so if they get jumped, they're dead meat.

I'm tired of seeing this falsehood. They fight just fine when deployed.

(in reply to Airpower)

Post #: 11

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 7/14/2014 12:48:28 AM

Nanaki

Posts: 306
Joined: 6/4/2014
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Resupply Ships make wicked flagships, they only require 33% (as opposed to 50% on construction ships) towards mission equipment so, out of a 4500-size vessel, you can easily put 3000ish towards armaments, which is twice as much as the ship max, 1500. As an added bonus, you only need a few fuel cells, because a resupply ship will use fuel from its cargo bays to refill itself.

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Post #: 12

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 7/14/2014 1:29:50 AM

Airpower

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Joined: 7/2/2014
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Miravlix

quote:

ORIGINAL: Airpower

deployed, they can't fight back, so if they get jumped, they're dead meat.

I'm tired of seeing this falsehood. They fight just fine when deployed.

Mer? I'll have to try this again. My experience has been that they don't fight back when deployed.

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Post #: 13

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 7/14/2014 2:07:46 AM

Airpower

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Okay you're right. They do attack - sorry for my mistake.

I still hate resupply ships though. :)

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Post #: 14

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 7/14/2014 7:37:00 AM

Sirian

Posts: 174
Joined: 11/29/2012
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Medicus
Next issue is the fuel it mines. It seems the resupply ship is mining any kind of ressource on a gas planet. This leaves my cargo often with at least one type of fuel i cannot use. And since there is no option to drop it in space after a while my resupply ship is full of the wrong stuff and useless to me.

A resupply ship will reserve half of its cargo space for hydrogen and the other half for caslon. It will not mine any other gases. It will not fill 100% of its cargo with one fuel if it is on a pure fuel source. It will always reserve 50% for the other fuel. So you do not need to drop the fuel that is useless to you as the ship will not fill the empty space with the useful fuel anyway.

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Post #: 15

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 7/14/2014 9:36:40 AM

ergie

Posts: 22
Joined: 5/16/2011
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quote:

A resupply ship will reserve half of its cargo space for hydrogen and the other half for caslon. It will not mine any other gases. It will not fill 100% of its cargo with one fuel if it is on a pure fuel source. It will always reserve 50% for the other fuel. So you do not need to drop the fuel that is useless to you as the ship will not fill the empty space with the useful fuel anyway.

I didnt notice that, thanks for the tip :)

(in reply to Sirian)

Post #: 16

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 7/14/2014 7:17:02 PM

Sirian

Posts: 174
Joined: 11/29/2012
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Medicus
[...] Also if there is a station on a object, in late game mostly is, then i cannot deploy my supplyship there. [...]

I just tested it as I couldn't believe this. The result is:

It IS possible to deploy a Resupply ship at any planet (doesn't have to be a gas giant, can be a barren planet) even if there already is an enemy station there. It works without any tricks via the right click menu. Be sure to have the ship itself selected and not the fleet.

Second, it IS possible to deploy a resupply ship at a gas cloud even if there already is a foreign gasmining station there. Although I had to Ctrl + rightclick to get the menu pop up with the option.

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Post #: 17

RE: Resupply ships seem wrong - 7/15/2014 10:26:48 AM

szabferi

Posts: 51
Joined: 8/26/2012
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Airpower

Okay you're right. They do attack - sorry for my mistake.

I still hate resupply ships though. :)

Do they? I saw in another topic as well you had the same problem as me (deployed resuppply ships dont fire their weapon but once start undeploying they wake up) - but now you say they are firing. Did you change anything in the design/behavior etc?

(in reply to Airpower)

Post #: 18