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[Plasmatic]

I find myself many times having a few extra freighter frigates (early game) or actual freighters (late game) that are never deployed unless I'm forced to.

Ships that really have no business being in combat at all, but sometimes you are engaged outside of optimal conditions and attempt to withdraw, but the enemy pursues and against all odds you still manage to pull out a victory, only now all your ships are recovering CR up to your maximum.

For your non combat ships, this is kind of a waste and 99% of the time they are just sitting in the background.

What if we could tell them not to go beyond a set amount of CR yet still repair, this could also work with newly captured ships if you just want to avoid the major malfunctions, but you don't really want it to go all the way to 80-90% CR as you are going to do a major refit at a station anyhow.

I'll admit it's likely not to save very much supplies, but every little bit can help in those desperate times..

I'm wondering if anyone else has thought of this, and if it's something people would like to see?

I'm sure Alex has many other more pressing matters, but it could be worth thinking about if people are interested.

[CrashToDesktop]

If that's automatically telling a ship to retreat once a set of circumstances are met, then it kind of circumvents the whole "spend a command point to tell a ship to retreat" thing.

In any case, the game already informs you once a ship runs out of Peak Performance Time, and then again once the ship dips below 40% CR (at which point malfunctions start to occur).

[Plasmatic]

I'm not entirely sure you understood what I was trying to get at.. perhaps my explanation was off..

I just want the ability to set ships to stop increasing CR after a certain point as I never deploy them in combat, so having high CR is just a waste of resources after those times I am forced to deploy them, those times being pursuit while retreating, which probably means most of my other ships are also needing to recharge CR.

It also kind of makes sense.. If you have a fleet of warships and some freighters, will the freighters and the warships be kept in the same condition, or will the warships receive priority in upkeep and everything?
(Pretty sure the warships would receive priority, the freighters only need to operate, they don't need to operate at 110%)

[Schwartz]

This makes sense for haulers, but in game-logic CR is tied to ship condition. Having an option to only keep some ships in mediocre condition seems weird, and there's already the 'stop repairs & recovery' option on the fleet screen. CR also buys you a bit of breathing room with events that damage CR or if you're forced to deploy them.

Having high CR is never a waste, in that it's either used for something or it stalls at max value without extra costs (you only pay monthly supply then). Good condition is stored without interest, if you will.

I think this is really a fringe issue, and you can always halt recovery for those ships if you're in a tight spot supply-wise.

[Plasmatic]

I was just thinking Halt supply, only it doesn't halt repairs.

But I guess you are right, it is kind of a minor thing.

[TaLaR]

Combat and hybrid ships that you don't intend to use in combat should be mothballed (to nearest storage station), since they are supply-expensive even to 40%. I usually don't carry spare weapons for sensible fit in space anyway.

As for pure logistic ships...
Standard buffalo is 3 resupply per 20%. Which means 12.75 for 85% (assuming you have fleet logisitcs 3 for extra 15%). Then 3 per month (this part won't change).
Restoring to 40% would be 6 supplies.
Other non-combat ships are similarly supply-effective.

Gain doesn't seem to be that big, but having a fleet-wide non-combat ship CR target  wouldn't be that fiddly either. So... maybe?

Also, such CR target wouldn't be a hard lock:
- ships can gain more CR as result of ongoing long repair.
- CR above target would be maintained as is (there is no profit to be had in intentionally dropping it).

[Blaine]

Plasmatic is saying that he wants to be able to set a ceiling on the CR of non-combat ships, say a slider set lower than normal to 40% CR on an Atlas. Perhaps its CR falls to 20% during a desperate combat where he's forced to deploy it; it will then repair back up to 40%, but not to 70-85%.

Yes, it's a very small savings; yes, it would probably be more trouble to implement than the minor amount of supplies it would save on a one-time basis in limited situations.

The more I read about people's numerous woes and issues with CR, the less I like it as a limitation mechanic. It seems to be by far the most troublesome and disliked mechanic, but I have a sinking feeling that ship has already sailed, if you'll pardon the pun.

[Plasmatic]

I don't mind CR as a mechanic, after all, even the modern military can't be on combat duty 24/7, and a few engagements that could of been deadly can easily shake even the most stout of people, so some R&R is a needed thing.

That's what I imagine CR is, R&R for the crew.

I like TaLaR's idea having a slider to set CR soft ceiling for ships you designate as noncombat (Automatically designated on civi hulls and freighters) as their crew wouldn't need any special R&R past what they already get outside of their shifts.

[Blaine]

I don't mind CR as a mechanic, after all, even the modern military can't be on combat duty 24/7, and a few engagements that could of been deadly can easily shake even the most stout of people, so some R&R is a needed thing.

That's true, but a US Navy littoral combat ship—which is essentially a frigate (funnily enough, the Navy is actually moving back to calling new LCSs frigates)—can fight for hours or even days at a time, not for three to five minutes.

However, this is a tangent and I don't want to derail the thread, so I'll read people's replies (I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to sneak in the last word or any such passive-aggressive nonsense) but will personally say no more on the subject in this thread.

[Midnight Kitsune]

I can see the sliders being useful, especially in the early game where every penny counts. Could even do a slider like that on refit screen

I don't mind CR as a mechanic, after all, even the modern military can't be on combat duty 24/7, and a few engagements that could of been deadly can easily shake even the most stout of people, so some R&R is a needed thing.

That's true, but a US Navy littoral combat ship—which is essentially a frigate (funnily enough, the Navy is actually moving back to calling new LCSs frigates)—can fight for hours or even days at a time, not for three to five minutes.

One thing about this, is that SS combat is sped up so that it would not take hours or days to complete. Look at how long the AI fights relative to the in game date; fights take several days usually.

[CrashToDesktop]

I'm not entirely sure you understood what I was trying to get at..

Ah yeah, read it too fast the first time around.  Sorry!

I don't think this would really be necessary, though of course it would be useful in a few circumstances.

[Cik]

I don't mind CR as a mechanic, after all, even the modern military can't be on combat duty 24/7, and a few engagements that could of been deadly can easily shake even the most stout of people, so some R&R is a needed thing.

That's true, but a US Navy littoral combat ship—which is essentially a frigate (funnily enough, the Navy is actually moving back to calling new LCSs frigates)—can fight for hours or even days at a time, not for three to five minutes.

However, this is a tangent and I don't want to derail the thread, so I'll read people's replies (I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to sneak in the last word or any such passive-aggressive nonsense) but will personally say no more on the subject in this thread.

this is not really true. destroyers and frigates tap out when they have emptied their missile tubes, which can actually happen very quickly (in some sort of really intense shooting war) what you are seeing is them sailing around in non-combat conditions, which is totally different (the primary limiter is fuel) and not combat (where the primary limiter is VLS tube space) LCS is perhaps special in this regard, as it's likely it will expend it's munitions slower, but even still they can go quick if you are actually engaged by something.