Updated.
Also worth noting that I added some behaviors to the Hydroponic Fleets. They now will return after they've collected 30 supplies for each non-fighter ship in the fleet. So if they have 4 farmsteads, they'll go back after collecting 120 supplies. If they (somehow) capture a lasher, they'll go back after 150. If they then capture a talon, it's still 150. If all but one farmstead dies, the lil' guy will return after collecting 30 supplies. They do NOT despawn after returning the supplies.
Also, supplies/ore is now converted to wealth much more slowly. Before it took 15% of the supplies/ore and "sold" them for 5/30 wealth. Now it only takes 3%. If they have lots of stuff, they'll still gain wealth rather quickly, but still generally have a stockpile if you need extra supplies/ore.
Now there are a couple posts I didn't address in my panic:
is Economical available for player use, and if so, whats its OP usage like?
No, and the OP Usage is 0. I've thought of having Hull Mods like a "Mining Tools" mod that gives Mining Power, but that doesn't seem possible.
Right now, there is really no reason you'd EVER want it. Despite the speed boost, which is really only for out-of-combat travel, why would you want to A) Sacrifice your shields, B) Sacrifice 1/3rd of your Armor, and C) Sacrifice 1/3rd of your Hull?
Lunacy!
HOWEVER, I've though... Perhaps someday Hull Mods might have a cost associated with them. What if there were negative Hull Mods you'd have to pay to remove? This would be a perfect candidate. But alas, that's not how it works.
So you have the option of making predefined fleets with your own resources and buying them from contracts. What I'd REALLY like to see however is the ability to define the fleets you produce yourself and have the costs automatically adjust. So if I wanted to make custom ship variants and assemble a giant fleet using a mix of ships I could. I would also be able to give some security to my convoys. Also a nice feature would be the ability to set fleets to "roles" like security and defense so they can escort convoys or my own fleet and defend areas like the fleet HQ or allies in distress
Just my two cents on some features I'd enjoy. I'm loving the mod no matter what though! Great job!
A lot of these are actually ideas I'd love to have, but things get messy very quickly. Without being able to make our own UI, I have to rely solely on check if items are in places. I've put a lot of thought into both of them though.
Predefined fleets: Actually quite possible, methinks. Could probably have it so ships can be placed into the Fleet HQ, then offering contracts that create fleets of varying sizes based on the selected of ships in your Fleet HQ, with Ore/Supply/Fuel amounts defined by OP or just hull size. And of course, enough crew to pilot the fleet and extra supplies for travel. I'll have to look into it some more, but I'll probably do that if I can.
Escort/Defense/Assist/Raid Orders: How this would probably go, is to have "Fleet Order Modules" that you purchase (quite possibly free.) The more of one module you have over the others, the more likely your spawned fleets would perform that role. For example, if you have 2 Defend Modules, 1 Raid Module, and 0 Escort/Assist modules, there is a 2 out of 3 chance your fleets will attempt to defend your convoys, and a 1 out of 3 chance they'll roam around and attack enemies. Getting them to evenly assist all of your convoys though might be difficult.