Let's Talk Fuel

[The_Godslayer]

The main purpose of this mechanic is the rp flavor and immersion, aka something that is tangible in-game that you can play around. I can today buy mox as rwx mentioned and pretend I need it to fly my ship, etc. etc. But that's not very compelling, and hardly anyone will inherently understand what I'm doing unless directly told - they'll just assume I'm hauling mox towards some pob.

You can just RP that in the game right now? I've never described something as an "RP skill issue", but if your own RP is not compelling, that sounds like a you problem in the most genuine way.

There are some very scathing remarks that have, thus far, been held back about the entire idea, including a lot of the nuances mentioned in the original post being lifted/imported from Starsector. This is definitely not as negative as the feedback could have gotten, the people took it easy on you. However, having spoken to the people in question, it seems that this idea was basically completely lifted from Starsector. Don't do that. Just play Starsector instead.

Also, as mentioned by other people already, the community does, in fact, have some very firm and solid memories of devs taking bad ideas and running with it with disregard to feedback.

Of course, it's good to have negative feedback too. But people seem to be assuming that this is happening, and that it would be implemented without any fine-tuning or playtesting. I can assure you that this is just food for thought. I also see a general view that I should play other games if I want to experience this. Well, this may be a bold statement, but I returned to disco because no other game comes close to scratching the scifi sandbox rp itch. Otheriwse, I would be playing it. No offense, but suggesting star citizen and eve - let's get real here. I'd much rather keep iterating on what we've nurtured here, especially with more tools on the horizon from Laz, Aingar, and other folks.

The view that you should play other games comes from this idea being a simulator idea. Simulators strive for realism with minimal suspension of disbelief. Your fuel runs out, your oxygen runs out, your food runs out, your water runs out, silly ideas punish you quickly, and combat balance is basically non-existent because combat is so horribly complex and minute-variable-driven that each fight is effectively a coin toss unless there is a severe experience gap.

Freelancer, and Discovery thus far, is an Arcade Shooter. There are "gamey elements" because it is intended to be a game, not a simulator. There are several horrible punishments of the Arcade Shooter mindset already in place (mass is a great offender), which begin to force realism down your throats at the cost of gameplay fun. It is very real for a heavily armored spaceship the size of an apartment building to weigh more than my ego, and inertia is a very real concept. Implementing it has been horribly unfun, and has removed from the game aspect. If we desperately wanted a simulator instead of a game, we would be playing Kerbal Space Program, Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, Eve Online, No Man's Sky, or any other myriad of space-sims. We come back to Discovery because it is a space arcade. Our goal has immersion included as immersion is an essential facet of roleplaying, yes, but realism is not our primary goal, our primary goal is to have fun in the game.

The nature of Discovery is a continuation mod. Most of us played the original Freelancer, and it's abrupt end with minimal fanfare after the fall of the dyson sphere left us with a gap that needed filling. Discovery is the answer to that question. Ideas that change the core fundaments of the game, like fuel and its consumption, are not good for the game's health. Trying to switch the game from an arcade shooter into a simulator will certainly win you simulator fans, but will lose you your arcade shooter fans. As you can probably judge by the responses in this thread, losing your arcade fans would likely be staff's last decision for the server. Please don't do that.

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I'll do something about my superiority complex when I cease to be superior.

"Whatever happened to catchin' a good old-fashioned passionate ass-whoopin and gettin' your shoes, coat, and your hat tooken?"