What is the point of fuel as a gameplay mechanic?

I haven't seen any discussion about this yet, so I'm making a thread.

The liquid erchius fuel seems like a pointless mechanic to me, and here's why:

1. It doesn't serve to prevent FTL prior to the progression step that allows it. That is tied to a quest to repair the engines.
2. It doesn't limit how far or how often you travel. Any given moon has enough fuel for stacks upon stacks upon stacks of the stuff.
3. It doesn't provide incentive for new adventures or unique gameplay. Moons are all barren, without interest or danger of any kind- except sharp rocks and fall damage, I guess.

So right now I'd say fuel is a bit like the hunger mechanic was: Put time into your boring videogame chore and get a lifetime supply of never thinking about it again. As with hunger, I'm glad it isn't significantly limiting, but it begs the question of why have it in the game at all?

 

I have to agree on this one, now that I think about it, besides having it as 'one more step' after you fix your FTL, what purpose does it pose besides making you just have to go get some every time you are low? I in fact skipped going to the moon entirely and just bought my fuel at the gas station in the outpost.

 

The game is minimal-effort enough as is, we don't need it to be even easier and effortless.

 

I think what he is saying is that it doesn't fall under 'progression' as much it falls under 'grinding just to have us grind.'
While I can see it being more immersive to have the fuel, and make you use is... which is the one upside I like to it (im more into immersion when I play).. but for some people I know they want to just be able to explore quicker, this would slow them down some.

Perhaps if there were different types of fuel? It would remove some of the grind? Power my ship with Corn Oil????

 

Please explain what you find difficult or requiring of effort in beaming down to a moon and digging until you can scoop up a few tons of erchius.

 

The only downside of getting fuel is grinding and occasional tediousness. But I usually buy it from the infinity express since I couldn't find any moons with no meteors. Cause I might want the moon dust for something (that's just me though)

 

i like it

i am a super alien flying to moons and harvesting the lands fuel source

to feed my ever growing lust for exploration and the conquest of weak planets



but it is fine as it is

it does not take very long to get the fuel

and it adds to the immersion

and i really like mining liquids

it is fun

 

I think this is one of the best additions to the game, so the point is to choose between buying it, or being tight-fisted and just getting it for free.

 

I would like it if moons had anything at all on them other than moonrocks and erchius. Who says videogame animules can't live on moons? Put some mini dungeons in there. Maybe some unique decorative items- moon crystals or moon flowers or something.

Also it seems to me that Starbound is lacking in actually useful generic loot to find in chests. Maybe a little erchius could be found now and then?

 

Maybe if the fuel was used for more high tier metals like oil for steel. Then you have to split between progression and necessity.
Other than that. I find moons very boring.

 

1. No they do prevent ftl before you have fuel, the thing you use within systems are the sublight engines, not ftl (even tough the animation is the same).

2. They do limit how far you can travel (the further away a system is the more it costs to travel there).

But honestly the moons are a bit bland and have too much of the stuff so i concede your point.

Hopefully the moons will recive some intressting mini biomes and underground dungeons in the future (making mining fuel fun, rather improve it then remove it in my humble opinion).

 

I keep thinking back to Star Control II, where fuel was super-important because it limited how far you could go in the galaxy, and there was stuff out there you needed to get to.

However, as Starbound's plot-specific locations aren't technically on the galaxy map... hmmm.

The moons being as barren and one-note as they are is kind of a problem. I do find their lack or ores odd, you'd think they'd at least have low-tier stuff like iron. Being able to get Erchius Crystals from them would be nice, yet to see any of those.

Microdungeons should definitely be a thing. I think it'd be neat to find a tiny moon landing zone with the equivalent of Uncle Owen's Erchius Farm on the surface. Dude, now I'm flashing back to Moon Zero Two, a crummy little movie that featured on MST3K early on, but not a shabby way to set up some stuff on the moons. Just some lone prospector on their dirtscrabble mini-mining zone. Have a couple different ones set up, some inhabited, but a few ruined ones... some clearly have been shot up, some are fine but the owner just died from a stupid accident, some abandoned...

Small trading posts even.

Sure, these would all be comparatively rare. Maybe only half the Moons have any kind of microdungeon on/in them. But make those unique to the Moons, including some unique Blueprints for furniture and unique Vanity Armors to find, and I think that'd give a lot more draw...

 

I actually like the way fuel works in the game, makes for exploring a whole lot simpler, and with ease. After all there are a lot of star systems out there and the cost ratio of fuel in travel between them would mean that I would have to find or buy fuel every so often. Reminds me of a car in a sense. I mean you don't fill up in every town you go to right. You just get enough to last for a bit, and only do it when needed.

What I do agree with is that the moon itself is lacking in content. Stale if you will. I like some of the ideas presented above that others have mentioned. Like ruins or dungeons that someone has setup or a mining facility whether abandoned or not, and maybe a moon base. Not every moon granted, but enough to have some variation.

Having specific moon sets is a nice idea that was mentioned. Also why not in the underground having some ruins of past civilizations that have been buried over time that would suggest this place was not once a moon, but a habitable planet at one point. At least adding some variation can go a long way in clearing up the monotony of just a gas station per say.

 

Yep ,who needs an alien fuel when you could use coal/wood for travel faster than light.

 

I like the current fuel system. Makes more sense to fuel a ship on alien liquid than coal or something like that.

 

Who in the heck is suggesting coal as fuel? What are you people even talking about?

 

The game used to use coal and wood as fuel which was WAY more accessible than erchius.

 

I don't feel this is relevant to a discussion of the gameplay impacts of the concept of "fuel."

 

i for one like new fuel better the wood and coal.

 

Uh, yeah. This is less about specifically WHAT is used as fuel and more as to how one goes about acquiring it. As it is, getting the fuel is kind of a dull side-chore, as there's nothing more to fuel acquisition than "dig then suck up fuel". Moon juice does fit the "universe" beter thematically, but play-wise, it's not terribly fun.

The problem is there's nothing interesting to potentially see or obtain on the way/during these fuel runs. And the nigh-endless stream of STUFF to find is a major point of interest in this game. If we could also obtain some Moon-unique Vanity Armors, pieces of furniture, see some microdungeons not found in any other biomes, run across some NPCs to buy stuff with or get mini-missions from ("I ain't had a good home-cooked meal in forever! If you get me a Roast Dinner, I'll set you up with 50 Erchius Crystals!" or somesuch)... that'd liven things up and make this task more pleasant.