A True Logistics System
There's a great quote from some general, long ago: "Good generals study strategy, great generals study logistics."
As someone mostly satisfied with Sins, I'm not sure it needs another "system" added to what it has already. But for those of us that like to continue being challenged, want to be able to utilize new features to seek interesting advantages against our opponents, and otherwise want more avenues with which to fight and gain the upper hand, perhaps we would benefit from the implementation of a logistics system. What I really mean by this is a supply system for fighting vessels. Not the supply points that the game uses now (those would remain unmodified) but rather a system by which ships are kept in the fight.
First, some background. All ships in this game expend munitions or energy when they fire a weapon. While I don't like to use reality as a guideline, it does make sense that these munitions aren't unlimited. Each ship would have a set of supply points that would be expended a tiny fraction when weapons are fired. Larger ships, which one would expect to have much larger magazines than smaller ships, would not run out of supplies nearly as quickly as smaller ships.
The core concept is to make logistical concerns a key component of combat operations in Sins. The player needs to keep an eye on his fleet's overall level of supplies, not just their overall health, number, and position. But for a true logistics chain - that is, the means by which the ships get resupplied - to be implemented in Sins, then an opponent must also be capable of cutting it off - thus providing the new avenues of attack for intelligent opponents. Thus, a fleet in hostile territory, overwhelming the enemy, can be 'cut off' many gravity wells away from any home planets by an enemy that intercepts its flow of munitions.
There are many ways to implement such a system, but here is one (using TEC as an example):
- A new logistics structure is added called the Supply HQ, preferably with a high slot requirement to discourage placing one on every world. This structure acts as a centralized supply hub that will distribute them outwards. (An alternative would be to make the capital the sole supply HQ.)
- The repair station is modified to include a new ability, "Resupply". Any ships within the radius are not only repaired using the current repair ability, but are also resupplied.
- The repair station has its own massive storage of supplies that it uses to resupply ships in its resupply radius. This quantity would be about 10x greater than any single capital ship, thus allowing it resupply a very large fleet all by itself before it runs out.
- Small supply ships shuttle between the Supply HQ and all repair stations to automatically replenish the supply points of those repair stations. (And/or starbases, if starbases had any sort of supply ability.) Just like with trade ships, these vessels require no user interaction and thus are transparent to the player, but can be destroyed or embargoed. Supply ships that get destroyed obviously cannot arrive at their destination to increase the supply points of those repair stations.
- A larger supply cruiser would be added that would act as a mobile supply station for fleets in hostile territory. Anything within the cruiser's radius would be automatically resupplied, but the cruiser itself could run out of supplies and would need to replenish at a nearby repair station.
- Supply upgrades could be added to the military tech trees that would increase the overall supply capacity of ships and/or increase the rate of resupply from supply cruisers and repair stations.
- Special weapons on cap ships/starbases/titans that disable abilities would, naturally, disable the ability of supply cruisers to resupply other ships.
- Starbases could have some additional purchasable upgrades that would let them act as resupply centers, in the same way as the repair stations (that is, they would receive supply shipments from the supply HQ and would resupply other ships within the vicinity).
- Certain capital ships might benefit from being given a status as a resupply center.
- Some ships may benefit from using certain technologies that don't require supply points, perhaps ships that use laser weapons or some other beam weapon? The system could also be designed to be applicable to one or two races, e.g. to TEC but not Advent.
Q) The enemy will just blow up your supply cruisers first, won't they? A) Maybe, but you could say that about repair cruisers too. Generally, fleet supply shouldn't run out in a single engagement anyway. If the enemy does want to target your supply cruisers, that's a tactical decision that they're making and could be costly for them. Likewise, if you stick a bunch of non-combat supply ships in your fleet, that's taking away from your firepower potential. Nothing says you need to keep those supply ships with the main attack force either; jump them in when the overall fleet supply gets low, perhaps.
