Luxury Rations and Water Fuel - how are they used?

[spike]

Manual says

Running out of water-fuel is only an issue without Luxury Rations

I am low on fuel (1.1 units) but good on rations (2 to 4 units). Why did 3 of my guys just die scraping ice off the sails? Difficulty = Demanding.

If having Rations on board doesn't avert death when water is low (not even gone yet), then what use are they?

Also, does the movement engine automatically decide to use rations or water, based whichever is currently cheaper per AU? Or does it always use water until water runs out, then switch to using rations?

Or does it use water for the engines, but rations for the crew, when water is low?

The rules are not very clear to me at the moment.

[oldalchemist]

I think rations slow the use of fuel, but don't replace it. I'd still like to be able to change fuels and conserve water by eating rations and/or vudka.

[HateSolstice]

I hear vudka is really good for robots.

>_>

[MTKnife]

Mar 9, 2011 11:25:36 GMT -5 oldalchemist said:

I think rations slow the use of fuel, but don't replace it. I'd still like to be able to change fuels and conserve water by eating rations and/or vudka.

That's not what Cory said in his blog post on how range is calculated--Luxury Rations are supposed to be important only after Water-fuel runs out.

[spike]

Exactly. Also the range calculator on Galaxy Status screen strongly implies that maximum range is your water-related range PLUS your rations-related range. This might mean they are both consumed at the same time, it might mean they are consumed one after the other. But it really ought to mean that you can go that stated maximum distance without experiencing casualties and morale loss. (I appreciate it's also an estimate only and can change e.g. if entering orbit / planetary systems.)

[oldalchemist]

Perhaps the problem is that all of the Luxury Rations consist of ham from the set of Kids In The Hall.

[Kelvin Zero]

I suspect the Luxury Rations are not only used as a last ditch means of moving if you run out of water-fuel, but they also give a bonus for maintaining morale if it is present. I think it is similar to how having crystals on board help your Chief Engineer do her job although she never actually uses them up.

I would like to have the option of being able to start using the Luxury Rations to help my Water-Fuel last longer and to increase dwindling morale. It probably wouldn't help much if your sails are torn to shreds, but if you're only a point or two down it would help your water loss a little.

[oldalchemist]

I'd rather see the stock in the hold get used up.
Mechanic pops up:
"Sails damaged Cap! Can we use a ton of crystals to fix them?"

[Cory Trese]

Water-Fuel is consumed until the supplies are exhausted. The Luxury Rations are consumed until exhausted.

Having Luxury Rations on board increases Crew morale loss resistant ("at least we have some supplies in case things get tough.")

Once Water-Fuel is exhausted the Crew must collect ice and extract water-fuel from the reactor core cooling tanks. Both of these cause accidents, but as long as the Captain has Luxury Rations on hand, the Crew members won't get angry.

No Luxury Rations AND no Water-Fuel? The Crew is now on starvation rations and collecting ice from the ship's hull just to power the reactors and keep the interior air supply from freezing. The ship is in partial hibernation to save power and accidents are common, fatal and devastating to Crew morale.

The Galaxy Screen attempts to show them as a sum total range -- for example, 10 sectors on water and then 5 sectors on luxury rations shows as a range of 15, but is broken out for the captain who wishes to avoid one or the other.

A quartermaster screen is in the works that will enable:

- spot consumption of resources
- vodka as rations
- luxury rations AND water-fuel for maximum cruising joy

The base system will include a LOT of ways to use up stuff.

repairs, spice hall, vudka, etc. you'll like

[spike]

I sort of tested this by running around for about 2.5 years with zero Water. I did take on Rations pretty regularly though. I got some Crew loss, but nothing like the Crew I would routinely lose if I was Exploring or Harvesting, and nothing I couldn't recover easily at the next Spice Hall. Rations and no Water seems to be a viable option, not hassle-free but not that scary. This was on Demanding again. I like Demanding because water fuel consumption is 'Normal' so I don't feel like I'm cheating.


So the ice on the ship's hull obviously is not deposited there from the vacuum of space but comes from the water vapour that unavoidably leaks out of the Solar Sails, that need to have water circulating in them because of the hydro thingy something or other.... it's all getting a bit sketchy... hmm?

[Cory Trese]

spike -- I built a simulator with some gross assumptions about ships and resources. I admit that the actual simulation does not take into account the molecular mass of Water-Fuel or the impact of Inertial Negation Fields on ice deposits formed on adamantium sheet metal.

Please keep in mind that I am limited to these puny phone CPU =)

My computer has 16 CPUs and I bet I could code some Java to simulate the ship down to the atomic level with enough help from you with the math and physics.

PS: Keep in mind I was unfortunate enough to grow up during the Dot Com boom so my education was cut verrry short. I make up stuff instead =)

[oldalchemist]

I want a big net for catching comets!

You know, ringed gas giants could be a sweet water harvest location. The rings of Saturn are very ice-heavy. You've got gas giants in the game that are basically useless except as torpedo cover. Maybe make it possible to harvest ice there?

[slayernz]

Yeah, but the ice in the rings might not necessarily be H2O ice - it could be ammonia, methane, pepsi, and other nasty stuff that nobody in their right mind should drink, let alone chuck into their fusion reactor.

Maybe you could threaten your crew ... drink Pepsi or go into the crew-liquification plant. It'd be a really tough decision for most crew members.

[oldalchemist]

It's probably fairly easy to purify gas giant ring ice. I don't think you should just get the ice. It would be a harvest action. Maybe even more dangerous than Wild zone harvesting. Hull or sail damage possible as well as crew death?

[spike]

+1 to Gas Giant Harvesting. Though it can wait until version 4.x, or 9.x, or....