The Star Trek Mod - v1.9.7.5 (Oct 07)

[Nodachi]

The Warrior Trait is best left to the AI in order to give it an edge. It's so powerful I even banned it from the Power Game!

[Atrocities]

Nodachi is correct. The warrior trait was intended exclusively for single player and AI use. It SHOULD NEVER be used in a PBW game. Not only does it give to many game tilting bonuses.

[Atrocities]

Proposed new supply useage / generation model. (Subject to change)

[boran_blok]

I'll have to see it for real to know wether or not it works, so I suggest you make a beta with it and We'll play trough a game, we'll know it quite quickly then.

But it looks good on paper(screen)

[AngleWyrm]

What we seem to have going on here is Maximum Speed and Cruising Speed! Allow me to illustrate:

Maximum speed is the maximum number of squares a ship can travel in one turn, based on the Warp Core, Nacelles, Emergency Propulsion, Solar Sails, etc. Fuel storage technologies determine the number of turns over which Maximum speed can be maintained.

Cruising speed is the maximum sustainable rate of travel; how many squares a ship can travel in a thousand turns, divided by a thousand turns. Fuel replenishment technologies are the main ingredient of cruising speed. The Bussard Collectors, Ram Scoops, and Replicators add up to how fast fuel flows into the system, and therefore the maximum sustainable output.

If the Warp Cores were to generate supply units, rather than burn them, it would be possible to scale the cruising speed with Warp Core technology, as well as the operating time at max warp.

[Atrocities]

What I am thinking about doing is giving the ships enough supplies to run three full turns worth of movement each, and re-adjusting the "Ram Scoop" - replaces the name Bussard Collector - to use 2 max components, but combined they generate 1/2 of a ships supply needs every turn. This would reduce a ships range over time, but also over time resupply the ship. The problem is balance. So I am testing it now.

[AngleWyrm]

Upping the storage limits can do that; the ships will then be able to maintain maximum warp for three turns, or fly at a slower speed for longer. Note that because ships generate their own fuel, they will always be able to travel indefinitely at slower speeds. It's the same thing as taking a quick run and pausing, or taking the trip slow and steady. If you remove all fuel-generating ship technology from the game, then it would be possible to enforce a radius of operations on ships.

Here is a balanced scenario, that would make the short runs at max warp an interesting design choice, as well as a strategy: Have the core generate supplies which, when added to two scoops produce a sustainable cruise speed listed under CruiseWarp:
Code:

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TL      MaxWarp MaxUse  Core    Scoop   C+2S    CruiseWarp

I       2       200     50      25      100     1.0

II      3       300     100     25      150     1.5

III     4       400     130     35      200     2.0

IV      5       500     150     45      240     2.4

V       6       600     200     50      300     3.0

VI      6       600     220     50      320     3.2

VII     8       800     260     70      400     4.0

VIII    8       800     260     70      400     4.0

IX      10      1000    340     80      500     5.0

X       10      1000    340     80      500     5.0

XI      11      1100    360     90      540     5.4

XII     12      1200    400     100     600     6.0

XIII    13      1300    500     100     700     7.0

---

If you allow a player to add as many ram scoops/bussard collectors/replicators to their ship as they want, players can get ships with sustainable max warp...for a price. It takes eight scoops of the appropriate tech, plus the warp core, to support max warp. If scoop tech is set to 10kT, then the result is the player has some interesting choices.

The figures above are balanced so that if the player adds two scoops, they will receive enough supplies to maintain cruising speeds listed (or stop to refuel between rabbit-runs at max warp.) If the player chooses to spend their hull space on additional scoop/replicator/collector tech, then they can usefully add up to eight of them to contribute towards a higher sustainable speed. Adding more will gather supplies towards fuelling weaponry between fights. But of course all those fuel generators cost space, so the result is less room for weaponry...

On another note, warp-9 and warp-7 are speeds that don't exist in the current core/nacelle configuration.

[Atrocities]

I like this. It makes good sense. If I read this correctly your suggesting that I add supply generation to the WC? I am resistant to do that.

[DarkHorse]

You could also add maintenance penalties to the supply generation components, which would make the faster ships more expensive, in a cumulative fashion. Makes sense to me, although I'm insane.

[AngleWyrm]

There's a sleight problem with relying on 2xScoop tech to provide all supplies for a ship: the scoops provide too large a percentage of the speed. If the player were to add just one more scoop/replicator/collector, then all of a sudden the ship can run at or near max warp indefinitely. So the choice is removed, and the player has nothing to do. But if a significant chunk of the ship's supply generation is separated from scoops (like about half), then it is possible to let players buy as many scoops as they feel they can afford, filling up hull space that would have been guns, looking for a perfect mission balance. It then makes sense to have unarmed deep-space explorers, and slower heavily armed combat vessels. They would still have the same top speed for three-turn durations, but they would have some cost trade-offs about how fast they can cruise on longer missions, and isn't that what the ship design screen is for?

I also like the idea of high maintenance penalties for supply generating componants; it simulates a conversion of resources into supplies. Also, it will effectively create a financial ceiling on fleet size, as a proportion of income. Large fleets of small ships will tend to be more expensive than small fleets of large ships, a reason to buy bigger ships, slower ships, and tankers.