Repairs

[Nitram Draw]

Somehow I have trouble imagining getting insurange on my Battleship! Heck I can barely afford my car insurance and I only had one fender bender

[Suicide Junkie]

$5,000 a month on a $20,000 vehicle is quite steep, and I think the insurance company would go for it.

[Beck]

The problem with trying to equate the game's maintenance to RL is you have hundreds if not thousands of uses for money. In the game, there are only two basic uses for resources, building ships and facilities and maintenance. To get the same RL effect of your monthy car payment and insurance as well as the hundred other things you could spend money on it needs to be distorted to cause the same pause and consideration you make spending your money. The fact that so much is being written about it shows that it is working pretty well. If it mirrored RW costs there would be little concern over whether you build this or that and what it costs as we have nothing else to spend it on. With it as it is there is RL concerns over costs exhibited by the amount of space used discussing mothballing and other tactics to reduce or keep costs down.

[jc173]

I agree the costs have to be elevated for playability's sake. It just seems counter intuitive on the face of it. In my mind I just assumed that the costs came from all the indirect support and infrastructure it costs to keep a military running and fighting.

[Nitram Draw]

There really is no other way I see to limit your builds except maintenance. If you ever played where you had a no maintenance race you can see the differance. I just think 25%/turn is high but at least it can be easily changed.

[dogscoff]

Well, another way to do it would be to add more things to spend your money on: (as per Beck's comment.) Facility maintenence, debt repayments, civilian welfare, commerce/ industry and infrastructure and other things.

Of course this is micromanagment hell, (or heaven, for us MM perverts that like that sort of thing=-) not to mention a lifetime of additional programming for Aaron.

------------------
"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so, Brain, but balancing a family and a career ... oooh, it's all too much for me. "

[Nitram Draw]

Forget that, I can't balance my check book !!! Keep it simple even if it doesn't always make sense, it is the future after all and who knows, maybe you can get insurance for you Battleship then