Maintenance Formula

[Talenn]

Given how potent Mines and Fighters are in the game at the moment, I am VERY inclined to want to give them at least some residual maintenance cost...maybe only 5-10% or so.

I can just easily envision games where everyone goes defensive and hoards Mines and Fighters (and Sats, but I've found them less useful than the other two especially as the game goes on). Trying to attack into clouds of Fighters and Mines with Ships is NOT a cost-effective way of doing business, IMO. So, everything else equal, the game will stagnate.

Also, since Fighters can easily challenge Ships in raw power (once massed), they should at least cost SOMETHING in keep going. Otherwise they can eventually just outnumber Ships by such a huge margin that Ships wont work anymore. This is especially true now that Fighters can MOVE within a system on their own. Personally, I think this is a bad thing. Now it is very possible to defend a system soley with PILES of Fighters and pay nothing for upkeep. A player who does not research Fighters is going to be at a HUGE disadvantage. I really hate to see people forced into certain techs and styles. It destroys some of the diversity of the game and the tech tree.

Another possible alternative would be to allow Fighters to only be produced at SpaceYards (ala SE3). This would at least prevent players from hoarding Fighters on every world that has nothing better to do. As it is now, I have played games where 10+ Worlds are all cranking them out. There is NO WAY that a player using Ships can keep up with that...no way. And whats worse, the more Ships you build, the harder it becomes whereas Fighters dont share that disadvantage.

For now, I've upped the cost of the Fighter 'Hulls' a bit to 1) slow down the rate of production and 2) give players some pause about how much they want to spend on Fighters.

Given that Fighters became exponentially more powerful in 1.11, I'd like to see them share some of the costs associated with their capabilities. For the Record, in 1.11, Fighters became FAR more difficult to target (almost impossible for some weapons), they became more resiliant (bug fix, and shields GREATLY increased), and Point Defenses took a pretty healthy dive in capability. All added together, I think its overcorrecting for a unit that is so cheap to mass and keep.

Perhaps I am way off base here, but I am still constantly paranoid about things that Last forever with no ongoing cost. Usually games that have items like that eventually stagnate as players figure it out and start going hardcore in that direction. The good news is that with SE4 being so customizable, any number of things can be changed to make Fighters seem less attractive. But for me, I'd simply like to see them have a small upkeep.

Thanx,
Talenn