Apologies if this has been raised before but.......

[alien]

It appears to me that ships put on Sentry duty use no supplies, seemingly because a Life Support System and Crew Quarters don't use them, surely this cannot be right, since humanoid types at the very least need to eat and drink.

Patch 1.35 includes new command line options and a map editor. What are the command line options and how do you use the map editor ??

Many thanks.

[Aristoi]

I believe that ships now only use supplies when they move. Your crew can Last indefinately after they run out, anyway.

I suppose they eat out of the vending machines then, which are kept supplied by civilian contractors.

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

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surely this cannot be right, since humanoid types at the very least need to eat and drink.

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Its called recycling everything just like here on planet earth.

[Will]

Yes, but recycling takes energy (which would come from the general "supply" stat). A few people have brought up that Life Support at least should take some supplies every turn, and there have been a few mods to make Life Support take supplies (even if it only applies when the ship moves).

However, it's not really a major problem. I would like to see it changed, but there are several things which have priority in my mind.

[Magnum357]

Personally, I dont' think its a big deal. I can see realistically that it should be that way, but I want to beleive that ships on Century duty that use up "food stuff" supplies would be replenished by a small courier shuttle (or something like that) the carries specificaly "food stuff" or whatever they use to make food and water with. On the other hand, keeping lifesupport going in a ship (even in standstill) should use up some amount of energy (I still think it should be small though).

[capnq]

quote:

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Patch 1.35 includes new command line options and a map editor. What are the command line options and how do you use the map editor ??

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I'm not sure what the command line options are, but I know some of them don't work, because Admiral's Play-by-Web site currently can only run Version 1.30. Aaron says this should be fixed in the next patch.

The map editor is a separate program called SE4Map.exe in the Space Empires IV folder. It can load maps that have been saved in the game, or generate random ones (although I'm not sure what parameters it generates them with). You can also build a map entirely manually if you're patient enough. You can then save the edited map, and load it in the game setup screen.

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 03 June 2001).]

[nerfman]

Well, still, you all should try to have your sentry ships hit port sometimes. Your sailors/spacers will appreiate the chance to get smashed and chase tail for a few days. Hard to model that in a game, but that's what good sailors need to keep going.

[Beck]

It could be modeled in the game(would require a harcode change though). Simply have the maintenance on the fleet/ships increase slowly after X turns to reflect the increased cost of maintaining a fleet without returning to port. Once thet return to poer, it resets X.