Burn to much Fuel on a M5000

[richard]

Just updated the game

and found that the ship's M5000 void engine instead of burning 1 fuel per AU is now burning ~1.4 fuel per AU.

This is notable change that caused me to run out of fuel several times

I tracked it on a long run (20-40 AUs) I am doing with no encounters, it seem to be burning about ~1.4 fuel per AU

Other information

Ship - Galtak freighter

Max fuel 130

Pilot 59/19

Ship Ops 91/39

Navigation 94/19

Normal Difficulty

Level 20 Merchant

version 3.1.33

Map seed st-v02-40-4-146209644

game config (ID 102)

Android version 10

Knox version 3.5

[Cory Trese]

It hasn't changed, and fuel usage is estimated assuming all tests are dice-passed and danger is nominal.

I have it on my list to write a localized fuel estimator. This code is very old and none of it has changed in a long time.

In this case, doesn't appear to be a bug -- this is simply an issue of dice, quads, maps and small sample size.

[richard]

How much does the quad danger level verse the safety rating affect fuel usage?

[fallen]

Generally, the fuel ranges are estimated on optimal conditions. You never really fly in optimal conditions. Under normal conditions, expect an engine to burn 0.2 to 0.5 more fuel then advertised even if you pass all the tests.

[richard]

Interesting.

What happen is fuel burn was about as stated until about 15 years into the games
Then I had several runs where I run out of fuel unexpectedly. That is when I note that the fuel burn is higher than 1.0. Like around 1.4.
It had continue through the rest of the game so far.

Question, as the games time goes by, the danger level increases, does the increase danger level, increase fuel burn?
Question, is the optimal fuel burn of M5000 higher than 1.0 ? like 1.2?


Note: later, I will start another game and check the fuel burn of the M5000.

[fallen]

Ok. Fuel burn equations never change during gameplay.

[starwarer]

I have found my M2400 Longhaul on a Zartar Fang to be burning about that same ~1.4 to 1.5 fuel/au. On the v2 default map, crossing Infinite Helix (danger 10) ~50au to travel, my range says 70+au. My engine has 15 safety, and i passed or saved every skill check, but still ran out of fuel before I got to waypoint.
This is after quite noticing my fuel burning far faster than usual during the last day or three. Used to be that it would not be so egregious.

[Cory Trese]

Feb 22, 2021 21:12:07 GMT -5 starwarer said:

I have found my M2400 Longhaul on a Zartar Fang to be burning about that same ~1.4 to 1.5 fuel/au. On the v2 default map, crossing Infinite Helix (danger 10) ~50au to travel, my range says 70+au. My engine has 15 safety, and i passed or saved every skill check, but still ran out of fuel before I got to waypoint.
This is after quite noticing my fuel burning far faster than usual during the last day or three. Used to be that it would not be so egregious.

Thanks for the post! I appreciate the anecdotal information -- happily, I can assure you that the game is working as designed, and nothing has changed recently (past 18 months.)

We automatically gather thousands of data points on the game for each build, and each version that is live across thousands of players on the various platforms that we support. Even with all that testing, non-stop automation and a laser-like focus on quality at all times it is still good to get additional feedback whenever you can.

I ran 1,200,000 cycles on the M2400 and 2,500,000 cycles on each of the M5000 engines. Fuel usage is within +/- 0.0001% of target.

[cptsingalong]

I came here to report the same bug. Even if the game is working as intended, perhaps it would make sense to at least make it clear that fuel consumption is an estimate and will always consume at least as much as the estimate. Preferably also change estimate calculations to include danger zone level.

[fallen]

cptsingalong - thanks for the feedback. We'll keep looking to improve the estimations.