REfueling and other tactical errors.

[Larsenex]

I don't know if this has been address but it happens so often that I am sure it has and there is an answer somewhere. I am at war. All my fleets have 're-supply ships in them. I thought that this was a good idea. Still when I send my fleet to a 'distant' world to conquer, they get in-system and are out of gas, even though they have a resupply ship. Not only that but to actually get them to use the fleets own gas station is very tedious. I have to click on ships then order 'refuel at Insidious', said ships move ZERO speed and when they do all stack up they sit there, and sit there and sit there. I counted maybe 3 months (In a hostile system) and they still were not refueled. Whats up with that and what am I doing wrong? Can somebody explain how to attack/invade a far enemy system and NOT run out of gas before I get there?

One thing I noticed is that re-supply ships have to be 'deployed'. Ok, I tried everything to command it to 'deploy' but nothing. What is the secret?
What am I doing wrong?

[J HG T]

I assume you haven't used re-supply ships before? Re-supply ships need to be deployed on either gas nebulae or gas giant. After that the ship mines gas (Caslon and/or Hydrogen) and is ready to act as refuelling base. You can check its cargo from ship screen.
It's recommended to deploy them in nebulaes so they only mine one type of gas at the time. Especially if you don't have any special ships in your fleets that might use different type of fuel. 
I haven't had any type of problems with re-supply ships ever, and actually love to use them as command/re-supply ships to provide fuelling and some serious fire- and fighter/bomber-support.

[Larsenex]

Ok I did not know that. So I need to find a Gas Giant OR a gas nebulae and they are 'deploy-able' there? This puts a premium on strategic locations. All of my ships use caslon EXCEPT some of the Capitals that I am refurbishing. Gah a nightmare for logistics. I will try this in game.

[Data]

yes, but once the refueling ship has it's cargo bays full you can move it anywhere you like and your fleets can refuel at it even the refueling ship itself is moving....all that is needed is fuel in it's cargo bays and docking bays where the other ships can dock
some of the things I've tested are here

tm.asp?m=2679442

[Larsenex]

So, just to be CLEAR, its still a good idea to keep a supply ship with each fleet. I can prep for war by having the ships, 'filler up' at the nearest gas giant, top off my cruisers and attack. Now what I would like to know is this. If my fleets have a 'resupply' ship in with them and I give the order to 'prepare and attack bug planet P' will that mean that the ships will top off or just the cruisers?

[Igard]

It's up to you how you want to use your resupply ships, there are many strategies one can be successful with. I wouldn't build too many of them because they have high maintenance.

I usually have only 2 resupply ships, it really depends how many offensive operations I've got going, so I may sometimes use 3. I create a 'staging' area, which is just a gas giant for my RS ship to deploy. This staging area is usually just outside enemy sensor range maybe about a sector distance. I then post some frigates to defend it and I can then send my fleets back and forth from their target systems.

[Raap]

I never really bother with resupply ships. Most of my attacks are short-range, usually close to one of my own colonies or gas stations, so I haven't really seen the need. As I'm also usually invading when I'm out fighting, I tend to need both troops and fuel.

[Igard]

That's also a point I should've mentioned. RS ships are only for distant invasions. There's not much need when you're only a couple of sectors distance from the system you want to attack. However, using RS ships can mightily speed up your entire invasion if used correctly.

Troops are a whole different matter. If I run out of them, I usually just build some more transports and then send them to the staging area where they can join a fleet. It's always troops that I need to manage, which I don't find so hard, but it can slow down my invasion. And the Romulan Senate doesn't like that one bit. [:D]

[hewwo]

Ugh.. I find the whole business of micromanaging fuel and troops etc. to be much to tedious. I'm all for the concept of fuel, really, its just that in the current implementation too often I'll find my ships being out of fuel at unexpected moments. Oh well. Maybe next patch

[Data]

was just about to reply but I don't think I'll open this particular pandora's box again [:)]

[cmdrnarrain]

The deal with fuel is that I doubt most new players want to micromanage fuel as they have enough to micromanage already without constantly checking to see if their ships are doing what their are suppose too.
 
[font="times new roman"]Veteran players may have found work arounds, but it is still a pain the ass and only distracts from overall game enjoyment.[/font]

[elmo3]

ORIGINAL: cmdrnarrain

The deal with fuel is that I doubt most new players want to micromanage fuel as they have enough to micromanage already without constantly checking to see if their ships are doing what their are suppose too.

[font="times new roman"]Veteran players may have found work arounds, but it is still a pain the ass and only distracts from overall game enjoyment.[/font]

Not everyone agrees with this.

[Larsenex]

What I want to know is when I tell a fleet to prepare and attack, what does that mean? Will the fleet refuel just PRIOR to attack and thus ensuring it will have fuel for the attack (every) time? If this is the case I am fine with it. Otherwise what does Prepare and Attack mean if not get sufficient fuel?

[Data]

it means exactly that, Larsenex, it will refuel and repair prior to atttacking

[Igard]

Another thing I do with RS ships is set one of them as quick key '0' and I've got my fleets as '1' to '9'. I can then quickly jump to my RS staging area, by pressing '0' twice and then select my fleet and move them straight there to get refuelled. It's very easy and can be done in less than 5 seconds.

[hewwo]

ORIGINAL: elmo3

ORIGINAL: cmdrnarrain

The deal with fuel is that I doubt most new players want to micromanage fuel as they have enough to micromanage already without constantly checking to see if their ships are doing what their are suppose too.

[font="times new roman"]Veteran players may have found work arounds, but it is still a pain the ass and only distracts from overall game enjoyment.[/font]

Not everyone agrees with this.

Well.. I think everybody would agree that, without reducing the strategic interestingness that the current resupply system brings (I'm not advocating dumbing it down!), fleet management could be handled a bit more intuitively

[Raap]

Can't really say I've had any problems with fuel myself. I fully manage my own fleets( and have a few single ships on automation to do patrols and such), and fuel has never been a problem. I usually put one or two additional fuel cells on my designs and have my fleets hotkeyed to 1-9. When I'm fighting a war, I simply press the respective button for the fleet I want, see if it has enough fuel, then use ctrl-right-click and 'goto nearest refueling point' if I judge it insufficient. Short time later it's ready to fight. Takes me like 3 clicks and a couple of seconds of my time.

[Larsenex]

How can I tell if a fleet is topped off? How do I assign a fleet or ship a hotkey?

[Raap]

You assign hotkeys by first selecting the ships( or in this case the fleet, using the 'cycle through fleets' filter in the lower-left corner), then holding ctrl and pressing a number. You can tell how much fuel they have by the green bars that is shown next to the ships in the lower-left window. If you, like me, mostly just use one type of ships in a fleet, then they'll all have pretty much completely even fuel levels, making it easier to decide when to refuel.

[Larsenex]

Yes I tend to have all destroyer fleets and all cruisers and my invasions are all transports with 2 or 3 cruisers or 1 capital.