Re: Screwy UI Resupply Code

[Skeezics Boondoggle <skeezics at q7 dot com>]

On Mon, 2 Feb 2004, Jim Kingdon wrote:

> > With the fueling development I am working on it is virtually never
> > necessary to push a resupply task, as the units do it automatically,
> > and the end of turn resupply code can handle the rest.
> 
> How does it know whether I want my bomber to take fuel from a base, or
> give fuel to the base?  I do both things, depending on what I'm trying
> to do.

Actually, automatic resupply can get in the way at times.  Sometimes, for 
instance, I'll send a bomber out on a long-range mission, while a fighter 
is returning to land and refuel.  If the fighter ends up in the same hex 
as the bomber, it'll resupply itself - and I have to turn the bomber 
around and refuel, or try to steal the fuel back from the fighter to 
continue.  It's kinda silly. :-)

I could see that having in-flight refueling from a "bomber" could arguably
be a simplified case of not requiring separate tanker units; the standard
game has a reasonable balance between selection and simplicity (it might
be nice to have patrol boats, or a cruiser type in between destroyer and
battleship, but then you're moving into the advanced game territory).  

However, sometimes if a fighter goes too far out and there's a bomber
nearby that can refuel it, that's a great way to keep from losing units if
they're unexpectedly out of range.  But since fighters can even refuel
from destroyers, why build carriers?  That could be considered a bug...

> Trying to make resupply more automatic is probably a good thing, but
> getting rid of manual transfers entirely doesn't strike me as a step
> forward.

I agree.

-- Chris