The Problem with Eonium
 

Hello to all of you,

Im a former member from germany, i was playing planetarion some rounds ago, maybe its still in the signature, known under the name of stu.
I just came back, making an ac****, and what did i see?

A strange thing happened to Spaceship Fuel, formerly known as Eonium.

For decades my spaceship used that Fuel to fly through the universe, explore new worlds, fight hostile ships and destroy the fleets of the enemies. For decades my spaceship pilots came back victorious from the big skirmishes in space and refilled their fuel tanks in my docks with eonium.

But not any more.

Why you ask?

My spaceships cant fly with gras!!!

I am really sorry to say that, but i cannot fight along your side anymore, as long as my spaceship fuel seems to be some sort of plant. I need my fuel back, to travel through hyperspace. This new eonium you have there on your mining screen seems to be only good for smoking, but unfortunately this is not a 1960s hippie-simulator but a space-war simulation!

Please help me and bring fuel back.

Yours faithfully,
stu

edit: heres a picture of what i mean:
http://game.planetarion.com/images/t.../eonium_48.png

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

Meh.

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

Are you related to Oil?

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

Fuel costs restricted movement in the game, as the game is about attacking and defending where constantly moving your fleet is the best option fuel costs proved to be a hinderance.

It didnt add much to the game but restricted gameplay.

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

Wasnt that part of the game though? Managing your fuel better. If you constantly raped it by sending/recalling big fleets, more fool you, plus it would be funny seeing people being trapped at home again not being able to run due to not having enough fuel :D (with the run and hide function though, its a pretty null point)

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

You do realise he isnt on about what to do with E, but that it now looks like a plant.

I actually posted about the effect of E on classic PA, but then re-read the OP, and deleted it.

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

Good old times aye :-)
It'd be more realistic indeed since fuel (logistics) is a very basic requirement in warfare.

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

The problem is that it had a stagnatory effect on warfare. Although an aspect of fuel management would indeed add to the game it would make one-sided wars over in a matter of days.

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

True. Difference is that while in real life, warfare is extremely expensive, it shouldn't be in a game where the first and most important mission statement is to wager war :-)

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

you were able to detect fake launches then :D a xan sending a big fleet but barely losing score due to his E stock not declining .... :)

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

Im a fan of bringing meaning back into the resources, as at the moment.. there might as well only be 1 resource type rather than 3.

I was thinking more along the lines of brining back eonium fuel costs (and deleting eonium required to build ships) and make them on a exponential scale. So that, it costs hardly anything to launch small fleets but as your fleets get bigger, the cost gets bigger.

It would provide some form of strategy due to everyone having a large stockpile of eonium at the start (and middle of the round if they arnt doing awesome). Each planet would have to figure out if it would be worth getting the shortterm gain by trading in there eonium stockpiles to build more ships but could prove costly in the longterm where they will be forced to manage there fleets better.
It wouldnt affect new players, casual players or players doing badly as they would never reach the point where it costs too much eonium to launch there fleets (especially as they wont be 3fleeting 24/7).

The devil is in the detail though and would take some working out to figure out the exact costs for eonium fuel to make it so that it didnt turn out too expensive for top planets to launch there fleets most of the time end of round and not too cheap that it doesnt effect anything.

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

Perhaps create some sort of Worldwide Eonium bank with plenty amounts of Eonium but with flexible prices depending on politics and such. Kind of like the stock market ... IF alot of players buy Eonium, demand increases hence prices go up. If alot of people sell, the opposite happens.

This way, there is another level of strategy both on player as alliance level in PA. E.g. let alliances build Eonium reserves (planets donate resources used to buy the fuel) and alliances can that way 'manipulate' the fuel prices etc ...

I don't know, just a suggestion aye. Adds an extra dimension to the game.

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

Open market.

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

There's a difference between open market (where players/alliances buy Eonium and sell them at higher rates) and a universe Eonium bank which has infact 'infinite' resources but can be slightly manipulated depending on how much the Eonium is needed at that particular time. This also ensures that the prices are within a reasonable upper and lower limit. Something that you cannot guarantee in an open market system.

An Open market is also a viable option though, but then alliance could have too much influence really. Then again, in that option you can virtually buy safety and naps with fuel ;-)

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

Yes. I know.

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

Im currently going through alot of PA and redesigning it for fun, so dont want to really give away everything now.

but basically, no universal trading, no galaxy trading (galaxy fund exists still for donations and other stuff im not going into it) but a universe wide open market which fluctuates by demand, it has infitate resources but the cost of donation is by how much they are in the demand. Coupled with making each resource unique and viable while also changing the roid system so that everyone does init the same of each roid at the start, it would create a good universe market which fluctuates almost daily.

Re: The Problem with Eonium
 

Ok good, I didn't mean to sound like I'd challenge your ability to make the difference. I just wanted to point out why I'd favour a Universal bank over an open market system :-)