Refueling

[Shadow Reaper]

Reviewing videos again on the new refueling game loop coming out in a few weeks and here are a few details I missed which supermacbrother highlighted :

A- an escrow will be used to transfer the money between players.
B- the refueling ship will have a new hud specific to mange the process of the fuel transfer.
C - the receiving ship’s existing vehicle maintenance screen will be used to request the service.
D- fuel request beacon support will show up later.
E- a primary dev goal is to workout the loop details in Straton before getting into Pyro which is 3x larger.
F- it will require skill to transfer the fuel to the destination ship similar to mining requiring a level of expertise.
G- seems ships will be nerfed at some point so more and more ships ( not just small fighters) are dependent on refueling from a refueling ship.

 

[Irishnutcase]

Does this mean the fuel rats will be a thing in SC?

Disclaimer: I've never played ED, only watched videos. Mostly of the fuel rat stuff. Then what happens after you attack/gank a fuel rat for no reason.

 

[CosmicTrader]

Remember...the AI will have to refuel as well.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

I have both types of Starfarer and look forward to getting my hands on the lower tier gas miners too.

My dream game play is science/parts upgrades with my Endeavour and Supercollider however my bread and butter will be the collection and sale of fuel and other gasses.

Although refuel is going to be good to turn a buck from, the the big dough will be made when we can finally go harvest the raw materials from nature and make it sellable resource without having to buy it from stations - until that point it will be good practice but we'll have to compete with the R&R's and landing zones which will limit consumer uptake apart from in emergencies when they will accept any cost to get to the nearest port to fully fuel up - but I doubt anyone will be buying a full tank, only enough to get to a cheaper place like an R&R...

When we can grab the go-juice ourselves for the cost of just a little effort we can then camp outside stations and offer cut price fuel direct to the customers or indeed just sell it direct to stations.

But beyond refuel, Gas Mining in Crusader is one of my preferred game loop objectives. The Depths will be rich with gasses meaning you won't have to stay down there for long to fill up... if you can survive the pressue to get to the levels the heavier more valueable elements float around down there, that is... :)

 

[FZD]

As things stand currently, I see this to be a very bad time to introduce refueling.

First of all, if I was a fuel trucker, (and I did own Gemini for the longest time), I'd either be doing it for just roleplaying fun or out of sheer altruism. If I was doing it for profit, it'd cost like at least 50k aUEC for me just to show up. Up front, to deter any pirates from ambushing me. Is 50k alot every time you need to fly between planets? Well, for sure, but if I wanted to make profit, then it has to be at least 50k to be at all competitive with just doing missions. Refueling seems to be this rather involved process, it's going to take time for all sorts of reasons, not least of which is that people needing fuel are probably some ways away from the nearest refueling station. And unlike doing Missions, you probably don't be constantly flying from customer to customer, so, downtime needs to be factored in as well.

If I need to hire an escort, well, then we'll have to charge 100k, two players, so, obviously that's double. But it'll be cheaper for everyone if I just charge you up front, don't matter if it's an ambush if I already got 50k out of it. (And I won't show up with full tank of course, only what you need.)

The way I see it, it'd be better if we had
AI blades
NPC crew
NPC escorts
Hull armor / Longer TTK
before refueling, because NPCs would be cheaper to hire than players. (I mean, apart from people who do it out of altruism or some roleplay value). And with hull armor in game, Starfarers (particularly Gemini) would probably survive long enough that escorts could actually defend the ship when ambushed. Atm, even if you do have escorts I've gotten my Gemini blown up in just mere seconds by a single fighter, so, what's the escorts gonna do there? Avenge me? Doesn't bring back my ship.

EDIT: Oh, and: Server meshing. You need fuel? Okey, there's 45 other players on the server. Maybe there are a couple with starfarers, but maybe those couple players are busy. Is there an AI fuel service? If there is, well, that's gonna limit how much players running fuel service could charge, possibly even making it impossible for players to compete with the AI.

 

[BUTUZ]

Totally agree with @FZD it would be nice to get the Starfarer out of the mothball fleet but it would be way better to have AI blades NPC crew etc as that will just improve every area of the game rather than one small niche one.

 

[Carlos Spicyweiner]

Seems that there is going to have to be a major tweak to every facet of the economy. Higher payouts for delivery and sale of every type of goods and services, fuel surcharges, wholesale fuel prices to the Cry-Astros. I would particularly like to see fueling contracts with the UEE, the guvmint tops off your Gemini for free, and you basically charge them back for every ship you refuel, and you got a built-in, free fighter escort!

Also, never, ever vote for the joe biden clone for imperator...he's the ultimate NPC and the best he'll ever do is stand on a table and beg for ice cream. Fuel prices will take off like an Aurora with it's ass on fire!

 

[Bambooza]

G- seems ships will be nerfed at some point so more and more ships ( not just small fighters) are dependent on refueling from a refueling ship.
This game loop caught me off guard in how exciting it could turn out to be in the long run. It will also be the first new game loop I will see arriving since starting to play sc and it’s been neat how sc has been providing details on it.

Not a nerf. These ships were never intended to have fuel scoops they do not have them listed, it was just a needed workaround due to the limitations of the game in that there was no way to get more fuel unless you were at a station which greatly limited their usability so they had them temporary granted. This is going to go a long way towards differentiating ships and intended roles as well as add a new degree of complexity to dog fighting.