fuel use while offline, aka steller cartography

this weekend, i'll be going to the aims music school, thus will have absolutely no time to get online and play Ce, indeed a few days recently i've just not been able to get online to play Ce.

yes, I have my drones and extractors, and could perchice a blackraven or fuel tank to decant exess fuel, (though this depends upon me having time to find and pilot the ship to a depot, then being able to log in), but that is a rather limited solution, and also won't help if your away from the game for a couple of days and your tank just fills up.

A couple of other gamesI've seen have an at work mode. In this mode, you send your rpg character to work for a number of hours, to earn an hourly wage. this stops you from actually playing the game, fighting monsters or whatever (the game tells you your at work when you do this), and the money and or xp you get from working is tiny when compared to what you'd get by playying, however it is something and does insure that you are still making a small amount of progress at least even when offline.

I also find it personally quite satisfying to stop playing, go to sleep, set my character working then come back the next day after however many hours and recieve x amount of progress, albeit a small amount.

so, my suggestion: steller cartography.

this involves mapping and surveying known star systems for changing data such as positions of small orbital asteroids, changes in solar conditions and orbits. Since this data must be obtained by minute changes in your ship's position, it takes fuel to gain, though fortunately your Ai is quite capable of making the necessary course adjustments to data collection.

when you activate the steller cartography scanner (which could be either a pod, special or system, though h it might be nice to sell in the Ce store), your asked how many hours you'd like to continue steller survey, ranging from a minimum of 6 to a maximum of 50.

You can do nothing else in the game while your surveying, indeed you can't get to any other screen.

For each hour spend surveying, you earn 5 credits and 5 xp. This would mean 2500 credits a day on a free account, and just over 7000 with a max engine.

no, this is not much in comparison to what you would get while playing, but is a lot more than the zero you would get by not playing .

of course, fuel used surveying is used, and doesn't go into your ships' fuel reserve, so this should only be done when you are absolutely certain you will be away for a while.

What do people think?

Oh, and before anyone raises the point, yes I know Coops and co are working on level 6 at the moment, I was not expecting this to come tomorrow, merely to go on the todo list, and as a suggestion for general discussion, since currently there is nothing like this in the game and if your away for a while your fuel is pretty much static.

also there is Titan Refinery and settlement repair pod which use normal fuel to repair your settlement hp when you away .

and dark if you need those vp pod can contect in game i think i got some blue prints to make them.

Not keen on this idea, as mentioned, a VP pod is a better option already...BUT....
I'd like to address a concern about the waste/loss of fuel due to long absences (over a week or two).

Its not a big concern for players with bio1-3 engines, those are easy to offset with a VP pod (which use 12-40 fuel/hour).
However, for bio5 + PA players, generating 68 fuel/hour (or more if you hit a regen bonus), you cannot offset fuel gain to zero.
Max vp pod uses 40 fuel, add in a titan pod and geordi pod, you can offset up to 50 fuel/hour. So you're still gaining 18 fuel/hr (432/day).
Use a black raven to clear out your 10k tank, but you'll overflow in a maximum of 22 days.

I hate the mental anguish from wasting (losing) fuel to inactivity,
but the easy solution to this would be: to allow more than 1 VP pod at a time.

Ive seen some orsa sites at 13 days (and I think I saw a 14 once).
But generally, if you need to be absent over 2 weeks you're gonna lose ground in some manner.

Sirfoxey, I think your post is absolutely correct and appropriate. Its good to be reminded of this.
The non-competitiveness aspect was what initially attracted me to CE, and why I keep coming back.

I have to agree with Sirfoxey and MarcSp on this one. I remember my early days of the game well. Pulling all- nighters to get to the next goal just find that all I did was create another set of goals. CE isn't like chugging a beer on a hot summer day just to quench your thirst. It's more like relaxing by the fire with a nice tumbler of Scotch or a snifter of Brandy. To be slowly enjoyed and appreciated for its full experience of warmly filling your soul.

Both sides have fair points, but I'm leaning more towards dark empathy's side on this. Yes there are VP Replicators and titan refineries, but after doing a good bit of research on both, the titan refineries are pointless, and you have to go through the whole list of replicators (after finding out their fuel consumption rates) to figure out which one will actually produce something worthwhile. For example, liquid sologen replicators use 35 fuel per hour. A much bigger problem with using replicators to counter excess fuel production is that only the players that have stuck around long enough to reach level 30 can even use them to begin with. The same is true for the basic model of titan refinery.

With that in mind, what about the players below level 30, especially those supporting the game by purchasing engine upgrades, whose RL situations call them away for extended periods of time? And while we're on the subject, what about the less financially well off players (the free accounts who can't afford to buy black raven pods or bio fuel advanced storage tanks from the store)?

Now, I believe I may have a more workable solution to the problem of excess fuel production. What if players are given the option to dock at a location, and then turn their bio engine off until they come back, then they can turn it back on? If the engine is turned off, then naturally it won't produce any more fuel right? Thus, the problem of excess fuel production would be solved without upsetting the balance of the game, since players would neither benefit nor suffer from the cease of fuel production.

So to fix the problem of not getting your fuel due to tanks filling up is to not get any fuel due to turning the engine off? Doesnt that kinda beat the point?

How is that any different from what happens once their tanks become full? A full tank means essentially you aren't producing any new fuel, so in either scenario your idle time results in lost fuel production.

Better yet, This suggestion has already been applied. Your AI turns off your bio-fuel production, but it's so efficient that it waits untill you're completely topped off, and it doesn't bother you by reminding you that it turned it off Plus it turns it back on once you started moveing.

Coops is so good, he can add game funtionality wthout adding code.

Sounds like you're a politician Xandercrisp. Nice logic. You have my vote.