W-F consumption during operations

[Fenikso]

I have a question:

What influences water-fuel consumption during operations (blockade and surveillance)?

I thought that it is tied proportionally to the consumption during space travel but it does not seem to be the case. Can someone shed some light on it?

[Cory Trese]

It is tied proportionally to your ships fuel consumption.

[rabidbite]

I saw it tied to my ships fuel consumption. Example:

I got a Royal Class on Demanding the other day, and pumped up sails just cause I'm a freak and wanted more. Infinite fuel for the world in green spaces. Now I can surveillance indefinitely. No fuel loss.

I know Cory already answered, but I wanted to provide an example even if it felt a little redundant

[Fenikso]

With Royal Class I have seen something similar. I wanted to try some ships I have never used before (Slow / Low). But with my Star Cruiser which has 265 crew it started to be very different. Even when both ships had after upgrades roughly the same consumption for travel in deep space, during Blockade it was 0 vs 2 water-fuel per turn (impossible).

I think that number of crew has more weight in this case than during deep space travel. Which is still "proportional", I just hoped for more detail and experience from other players.

But I do not really want to expand on this anymore...

[Cory Trese]

Fenikso -- you are correct in saying that it isn't the same.

Let me do some research and I'll post back what I find. if we don't like we can change.

This thread shows issues -- you have too high and rabid has too low.

[alienfodder]

I was concerned by this. I've been blockading Thulun on challenging for years at a time in my fully +15 crewed Jango with zero W-F usage (and no morale drop). Though sails deteriorate over time, that only affects subsequent travel.

[Fenikso]

@cory - I have improved my Intimidation skill recently and bought a new Star Cruiser to omit those Shalun Mercenaries who drink W-F like mad . I did not have time to test this new shiny ship yet. But still after my testing I did not find big slow ships worth it. It does not feel bad-ass enough IMHO. It does not feel big, nasty and dangerous. I have not seen anyone pointing to some of those nasties as a favorite ship either... [/end of random thoughts]

alienfodder - I do not think that Sails are used in orbit.

[slayernz]

I just did a test on impossible with a Honor of Thulun (green efficiency 0.603).
I did 20x surveillance missions and saw zero impact to fuel. Ship had no damage and full crew during the experiment. I might fire one of the red-shirted ensigns through a solar sail or two to test what this is like with some damage and crew loss. BTW, I was deep space surveillancing so had sails unfurled.

[Cory Trese]

Nov 29, 2011 14:52:57 GMT -5 Fenikso said:

@cory - I have improved my Intimidation skill recently and bought a new Star Cruiser to omit those Shalun Mercenaries who drink W-F like mad . I did not have time to test this new shiny ship yet. But still after my testing I did not find big slow ships worth it. It does not feel bad-ass enough IMHO. It does not feel big, nasty and dangerous. I have not seen anyone pointing to some of those nasties as a favorite ship either... [/end of random thoughts]

Fenikso do you have any suggestions or the large ships do not match your play style?

I love the big ships. They're definitely my favorites because they're so hard to kill and can make a big difference in large fuel consumption.

I find that 200 Crew / 200 Cargo / 45 Hull / 30 Armor is nearly unstoppable vs. most regular ships.

Playing on Elite I find that I can make around ~400K per "Rim Run" with a Smuggler or BH so for me massive WF consumption isn't a problem. Boarding with 200 Crew and 70 Weapons with 50 Warrior ... the way to take the Xeno.

[slayernz]

Ya know, I haven't gone down the track of the very large ship since my first Captain (Slayer). Since then, the largest hull I've flown with is 22. I'm gonna have to buy me one of those behemoths to do a bit of bulldozing

[Fenikso]

Nov 29, 2011 16:32:11 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

Fenikso do you have any suggestions or the large ships do not match your play style?

That is very good question which left me thinking for a looong time.

The large ships did not really match my play style. But that is not an issue. I wanted to try something new, so I tried to match my strategies and style with it. And I enjoyed it quite a bit! The boarding is very different experience when you have enough suckers volunteers on board.

Maybe the problem is only in my head. It is very subjective feeling. Maybe I overestimate and underestimate some of the ship's stats. For example if I compare Star Cruiser with Royal Class:

Hull 42 vs 20
Armor 21 vs 10
Engines 33 vs 40
Solar Sails 40 vs 44
Crew 250 vs 70
Cargo Hold 80 vs 80
Guns 38 vs 24
Torpedoes 22 vs 12
Slow-Low / Fast-Quick

I am kind of disappointed by Guns and Cargo. I would expect some 50 guns to make it really fearsome. Also with that many people on board, I expect to have 80 weapons AND still have enough space for W-F needed by its bigger consumption.

[slayernz]

The biggest shortfall of the large ship example above is the small cargo. I've seen a few slow/slow ships out there with small cargo holds.

[danx55]

I'm finding this one good for plundering cargo ;-)
121 cargo bay

[slayernz]

You want something easy to find for hauling stupendous amounts of cargo ... try the Pride of De Valtos. It's a medium sized ship (18 hull, with 26 engines and 36 sails). It comes with a stock fitout of 120 cargo unit capacity!

Just doing the Cargo Hold upgrade (+20%) will give you a hold of 144. Plus it's relatively fuel efficient. Shame about the guns and torps - but it is De Valtos not Cadar

[blackgauntlet]

Fenikso- I am a big ship-lover. I did not profess my undying love for them here in the forum as it looks like it was some kinda blasphemy.

Everyone's going on and on about High Speed, High Agility... I'm not one for finesse and prefer to slug it out long range with massive torp array, outgun with enormous gun arsenal and boarding with an army of Leviathan-suited spice addicts.

Costly repairs if you're not in your homeworld, but it sure gives some ego boosts. ;D