Equipment durability?

[Astrobe]

Some equipments are over-priced in my opinion and I've heard that in the late game some have trouble with spending their credits.

Equipment that would break after N uses would allow to sell them at lower prices, thus helping with getting a decent equipment a bit sooner while making over-equipment a liability and helping with credits "evaporation" in the long run.

Monitoring tools would be provided so that one can replace/repair before an equipment break at the worst possible moment. If those monitoring tools are not too precise, it would create some interesting choices (Hmm... it says my Military Cup of Tea is in poor state but not yet critical; however it is sold in TL14 only, so maybe I'd better make a detour to replace it now).

Good idea? Bad idea?

[Disembodied]

A good idea, I think - anything that helps increase the running costs over time is a Good Thing. Might it be simpler, though, instead of having things break, to just slowly increase the maintenance and repair costs of any piece of equipment over time? So the first time you have it maintained, it's 1x cost; the second, 1.5x; the third, 2x; the fourth, 4x, and so on. There could be higher increments for every time the item has been repaired, too. Eventually it'll be more economical to strip it out and buy a new one.

It would mean having a visible status for each piece of kit - something like

* Pristine
* New
* Used
* Dilapidated

Which could spawn a market in second-hand equipment, too - and allow you to see ships for sale, fitted with e.g. a New Extra Energy Unit and a Used Docking Computer, with prices adjusted to match.

[Redspear]

I quite like Disembodied's idea but for a while I've thought that equip cost should be proportional (in some cases) to the ship it's being fitted to. That might make little sense in the case of something like a missile, but for something like an extra energy unit or even docking computers it might (integrating with a higher tech/more finely tuned interface). It's currently done with maintenance costs and fuel (I think?) but not equipment. Might make an Adder start more appealing if the equipment were a bit cheaper; or a Caduceus more expensive to run, trying to integrate standard tech into an organic ship...

Whilst many, I suspect, keep the mk III throughout most of their oolite journey, there may be a case for spreading equipment costs over a wider/more evenly spread range - there's currently quite a leap between the original elite equipment and shield boosters et al.

Straying off topic a little, I've been using a hud that displays icons for various installed pieces of equipment. Seeing this as an opportunity to declutter the f5 screen a bit I edited the equipment.plist to make those items non-visible. So far so good, however not only do they no longer show up on the f5 screen, they also don't show on the f3f3 screen either, so I sometimes have to guess which items are installed on a ship for sale

[ffutures]

I think some equipment does this - the Planetfall equipment seems to need replacement after a few uses, for example.

[Astrobe]

I think some equipment does this - the Planetfall equipment seems to need replacement after a few uses, for example.

Ah, thanks for that. It gives me more reference material for a potential implementation. Rock Hermits also sell equipments with limited life spam, but I couldn't find a script that implements it. Maybe it is implemented directly in the engine?

[phkb]

In the core game Rock Hermits sell almost nothing, as they have an effective TL of 1. A few OXP's have sought to redress this issue ( Spicy Hermits,  Smugglers), and the  Anarchies OXP adds "Salvage Gang" stations where you can purchase cheap, recycled equipment that might break down unexpectedly.

[ffutures]

I think some equipment does this - the Planetfall equipment seems to need replacement after a few uses, for example.

Ah, thanks for that. It gives me more reference material for a potential implementation. Rock Hermits also sell equipments with limited life spam, but I couldn't find a script that implements it. Maybe it is implemented directly in the engine?

I was re-reading this and wondering if it was related to damage taken in the landing, but since 1.82 landings have been a lot tougher (you get very hot in low atmosphere if you aren't careful) and the equipment doesn't seem to go wrong any more often, so it's probably something else. I'm guessing a failure probability that rises with each use.

[Astrobe]

In the core game Rock Hermits sell almost nothing, as they have an effective TL of 1. A few OXP's have sought to redress this issue ( Spicy Hermits,  Smugglers), and the  Anarchies OXP adds "Salvage Gang" stations where you can purchase cheap, recycled equipment that might break down unexpectedly.

Thanks, I didn't remember that the "Salvage gang" was part of Anarchies OXP.