Fleet resupply
Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 10:45 am
In this thread it was suggested that, to neuter shoot & scoot tactics, missile reloads be tracked for a ship (or fleet). So, if your ship runs out of missiles, it doesnt get any more until it returns to a supply base or something. While this probably wouldnt solve shoot & scoot (players would just design more reloads into their missile boats) and would add to micromanagement, it does have some potential for the strategic game.
Proposal:
Ships are NOT fully reloaded with missiles 'as if by magic' after every combat. They have to be resupplied. So, the player must design enough reloads into their missile ships to last them until reloads arrive.
Notes :
* Resupply should be automatic : The player must have no extra work to do.
* The delay (in game turns) between firing some missiles and getting new ones to replace them is equal to the travel time between your fleet and the nearest friendly 'supply depot' to it.
* Thus, the further you are away from home, the more reloads you will need in order to be able to defend yourself.
* Thus, defenders will usually have an advantage (shorter supply lines) than attackers. Attackers will have a practical limit to how far they can penetrate into enemy territory before their supply lines become overstretched, and they start running out of missiles.
* 'supply depot' is not currently defined. Depending on what is required for gameplay balance, it could require a special building, or it could just be any friendly planet.
* All of the above can also be applied to resupply of fighters.
Example:
Fleet X is 3 turns travel away from a 'supply depot'. It has 50 missiles. On turn 1 it engages in combat and fires 30 missiles. 30 missiles are automatically dispatched to resupply it, they will arrive 3 turns later.
On turn 2 it engages in combat again, and fires its remaining 20 missiles. It runs out of missiles half way though the combat, but still manages to win. 20 more missiles are dispatched to resupply.
On turn 3 the fleet engages in combat again. It has NO MISSILES LEFT, and cant fire any during combat, putting it at a disadvantage. Fortunately it survives again.
On turn 4 the first 30 missiles arrive. The fleet engages in combat again, and this time has some missiles to play with.
Disclaimer:
Yes, i know that in real life you would probably send out more than just the amount required to refill the ship, and that once its in enemy territory you would probably start sending missiles straight away, instead of waiting for your fleets to start using them - but so what... the point here is to create a gameplay effect, not to simulate realistic supply lines.
Questions, things that i havent figured out yet:
* Reloads could be tracked by fleet or by ship (need to decide which). i.e, can ships share missiles? Thus if you build lots of small single shot missile boats, can you add a huge ship carrying loads of missiles and have it share with the missile boats? This adds the possibility of adding supply ships to your fleet, which would have to be defended as they would be a prime target for an enemy looking to halt your advance.
* Different types/sizes of missiles - how do we deal with this? Do we track them all individually (thus you might run out of planetbusters, but still have plenty of PD missiles left), or do we have some kind of abstract 'missile storage space' which is used to refill missiles based on their size (e.g. you have 6 'units' of missiles left, which is used to refill 1 planetbuster (2 units) 2 'regular' missiles (2 units) and 8 PD missiles (2 units again).
* Do we allow blockades of resupply routes? i.e. if there is an enemy fleet between you and home, do the resupplies get through? On one hand, this allows for lots of tactical possibilities (cutting of supply lines - YAY!), but on the other it could be a programming hell (do we let supply trains try to find a long way around?) and a UI hell (how do we let the players know whether they have valid supply lines or not? How do we show supply lines and what they are carrying? How does the player know when their resupply is due to arrive?)
* How are supply lines tracked? Does the game actually track individual shipments of missiles from system to system, or does it just get abstracted out as a list of stuff which will automatically get to fleet X on turn Y? If a fleet moves further away from/closer to home, does this affect the time of delivery of reloads which are already en-route? Do we really care enough to bother tracking stuff at this level? (although it would be necessary if we wanted blockades to be implemented).
Okay: thoughts, flames, dismissals, alternative suggestions?
Proposal:
Ships are NOT fully reloaded with missiles 'as if by magic' after every combat. They have to be resupplied. So, the player must design enough reloads into their missile ships to last them until reloads arrive.
Notes :
* Resupply should be automatic : The player must have no extra work to do.
* The delay (in game turns) between firing some missiles and getting new ones to replace them is equal to the travel time between your fleet and the nearest friendly 'supply depot' to it.
* Thus, the further you are away from home, the more reloads you will need in order to be able to defend yourself.
* Thus, defenders will usually have an advantage (shorter supply lines) than attackers. Attackers will have a practical limit to how far they can penetrate into enemy territory before their supply lines become overstretched, and they start running out of missiles.
* 'supply depot' is not currently defined. Depending on what is required for gameplay balance, it could require a special building, or it could just be any friendly planet.
* All of the above can also be applied to resupply of fighters.
Example:
Fleet X is 3 turns travel away from a 'supply depot'. It has 50 missiles. On turn 1 it engages in combat and fires 30 missiles. 30 missiles are automatically dispatched to resupply it, they will arrive 3 turns later.
On turn 2 it engages in combat again, and fires its remaining 20 missiles. It runs out of missiles half way though the combat, but still manages to win. 20 more missiles are dispatched to resupply.
On turn 3 the fleet engages in combat again. It has NO MISSILES LEFT, and cant fire any during combat, putting it at a disadvantage. Fortunately it survives again.
On turn 4 the first 30 missiles arrive. The fleet engages in combat again, and this time has some missiles to play with.
Disclaimer:
Yes, i know that in real life you would probably send out more than just the amount required to refill the ship, and that once its in enemy territory you would probably start sending missiles straight away, instead of waiting for your fleets to start using them - but so what... the point here is to create a gameplay effect, not to simulate realistic supply lines.
Questions, things that i havent figured out yet:
* Reloads could be tracked by fleet or by ship (need to decide which). i.e, can ships share missiles? Thus if you build lots of small single shot missile boats, can you add a huge ship carrying loads of missiles and have it share with the missile boats? This adds the possibility of adding supply ships to your fleet, which would have to be defended as they would be a prime target for an enemy looking to halt your advance.
* Different types/sizes of missiles - how do we deal with this? Do we track them all individually (thus you might run out of planetbusters, but still have plenty of PD missiles left), or do we have some kind of abstract 'missile storage space' which is used to refill missiles based on their size (e.g. you have 6 'units' of missiles left, which is used to refill 1 planetbuster (2 units) 2 'regular' missiles (2 units) and 8 PD missiles (2 units again).
* Do we allow blockades of resupply routes? i.e. if there is an enemy fleet between you and home, do the resupplies get through? On one hand, this allows for lots of tactical possibilities (cutting of supply lines - YAY!), but on the other it could be a programming hell (do we let supply trains try to find a long way around?) and a UI hell (how do we let the players know whether they have valid supply lines or not? How do we show supply lines and what they are carrying? How does the player know when their resupply is due to arrive?)
* How are supply lines tracked? Does the game actually track individual shipments of missiles from system to system, or does it just get abstracted out as a list of stuff which will automatically get to fleet X on turn Y? If a fleet moves further away from/closer to home, does this affect the time of delivery of reloads which are already en-route? Do we really care enough to bother tracking stuff at this level? (although it would be necessary if we wanted blockades to be implemented).
Okay: thoughts, flames, dismissals, alternative suggestions?