Armchair Dragoons Forums
Wargaming => Sci-fi & Fantasy Warfare => Topic started by: bayonetbrant on May 20, 2019, 09:39:06 AM
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Anyone got examples of logistics elements in sci-fi games? Are there supply dumps in interstellar fights? Are folks ever out of supply when transporters can beam in more food? Are lasers ever out of ammo?
We talk a lot about logistics in a lot of games (this strangely, only when gunpowder is involved - can't think of many pre-gunpowder games with robust log models, either)
But I don't recall seeing any log considerations in futuristic / sci-fi gaming
Anyone got any examples or thoughts?
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Federation and Empire has logistics in spades! In fact the game is a Log officer's wet dream. Huge spread sheets tracking builds, hull conversion rates, fighter supply rates, planetary rebuild rates, etc.
There are supply lines even in space, or at least their version of it.
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Federation and Empire has logistics in spades! In fact the game is a Log officer's wet dream. Huge spread sheets tracking builds, hull conversion rates, fighter supply rates, planetary rebuild rates, etc.
There are supply lines even in space, or at least their version of it.
The tabletop one that's the extension of SFB? I mean, that wouldn't surprise me much, but I'm also not a big Trekkie to have dug into that franchise that deeply
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I think GMT's Space Empires 4x also tracks construction points and builds but I don't remember any 'out of supply' rules. I don't know if the expansions added supply or not.
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Re: Federation and Empire
Yep that's the game. It's set in the TOS universe and is a war between all the major players.
Klingons and Lyrans attack the Kzinti.
Then they also take on the Hydrans.
Then they drag the Federation into the mess.
Soon the Romulans want some of the Feds so attack.
Finally the Gorns join the Feds against the Roms.
Big map, thousands of pieces, many expansion adding more pieces and options like special forces, admirals, lots of minor races etc.
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I do wish supply & logistics mattered more in computer space strategy games. I admit I'm not sure how realistic it is, but I do think it improves gameplay. It's probably not a coincidence that the few sci-fi titles I can think that boast any sort of supply/logistics element are also among the ones I've enjoyed the most.
Birth of the Federation's supply/logistics system is very basic, but it does have one. There are two main components:
1.) Your ships' range is limited by that of the nearest outpost, starbase, or shipyard (which can only be constructed in inhabited systems). Notable in that unlike a lot of space/sci-fi titles, ship range is short enough (even in the late game) that constructing additional shipyards & space stations is a necessity.
2.) The number of ships you can build simultaneously is limited by the number of dilithium sources you control (and is continent upon you having also constructed & powered dilithium mines to properly exploit them). This feature is marred, however, by the fact that the AI can build as many ships as it wants regardless of how many (or few) dilithium sources it owns.
While a deeply flawed game in other respects, Stardrive 2's possesses a nice, simple logistics system that works pretty well: :
Each ship type carries with it a certain amount of fuel; it can be increased with certain technologies and resources found the map, but it's always limited. Ships/fleets expend that fuel whenever it travels outside your owned sectors (the galaxy map is divided into sectors/hexes -- it's actually a pretty neat mechanic), but can refuel at any owned sector with a colony or space station. If a ship/fleet runs out of fuel, it automatically flies to the nearest refueling point...but at a crawl; it cannot deviate from this plodding course until it refuels. In this way, the player is encouraged to not send their ships too far out, and to keep colonies & space stations within a reasonable distance of each other.
Distant Worlds, of course, is pretty well-known for its supply & logistics model. It's pretty satisfying when that seemingly all-powerful empire bearing down on you with its mighty fleet suddenly stalls because it ran out of fuel (perhaps because you launched a daring raid on its main fueling station?). In an odd way, I also appreciate when my shipyards are backlogged on my queued production, due to a critical shortage of a certain metal (even if it's frustrating in-game); it's how I know the game isn't just magically still creating ships out of nothing.
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If we’re talking computer games then Polaris Sector also tracks fuel consumption, and has supply lines.
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Renegade Legion Prefect has supply rules.
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Star Trek solved a good deal of logistical headaches by developing the food replicator system and warp drives. No more foraging for food or wagon trains of fodder.
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Hmm, there's been many debates on logistics and Star Trek. Remember those food replicators need something to something to replicate with. And the warp drives needed dilithium. Rabbit hole...
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The replicator/transporter stuff opens up a whole can of worms. If the matter gets converted to energy and then back to matter, is any particular type of matter required for conversion? Do you even need base matter to start? Can you just take energy from the warp engines, apply a matter template and come up with a steak dinner?
:nerd:
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See!?
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Maybe they have House Elves slaving away in the ship's mess and then just transport the food into those little wall cubbies.
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.....Can you just take energy from the warp engines, apply a matter template and come up with a steak dinner?
:nerd:
Yes.
:nerd:
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Maybe they have House Elves slaving away in the ship's mess and then just transport the food into those little wall cubbies.
Remember how Star Trek V put a full galley on the Enterprise and then the galley had a phaser mounted on the wall?!
I hear those Rigellian Crystal Lobsters are vicious.