How much water fuel do you carry?

[sgtcookie]

(In your answers, exclude the water-fuel tank. Unless that is the only water fuel you carry.)

Personally, I find that 20 water-fuel is a good balance between cargo space and time between refuels.

So, how much water fuel do YOU carry?
Is it a static number like me?
Or does the amount you carry depend on how much cargo space you have?

[absimiliard]

I'm afraid that for me the amount of fuel I carry varies hugely on a number of factors.

If I'm a bounty hunter and am running cross-galaxy for a contract I'll probably get all the water-fuel my hold can carry. I'll totally empty out worlds on the way, and go looking for more if it's not far off my flight-path. But my bounty-hunters could care less about cargo, for Crom of the Steel Song there is no purpose beyond the pursuit of Justice. (and yes, you can hear the caps when he says it, he's a little wierd that way)

For a merchant or smuggler I'm almost always running with a fuel-water tank, and I almost never carry any fuel beyond my tank. I value cargo-space highly on mercantile characters, regardless of the side of the law they're on, so usually the only non-cargo I carry are odd-lots for my officers. (like metals and crystals for the hot red-head in my engine-room) Trust me, Snuggles McSnugglypants never passes up a potential profit, unless it's legal that is in which case he's likely to just stay in the Spice Bar waiting for a trade ban to break or a highly-taxed good to smuggle.

For military officers and spies . . .. well, usually they're on a water-fuel tank as well. But, like my bounty hunters, they don't really care about cargo per se. They do care about weapons and electronics though. So Tara Cadar is well known for getting her officers the space they want, then filling the tank, stuffing some electronics into the hold, adding weapons for any boarding actions, and then filling out the dunnage with fuel. Alas for Tara she never really knows what ship she'll be on, or how much cargo capacity it has, so she rarely ends up carrying any set amount of fuel. As she puts it, "You can't tell what your target is, and my ships get shot to hell so I take new ones over regularly. Frankly my dear," *dramatic hair flip* "I care a lot more about how many torps a bucket can toss than about how much water it can carry."

-abs (didn't vote, doesn't have a set answer)

[sgtcookie]

Ok, abs. That was quite informative.

I also need to add "varies" to the poll...

[oldalchemist]

I love the tank. I keep it topped off, but I'll fill every space in the hold and forbid urination crew-wide if we're going to cache it.

Lately, I've just been flying cargo missions with 25 in the tank and 65 of something short in the hold.

If I'm flying combat or contract, it's 3 vudka, 3 metal, 3 crystal, 3 spice, 10 rations, 10 weapons. The rest is water.

[absimiliard]

Why three of each of the officers desires? Is there a bonus associated with carrying multiples that I'm not aware of?

-abs

{edit} And I can't believe you still keep Ole Turdlip around, haven't you swapped him for a military officer yet? {/edit}

[Tenebrous Pirate]

Officers desires? I must have missed some info here, though I have suspected my crews of raiding my spice and vudka stores in the past.

I can see keeping metal on board to sell to guaruntee the availability of repairs, and spice for helping availability of recruiting replacement crew. Why crystal and vudka though? And why 10 rations? I only ever carry 1 ration, and it only gets used up once I have been at 0 water for a turn or three.

[absimiliard]

Oho!!!

Prepare for goodness TB:

Some officers do better at their tasks if you have certain things in your hold. For example, your engineer (the Kayly from Firefly analog) will repair certain kinds of damage to your ship on the fly. You probably already know this. But did you know she'll do it more often, and better, if she has at least one unit of Crystals in your hold, and the same holds true of Metals.

Political officers function better when they have Spice in your hold they can bribe people with.

Spies do better when you keep some electronics in the hold that they can use to monitor comms around the ship with.

Military Officers, unsurprisingly, do better when you keep at least one unit of Weapons in the hold.

Ol' Turdlip (the First Officer, which is to say "First one I fire") does better with a unit of vudka in the hold. (drunken bastard, I'm sure he mostly drinks it himself and the nastiness in his attitude when hungover improves crew morale, or at least shuts the crew the hell up)

I can't for the life of me recall what the Alien Hunter is improved by, but I suspect Artifacts.

And a Smuggler Officer does better in exploration when Records in your hold can help him figure out where to search. (oddly they also seem to help him hide a passenger during searches, "No Mr. Boarding Officer, no passengers here. Over there? Oh, just some Records I keep around, old diaries and stuff." Pity the bound and gagged passenger he stuffed into the crate marked 'Records'.)

-abs

[Tenebrous Pirate]

Thank you Abs! Do they use up the resources, or are they just bolstered by the presence of them?

[absimiliard]

I thought they didn't use them up, and I've never seen my supplies drop.

But oldalchemist's keeping of multiples has me wondering if there's not some benefit to doing so. I'm sure he does it for a reason. The presence of three of each is pretty conclusive that he didn't just randomly take a low number in the right categories.

I guess we'll see what he says, assuming he replies of course.

-abs

[callidus]

I inevitably find myself carrying 30-40 units whenever possible. I've got a bad habit of accepting a contract, finding where to go, and going there direct, unless the ship gets damaged. Only ever lost two captains to mutinies though. I never bother carrying any of the others unless I've looted them, actually I never carry anything else unless I've looted it.

[slayernz]

It all depends on the ship at hand. If I am flying a ship with a pile of sails, and my fuel consumption in red zones is 0.1 or less, then I will only carry the amount that I can hold in my W-F tank. Even with a bit of sail damage, I can normally get to the nearest friendly or independent planet.

The only exception to this rule is when I fly around the top-middle section of the map where there is scant trace of civilization. Even when you do find buildings, it ends up being Thulun, so again, scant signs of civilization in that area.

[sgtcookie]

This is all interesting guys.

I finaly got the water-fuel tank, at last!

[sebastian]

If i am doing a cargo haul or a long haul i check for independant fuel stations along the way, can't trust ANY faction to stay out of embargoes/solar war for too long

[sgtcookie]

Well, I think the the results are pretty conclusive.

People tend to carry around 21 - 30 units of water fuel.

Cory, please use this data to decide the minimum water fuel NPC ships are carrying.

For far too long have NPC ships been able to thrive on no water-fuel. When the player's ship has to have plenty.

[oldalchemist]

I suppose it depends what leg of the journey that NPC ship is on.
Just leaving a planet? Full up.
Just arriving at a planned destination? Sucking vapor.
Out in deep space? Half tank or sucking ice cubes.