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When you think of space survival, what resource management comes to mind?

7 replies [Last post]
Tue, 03/08/2016 - 16:21
Druski
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You and your friends are in a co op sci fi game aboard a starship. You have both external threats (enemy ships) and internal supply shortages

There can be quite a few types of resources needing to be managed in space, but naturally for a game to be fun, there probably needs to be a bit of abstraction or consolidation of resource types.

What comes to your mind when you think of surviving out in space with your friends, a ship, and little more than a roll of duct-tape?

A few I have been toying with are:
-Oxygen generation/consumption
-Fuel
-food/supplies
-munitions (either a general resource or a few specific types like missiles)
-a currency (though the 'supplies' could double for this)

(energy/power is a different mechanic with its own management)

Note, since it is a co-op, it is the role of the game is to be the challenge to the players, so having limited resources/shortages I feel is important. Also, Some resources may be more vital than others (oxygen/fuel > currency/munitions)

Thanks for the input!

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Tue, 03/08/2016 - 17:38
#1
Corsaire
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What size spaceship is this?

What size spaceship is this? Are you talking Firefly like or Federation like. If it is larger, maybe a renegade fleet vessel, crew people are the most interesting resource. If it is smaller, then planet hopping with fees and reputation and all sorts of whatnot could come into play.

What is the game timescale? Is a turn a month in your universe or a minute, etc.? The longer the scale, the more expendables come into play, but likely oxygen wouldn't be one as with sufficient energy for serious spaceflight, oxygen generation and recycling would be trivial.

Materials for repairs, missiles, probes would be big items if combat is an important component of the game.

So much depends on your world building.

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Tue, 03/08/2016 - 18:48
#2
ruy343
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FTL

You've hit on all of the easy answers, but I would recommend that you pick up a copy of the game "FTL" to see how that game handles this sort of scenario. Remember: each system has things it needs to keep itself active, so you can add those in too.

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Tue, 03/08/2016 - 20:08
#3
Druski
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FTL and Size

Thanks for the replies. First off, I love FTL. In fact, wanting a co-op experience of it was part of my inspiration. (and its encouraging that my brief description made you think of it, as thats a feel I would like to go for) As to the ship size, it will be small, so like firefly (and FTL)

Currently I am thinking Oxygen would be something that under normal circumstances would be fine and not require management, but in an emergency could be drained (hull breach or equipment break down)

As to the time scale, that is an intriguing point, as it was not something I had even considered. Basically, If food were to be involved, the simplest way to include it would have it be consumed at the end of each round, though I had not considered how much time that is representing. Currently, a battle could last multiple rounds, so that seems like a lot of eating in a short amount of time. But rounds also could involve travelling significant distances if no battles occur. Developing on the thought then, how often do you feel a crew should stop to eat?

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Wed, 03/09/2016 - 14:22
#4
jbship628
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Well, during routine travel,

Well, during routine travel, people are going to eat at the same rate they do now. 2-4 meals a day based on the size of them. Probably with some snacking involved here or there. In Firefly, the time of flight between planets generally ranges between a few days to weeks. So you would have to have enough food for between 10-50 or more meals per crew member. Again, that's Firefly, not necessarily your universe.

I can't imagine space battles as being terribly long endeavors based on the inherent fragility of a space worthy craft. Most space universe's get around this with some form of energy shield. So any individual dogfight between two ships will likely only last a few minutes before one of them tries to escape. If you have significant technology involved such as shields, that may be extended.

So like others have said, all of this really depends on the world you build and what levels of technology they have. If they have the ability to travel between planets in the same system within a day, then a travel turn taking the same amount of "time" as a space battle would make sense. But if you are looking at a more expansive universe, then travel turns and fight turns may have to be separated since they won't generally be very time equivalent.

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Wed, 03/09/2016 - 15:24
#5
Black Table Games
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Think classic

This whole premise reminds me a lot of the old Oregon Trail games. In that light, think of the things you would need when you were preparing your caravan to go out of the trail. However, because you are in an environment in which humans you can't naturally survive, you can add some other things as well.

You've hit on a lot of the basics (as people before me have commented), but a few things spring to mind that you could add.
- medicine (as long as you weren't including those in consumables).
- mechanical parts (for repairs)
- suits (although this could be combined with mechanical parts)

As people before me have pointed out, much of this depends length of time BUT keep in mind all of these things could also be damaged during a battle.

Good luck!

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Thu, 03/10/2016 - 06:57
#6
adversitygames
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you could have various

you could have various different sorts of fuel eg hydrogen fuel, uranium fuel, rocket fuel (for fuel cell, fission and rocket engines respectively, the rocket fuel would get used up really fast while the other two would last longer)

EVA suits and repair supplies (would get used up gradually from minor repairs and maintenance, needed to do things like scouting derelicts or boarding or protecting your crew in the event of hull breach, would get used up a lot in the event of a major accident or combat)

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Thu, 03/10/2016 - 09:49
#7
gilamonster
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Hydrogen and Oxygen offer

Hydrogen and Oxygen offer some interesting possibilities in a near-future game:
You can use the two together for rocket fuel (to produce thrust)
You can use them for your fuel cells to generate power and water (which should be another resource I think)
You need oxygen to breathe

Slightly more speculative:
you can use hydrogen and energy in an ion drive (thrust)
You can use hydrogen alone for a fusion reactor (power) or a fusion drive (thrust)

Of course you'll also need food, which you already mentioned, and weapons if there is combat involved (also mentioned).

Different kinds of thrust could have different advantages - chemical rocket (hydrogen + oxygen) for maneuvering, ion drive for cheap but slow acceleration, and fusion drive
for faster but more expensive acceleration.

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