Mothball ships
Moderator: Oberlus
Mothball ships
Say you have a powerful fleet, then you can mothball your fleet and don't need to pay upkeep.
If you need it later sometime, reactivate it in some turns.
If you need it later sometime, reactivate it in some turns.
Re: Mothball ships
I can see this as a policy that enables lower influence upkeep on ships that have been "parked" (and their crews decomissioned) and can't be used (speed and damage of all weapons set to zero) until they are "unparked" and crewed again. It would require a new mechanic and UI changes to get the option to park and unpark fleets on the map and to disable the weapons and engines of parked ships.
Not in a near future, though.
Related idea: policy to reduce upkeep of fleets that didn't move on previous turn, fluff about fuel savings, troops on permission, etc. Could be implemented faster than OP's suggestion, but not before influence gets into FreeOrion.
Not in a near future, though.
Related idea: policy to reduce upkeep of fleets that didn't move on previous turn, fluff about fuel savings, troops on permission, etc. Could be implemented faster than OP's suggestion, but not before influence gets into FreeOrion.
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Re: Mothball ships
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Re: Mothball ships
This also can be used to change pilot of your fleet.
Re: Mothball ships
Not on my watch
That would be crazy powerful: late game you find Misiorla and substitute all the awkward Gysache pilots of your huge fleet for them and then BOOM you multiply by 2.3 the damage of all your ships.
No.
Ships are supposed to be tailored to the species that pilot it, or you can find any other fluff excuse (at start, "Pilots" trait was called "Weapons", so it was about engineering skills more than piloting skills), but pilots can't be changed.
Fleet parking and redeployment
I propose to introduce the mechanic of fleet parking and redeployment as a method of reducing fleet upkeep in times of peace.
When a ship/fleet is at a system with a drydock, a new option would appear: "park ship/fleet".
When a ship is parked, it is still present in the system, but cannot blockade nor damage anything (weapons do not fire, fighters do not launch). Additionally, it counts insignificantly towards fleet upkeep. Technically, it could be (easily) implemented by replacing it with a design that has all internal slots empty, but it might look weird.
When a ship is unparked/redeployed, it would take one+ turn to retrain the crew. After that, the ship can again fight.
There could also be another option "shore leave", which has the same effect as parking, but for only one turn and the upkeep cost would be higher than parking.
When a ship/fleet is at a system with a drydock, a new option would appear: "park ship/fleet".
When a ship is parked, it is still present in the system, but cannot blockade nor damage anything (weapons do not fire, fighters do not launch). Additionally, it counts insignificantly towards fleet upkeep. Technically, it could be (easily) implemented by replacing it with a design that has all internal slots empty, but it might look weird.
When a ship is unparked/redeployed, it would take one+ turn
There could also be another option "shore leave", which has the same effect as parking, but for only one turn and the upkeep cost would be higher than parking.
Re: Mothball ships
Hey, ThinkSome, I moved your post to this thread since it is about the same.
Re: Mothball ships
I'm against this. *strongly*?. I wrote up a long explanation why then the internet or this forum ate my answer. So, shorter version.
Mechanically - complicates things.
quasi-moralistically - Teaches bad habits.
If you have a military ship that is not doing something, then there is plenty it could be doing. Scouts sittings watching territory are doing something. Reserve ships at your centre are doing something. Current multiplayer is perfect example, I have plenty of enemy scouts in my area that I'd like to be rid off and just can't devote the resources too. A frigate would do. A mass driver scout would do.
Anyway, I'm not going to recreate my whole rant. What would this improve? How much are you actually saving by mothballing? A real question, with a calculable answer? How many PP/round do I gain by this complication.
Not picking on you thinksome (even though I seem to be lately, just asking questings). Question, what element of the game would this improve?
Mechanically - complicates things.
quasi-moralistically - Teaches bad habits.
If you have a military ship that is not doing something, then there is plenty it could be doing. Scouts sittings watching territory are doing something. Reserve ships at your centre are doing something. Current multiplayer is perfect example, I have plenty of enemy scouts in my area that I'd like to be rid off and just can't devote the resources too. A frigate would do. A mass driver scout would do.
Anyway, I'm not going to recreate my whole rant. What would this improve? How much are you actually saving by mothballing? A real question, with a calculable answer? How many PP/round do I gain by this complication.
Not picking on you thinksome (even though I seem to be lately, just asking questings). Question, what element of the game would this improve?
Re: Mothball ships
I assume the above question was answered with the following:
For me, the gameplay improvement wouldn't come from saved PP, but from extra strategic choices, once fake PP upkeep (increasing PP cost of new ships based on current number of ships in the empire) is replaced by influence upkeep (IP per turn and ship). Then, empires with great production focused on military but with poor influence would benefit from a policy that cuts down fleet IP upkeep. Other empires with poor production, relatively small fleets or great influence could prefer other policies instead.
Re: Mothball ships
That would absolutely have to come first, before we can introduce such a mothball mechanic. With the current system, such a mechanic would effectively defeat the upkeep mechanic.