When you go bankrupt

[CW]

In 1.41 when you go bankrupt some of your ships get abandoned and these ships seem to be chosen at random. Sometimes you know you are going bankrupt next turn and you might have a junk ship somewhere that you want to ditch to save your precious WP opener from being abandoned, but you have no self-destruct device or another armed ship nearby.

I'd like to see at least a new "abandon" command, or even better overhaul the whole thing completely. What I mean is, you could cut off supply to a ship and it gradually decays, say it loses 50% of components every turn hitpoints-wise if the ship recieves zero maintenance. If you are going bankrupt but you have not chosen which ship to stop supplying, then let the effect spread evenly through out all of your ships. (ie. even if you don't have enough cash to pay off all the maintenance, you probably have enough to pay for part of it. So your ships lose somewhere between 1% and 50% of components hitpoints-wise.)

To stop people from abusing rounding, always round the effect UP. For example you are bankrupt and losing the equivalent of 1 hitpoint worth of maintenance per ship, then the next turn every ship of yours will still lose a complete component. To make the whole thing smarter the AI (for each individual ship) should look at the repair piority list to determine which component is the least important. But I think it should cost some resources to repair components, since people could abuse the rule with repair bays and space yards if repair is free like what it is now.


[This message has been edited by CW (edited 18 October 2001).]

[Q]

I would be perfectely satisfied with the "abandon ship" command, because the more complicated system you propose might be too much work to implement. I never understood why you can't abandon a crippled ship that is out of reach for repair. For the AI this can get quite a problem to pay the continued maintenance, at least when I checked it Last time. Or does the AI send now repair ships to damaged ships that can't move??
To prevent abuse and still save the utility to destroy a ship instead of abandon it, you could let the abandoned ship stay in place for a certain time and any other empires with a ship in this sector could claim the abandoned ship.

[This message has been edited by Q (edited 18 October 2001).]

[bearclaw]

I agree. An abandon ship option would be perfect. Of course, that would totally defeat my tactic of using engine killing ships to disable an enemies ships. After several years of war, the enemy ends up with so much maintance for ships he can't use that he has no choice but to surrender. Quite effective.

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"You don't know the Power of the Dark Side. I must obey my Master"

[Gavin]

I tried that, bearclaw, and found I had to constantly keep monitoring 'the junkyard' for live ones. How did you manage the 'junkyard patrol' ? (constantly having to remember which sectors contain cripples and how many were in there)

I prefer ship capture or just plain destroying now, it's cleaner, I want a fun game, not a micromanagement nightmare that makes my day job look easy.



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'If there are gods, they do not care, and justice always goes to the strong. But know this - all that is done before the naked stars is remembered' - Klingon proverb, the Final Reflection.

[Cheeze]

I disagree with the abandon ship idea. There is such a thing in place already in the game (assuming it works) in the Self-Destruct Device. I've never used it, but that's a cost you have to consider...will I take up space with a device I probably won't use, or do I risk being stuck with a great deal of damaged ships I cannot scrap? If you decide to scrap ships, doesn't that work in time to counteract any automatic and random ship destruction?

[Puke]

thats not exactly the only purpose of the self destruct device.. imagine a foe with large boarding parties. do you waste 60 or so KT per ship with boarding defenses, or drop a SDD on there?

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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

[CW]

quote:

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Originally posted by Lynx:
I disagree with the abandon ship idea

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It is plainly illogical to NOT have the option to abandon ship or cut off supply. If I can order my ships to do suicidal attacks why can't I simple NOT pay for things that I don't want any more? Your reasoning might be that the rule adds challenge to the game, but I strongly believe that most people hate rules that don't make any sense.

[CW]

quote:

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Originally posted by henk brouwer:
what about the mothball option?

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You can't mothball a ship without a shipyard, and sometimes you just don't have one nearby.

[Cheeze]

Yes, the self-destruct device is there to deter boarding parties, but it does serve this other purpose. I don't entirely agree with the abandon ship option, since it makes it too easy for players to send ships as far from their own systems as possible, and then simply abandon them when they are out of supplies or usefulness. That would unbalance game play since it would not check the player who just continues to build and send ships out to attack constantly and doesn't mind their maintenance expenses. I would also say it's mostly unrealistic. From the perspective of a crew, why abandon a ship when there's no hope of being recovered? Sci-fi stories that do an "abandon ship" are either leaving a ship that's being destroyed or they engage some self-destruct device/sequence. In this sense, the AI is annoyingly on target...it's ships immediately return for resupply when they are low on supplies.

You don't want a ship any more or can't afford it? Then you can: destroy it (SDD or fire on it), mothball it, scrap it (both requiring a shipyard), or send it on a suicide mission. In any result, it requires at least some thought and planning on the player's part. Or you hope the computer decides to trash that one when you run out of resources to support your ships. This does put it out of your control, but it could be said that different ships have, or do not have, resources that keep them going where others, even inconveniently, must be scrapped.

[Rhinestone Cowboy]

How about a Life Pod/Emergency Escape Component, Which is much Cheaper and smaller than a self-destruct?

If it is possible this component does not work in combat mode(?) and/or only works when the ship is 50%(?) damaged.

If this is feasible, it gives you a component that enables you to abandon crippled ships and doesn't have the cost or tonnage of a Self destruct device. It also cannot be used to deter boarding parties if it can be made not to work in combat.

I have yet to dabble in mods, but am continually amazed by what people have done.

Is this feasable?

RhineStone Cowboy