Let's Talk Fuel

[Barrier]

Fuel is the most ubiquitous commodity in space. All ships need it, and Houses have developed local alternatives to support their operation. In the lore, fuel access plays a major role as a plot-point, with the 80-Year war arguably being fought primarily over fuel control. Fuel is necessary for any industrial operations, which are the backbone of most relevant plot points enjoyed in vanilla and disco alike. More generally, "fuel as a resource" plays a major role as a sci-fi trope, with its own pros and cons. I would like to convince you that there are more pros than cons to it in Freelancer.

Basic premise: all ships require fuel to move; fuel becomes perishable, simulating its inrp usage (or denaturation); fuel becomes a multi-unit commodity, but all ships increase hold size to maintain existing trade balance; a new class of ship gets bonuses to carrying fuel (e.g. hegemon & ore, liners & passengers) - perhaps the little-used medium transports.

Now, I will outline a list of the most relevant pros and cons that I could think of, and their elaboration. Please feel free to add more, or discuss the existing ones.

Cons:

• Merely playing the game will now require a monetary and attentional investment. This can be offset by boosting the profit of existing money-makers and tinkering with fuel capacity.
  
• Running out of fuel may prematurely end your game session. There are many solutions here besides the obvious (just plan ahead lol), which may not be obvious to new players.
  
• Running out of fuel in a fight will likely result in a very unpleasant death. This can be solved by judiciously using fleet oilers, ships which are meant to refuel fleets before they go into combat.
  

Pros:

• A whole sub-type of RP is now possible and in fact necessary for efficient gameplay - fuel hauling. Ideally, a fleet has a carrier which houses the fighters who have very small fuel capacities, and is supported by at least one oiler, who will need to keep everyone topped up. This also makes both of these ships important tactical targets. Moreover, fuel haulers can prowl Sirius, on the lookout for poor sods who ran out of gas or simply need a top-up, for an extra charge.
  
• The spending of money is required for a healthy, interesting, and dynamic economy, and fuel will provide a small but steady outlet towards that end. This will ensure that all other econ systems are being adequately used, even by players who have a lot of money saved up. The fuel itself will also serve as a trading commodity like it already does, but to a far greater degree.
  
• While needing to monitor your fuel and running out may seem like chores, I believe that both may lead to interesting interactions which can deepen the flavor of existing character RP. If you run out of fuel and open a distress call, will your next visitor be a friendly hauler, or a pirate after easy pickings? And if you decide to respond to that distress call, are you sure you're not heading into a trap?
  

I believe all mechanics are already in-place to make this work, but it remains to be seen if the idea has merit. I would love to hear people's opinions.