H-Fuel : In need of an overhaul?

[Xoria]

I was discussing H-Fuel with Dusty Lens, and decided to start this discussion about it. (Aren't we exciting guys?)
Initially my intention was to leave it alone, because changing it will require some very drastic actions.
Currently, H-Fuel may be purchased at over 100 stations, and may be sold at many more than that. To change the prices to make it more profitable, all of that would have to be dramatically cut. H-Fuel would be sold at no more than half a dozen stations (roughly), and the consumption stations would also be much more limited than they are currently (there might still be several dozen).

On the one hand, we aren't really losing much from such cuts, because no one currently uses those trade possibilities anyway. On the other hand, H-Fuel is somewhat like oxygen and water in that without it, you are dead in space. Removing it from all of these stations as an even marginally meaningful commodity might not be terribly desirable from an aesthetics standpoint.

So the options are : leave it as it is, or decrease the number of stations that will sell it and give it profitable prices at a limited number of consumption stations.

A secondary question is, what sort of stations would be left consuming it? Stationary Battleships (there are a lot of those, actually), shipping stations like Trenton Outpost, Planets, Shipyards, Police outposts at the edges of systems?

To be completely honest, I will only rework this commodity if I don't run out of time doing everything else.

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[Telbasta]

I think it should remain current prices everywhere except the 'capital' planets - malta, crete, manhattan, new london, new berlin, and new tokyo. Those bases should purchase h-fuel for higher prices than others, which would represent central shipping locations for GMG transport vessels, and the fuel would then be distributed by local groups to other parts of each house.

I also think we need to add a gas miner in hokkaido controlled by samura, that sells H-fuel for slightly higher prices than the GMG stations do.

A secondary question is, what sort of stations would be left consuming it? Stationary Battleships (there are a lot of those, actually), shipping stations like Trenton Outpost, Planets, Shipyards, Police outposts at the edges of systems?

On this in particular... battleships are fueled by plutonium and mox, not h-fuel. To my knowledge, h-fuel is used solely on smaller ships like fighters, bombers, freighters, and transports - maybe on some gunboats and cruisers as well. Most battleships are said to run on some kind of fusion nuclear reactor now, which is where the MOX comes in.

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[Zero755]

I voted to leave it as is, H-Fuel is like the Gasoline of Sirius, It is perfectly logical to have it sold on many stations, if not every station. As Xoira said, No H-Fuel and your dead in space. That alone warrents that almost every station/planet/stationary BS should sell it, or have a supply of it.

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[Fletcher]

I think it should remain current prices everywhere except the 'capital' planets - malta, crete, manhattan, new london, new berlin, and new tokyo. Those bases should purchase h-fuel for higher prices than others, which would represent central shipping locations for GMG transport vessels, and the fuel would then be distributed by local groups to other parts of each house.

I also think we need to add a gas miner in hokkaido controlled by samura, that sells H-fuel for slightly higher prices than the GMG stations do.
On this in particular... battleships are fueled by plutonium and mox, not h-fuel. To my knowledge, h-fuel is used solely on smaller ships like fighters, bombers, freighters, and transports - maybe on some gunboats and cruisers as well. Most battleships are said to run on some kind of fusion nuclear reactor now, which is where the MOX comes in.

Battleships house smaller fighters, they'll need refueling after sorties.

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[Dusty Lens]

On this in particular... battleships are fueled by plutonium and mox, not h-fuel. To my knowledge, h-fuel is used solely on smaller ships like fighters, bombers, freighters, and transports - maybe on some gunboats and cruisers as well. Most battleships are said to run on some kind of fusion nuclear reactor now, which is where the MOX comes in.

True. But Battleships are fueling points for spaceborn operations.

My thought was to remove H fuel as a selling commodity in all locations save those controlled by the GMG/Samura.

The Samura locations affecting prices as marginally as one sees between, say, Dresden and New Berlin.

Prime logical purchase locations would be house planets, battleships and freeports/IMG bases. With the usual minor kicker for pirate bases.

Selling prices would work under the same radial system that other commodities enjoy: Specific 'end game' locations would feature higher sale prices based upon reward coupled with difficulty of transit with lesser prices distributed along the path.

As to H fuel being "sold": Not every base sells Oxygen. That doesn't mean that you'll eventually suffocate on that base. H fuel is one of those things that goes hand in hand with every launch, you're not deducted a credit toll nor are you penelized if you don't have any in your cargo. It's just something you have.

Redundant selling locations cause the same kind of stifle that artifacts enjoy in Kusari, they retard price potential over distances. A GMG miner produces excess intended for bulk shipping to base X. Base X purchases bulk fuel to sell to you for refueling purposes, not to load up the exact same volume to transport elsewhere.

[Cawdor]

Well, it should be like in real life, where the fuel is sold almost everywhere, because almost everyone needs thus has it. what should drastically change though are the prices on those bases. H-Fuel should be among the no.1 commodities of sirius (if not -the- no1. commodity).

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[Dusty Lens]

Again, it is sold everywhere. It's not as though you drive a tanker up to your local gas station, plug the hose into the ground and siphon off a couple thousand gallons.

That's the difference, to make it an attractive resource to transit to filling station X, where your fighter takes a dramatically reduced quantity of fuel to keep her moving.

[chopper]

No one who needs H-fuel would really sell it.
That means, no station in Sirius would sell their H-fuel to some strangers.
They are not producing it, there's no point of selling it.
GMG and BMM (or was it Planetform? anyway, something like that) should sell them.
That's about it.

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It is every Corsair's responsibility to die a beautiful death in defense of Crete, regardless of how OORP or how capwhoring the opposition is. Launch your fighter, joust the battlecruisers and die a beautiful death. Then, drink it down in the bar.

Can't let you bash folks in your sig Chopper-Del

[Raekur]

Well if H-Fuel is created primarily of hydrogen then it can be produced in any system that contains a planet that has water or a gas giant.
The limiting factor in the production of a fuel source is the availability of a refining location to convert the raw resource into a usable substance.

If you want to make it a little more RP wise, have raw hydrogen available in systems that have the ability to produce it and H-Fuel only in systems that have the ability to refine it.
Make a nice back and forth traderun doing that.

[Cawdor]

No one who needs H-fuel would really sell it.

simple. everyone who wants to make money with it. If i have two chocolate bars for 50c each, I may still sell you one for only -.99c !!(ok since its you, I would make a better price of course (like -.89c!)).

Also any house may figure that its better for its economy to buy large amounts of fuel and sell those on the local market to keep space-traveling going. Thats if no private companies already do it, of course.

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