The maintenance cost

[Jestak]

Greetings,

I can't figure out the maintenance modifier when you create a game with the different guides and msgs I read.

In the normal SEIV mod: Ships cost 25% and there is a hard coded minimum of 5%.

If I chose the advanced trait about the maintenance aptitude, how much % over 100% must I put in the characteristic of the maintenance aptitude to reach the 5%?

I just noticed that putting 100% and chosing the advanced trait was making me lose precious % points.

Thank you

[Fyron]

Maintenance aptitude adds linearly to the base rate. 120 in Maintenance Aptitude will get you to the 5% barrier in the stock game. So will 200 in maintenance aptitude, or 120 in maintenance aptitude and the Merchants culture.

Note that the 5% minimum is from traits and culture. Vehicle, component and facility abilities can reduce maintenance rates below this 5%. If you have 120 maintenance aptitude, bases will end up with 2.5% maintenance rates, rather than the 5% ships will pay.

[Jestak]

Greetings,

So, if I choose the advanced trait that reduces the maintenance 25%, does that mean the maintenance cost is 25% less or it is down to the minimum cap of 5% except for those modiers?

Thank you

[Frederick_d_Ohlmann]

It does NOT reduce maint cost. It reduce SUPPLY cost, meaning yours ship will resupply less often

[NullAshton]

Isn't it possible on some mods to have negative maintenence?

[Fyron]

Supplies and maintenance are entirely different aspects. Maintenance is resources paid per turn. Supplies allow your ship to move, power shields, and fire weapons. Running out of supplies drops your ship's movement to 1 [corrected] and prevents it from firing weapons. Its shields will be at 0 at the start of new battles where the supplies were 0.

If there was an advanced trait for maintenance reduction (I believe one could be modded in), it would add linearly just like the characteristic and cultural bonus do. Traits and culture affect the base maintenance rate, not the maintenance paid. If it was at 25%, it would make the base maintenance rate 0%. The 5% minimum rule would then apply.

It is possible to modify the system so that maintenance traits and cultural bonuses seemingly affect the actual maintenance paid, which is a far more logical and balanced mechanism. It involves setting the base rate to 100 in Settings.txt and adding a -75% maintenance reduction ability to all ship hulls (change the one on base hulls to -90%). Without any bonuses, ships will still have an effective maintenance rate of 25% (0.25), as in the stock game. Selecting a maintenance aptitude trait of 110 will cause the maintenance of a ship to equal to:

(base - trait) * (base - maint_redux_ability) =
(1.00 - 0.10) * (1.00 - 0.75) = 0.225 of the build cost

This is a 10% reduction of actual maintenace paid, rather than the base. In stock, a 110 value in that trait leads to a 15% base maintenance, which is a massive 40% reduction. Of course, you will want to fiddle with the threshhold costs of Maintenance Aptitude, as it will become way too expensive for what it does past 110.

Ashton:
The Space Monsters of Devnull have negative maintenance rates, representing hording factors.

[Slick]

Imperator Fyron said:
Running out of supplies drops your ship's movement to 0 and prevents it from firing weapons.

Correction: Running out of supplies drops your ship's movement to 1.

[Fyron]

Note: Typing posts in the morning is not a good idea. Too many 1s and 0s. Oi.