Q) Won't this just get in the way? A) Maybe, I'm not a developer on this team so I can't play with the code and add it myself to see what would happen. I could see it getting in the way, but it's been implemented in other games (like Conquest, released 2001) successfully. The general idea is to make sure supply points don't run out so fast that you need to constantly micro the whole system, but while ensuring supplies still play a factor.
Q) How could I effectively use this system to help defeat someone? A) Destroy their automated supply ships shuttling between planets. Their forward planets will run out of supplies, meaning those planets can't resupply fleets in those areas. That will leave their smaller ships running out of munitions very quickly during combat. Imagine attacking a TEC fleet with massed strike craft, but where the TEC fleet's Gardas have run of ammo or LRF have run out of missiles because the TEC player didn't protect his logistical routes? Those small ships sometimes make a big difference in battle, and they'll be the FIRST to run out of ammo.
Q) What about Corvettes? A) You want a way to limit Corvettes? Have them run out supplies really, really fast. Even a massed fleet of 100 of them would need constant resupply, which evokes an overhead penalty for using them that might not be associated with a "larger" vessel such as a Javelis LRF or Cobalt. So sure, build your Corvette fleet but be prepared to run out of ammo very fast.
Q) What about Titans? A) Titans wouldn't be immune either, and running out of supplies might be a convenient way to combat an overpowered level 8 Titan that wanders into your home system. What to do about a level 8 Titan all by itself, running rampant in your home world? You can't seem to kill it with anything - it just runs through your starbases and other smaller ships like a chainsaw - so instead, you cut off its supply chain and FORCE the other guy to withdraw it in order to restock.
Q) What about super weapons? A) Why not make super weapons require supplies? You might want to build 20 of them, but if you can't keep the logistical chain to them safe, good luck keeping them firing.
Q) Won't it be too hard to block every gravity well? I mean, won't I have to place ships in each well in order to hit every supply ship? A) No. First, remember that you don't need to kill every supply ship. To take a repair station from 0% to 100% supplies would ideally take more than just 1 ship arriving at it. Second, supply ships only go from the supply HQ to repair stations. That means a resupply vessel from HQ to Planet A will always take a single, most efficient route; if you "camp" that route, so to speak, you will cut off that planet's ability to resupply forces stationed there. Not to mention you may force your opponent to come out and fight you in that gravity well in order for him to re secure that supply route. (See https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/422030 for more details on how to make non-colony gravity wells more interesting places to fight.) Third, supply ships are weak and wouldn't take much to kill. TEC players also have Embargo on the Sova-class.
Q) If I cut a base off from supply, can't they just build one of those supply HQ stations you mentioned on that surrounded planet? A) Yes, but with a large enough slot penalty this might not be practical. You might have to tear down some research labs, trade centers, or frigate factories to make room for it. Think of a small asteroid; there just aren't many logistics slots. You want to put something with a requirement of 8 slots there to avoid enemy harassment of your supply chain, that's a tough choice. And if you do, you're foregoing other very valuable assets. Either way, your tiny fleet of ships that are cutting that planet off have forced your opponent to do something they didn't want to; you've got the initiative and they're reacting to you, not the other way around.
Another implementation option would be to make the capital planet the sole supply HQ, thus making security of the supply chain a challenge as you expand your empire (that is, you would have to protect the automated supply ships over much longer distances as you get larger). It would also make protection of the capital even more critical than it is now. Pirates and rebels could also stage small attacks on supply ships, if the AI were programmed for it. Or, the player could be allowed to build a supply HQ but only on big worlds that would be likely to have manufacturing; e.g., not on moons or asteroids. Or only on planets with >3 points into population.
Skilled players would be able to make use of a supply system to better defend their worlds, harass opponents, and keep their enemies off balance. It might also act as a slight counter to high-level Titan attacks, as Titans wouldn't be able to stay in your home worlds indefinitely; and it might also provide a limiting factor for Corvettes, which could have very small supply max and thus need constant resupplying to stay in the fight.
Either way, it might add a new and hopefully interesting dynamic to the game.
Any thoughts?
