ships constantly run out of fuel within 10 minutes

[BluePhoenixV]

I can build ANY size ship and no matter what i try to do, including putting fuel refineries onto my ship, they always end up underwater and i continue to loose fuel, I also only play sandbox, its just my personality, but its kinda hard to enjoy my ships when they cant do anything.

[Chris]

You could...
i) add more fuel
ii) build more efficient engines
iii) reduce fuel consumption (smaller laser, less demanding shields, automate shields on/off, etc.)
iv) build a platform that produces fuel
v) set up a fuel refinary on a ship that doesnt drown the refinary
Perhaps someone can help you with more detailed help, when you tell us, what you are doing. And what do you mean with sandbox, the designer or the campaign?

[BluePhoenixV]

well, i use the designer, i make my engines for more power and like to keep it that way, i havent consitered a platform for resource gathering, and most of my ships are heavy-bodied battleships meant to keep everything submerged and weapons above water. I guess ill try the platform later

[Masterofgaming22]

with that mentality you're always going to run out of fuel. you have to start building engines with efficency in mind or you're always going to run out of fuel quick. either that or stock up on lots and lots and lots of fuel.

[Matt]

make a subvehicle on your battleships. make it spawn a BP that is all fuel tanks, and use it in a supply group with your ship. scrap when empty and repeat.

[Syd Khaos]

Originally posted by BluePhoenixV:

well, i use the designer, i make my engines for more power and like to keep it that way, i havent consitered a platform for resource gathering, and most of my ships are heavy-bodied battleships meant to keep everything submerged and weapons above water. I guess ill try the platform later

Well...if your gonna insist on building a certain way whats the point of asking for help at all??

If you dont take game mechanics into account when building then you will ALWAYS have issues like this.

Thats great if thats how you build battleships...cant say I dont have a few large ships that follow the same basic format. Its actually a good way to build till mid to late game and ya start gettign a fair amount of torpedos tossed at ya.
BUT this is a horrible and ineffective design for a craft trying to produce fuel.

A refinery will not operate if below sea level...not in the water, but below sea level. You also need to take into consideration that being on a ship can/will cause more dangerous gases to build up, requiring the use of more burn off stacks to be as effective.

Needing alot of power does not mean you need a massive fuel-hungry engine to provide it all. Take a min to leanr the new engines....and take a bit to look at what others are doing with them.
With the new engines huge ships...like battleships, do VERY poorly with a single massive powerplant...like was ideal before.

Now its better to use a few engines built to fill needs, and use electric engines to meat high burst demands during combat. And use ACBs to automate AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Your shields should not be on unless they absolutly have to be, batteries should only be charged within a certain range, not just non-stop.

For anything over 80m in length Id say if your not getting 160+ ppf average across the board you need to rework where/how your getting your power.

[The Prophet]

Originally posted by BluePhoenixV:

well, i use the designer, i make my engines for more power and like to keep it that way, i havent consitered a platform for resource gathering, and most of my ships are heavy-bodied battleships meant to keep everything submerged and weapons above water. I guess ill try the platform later

There is a designer mode with limited resoures and a resourse ring, so you can use resourses without "pressure"

[BluePhoenixV]

Originally posted by sanosukesoceio:

make a subvehicle on your battleships. make it spawn a BP that is all fuel tanks, and use it in a supply group with your ship. scrap when empty and repeat.

How can i automate this?

[Admiral Obvious]

Nobody has suggested that it's possible that the cylinders are overheating. That's actually the most likely issue, at least with what I've seen so far.

If you don't care for fuel efficiency, which will actually cause a lack of fuel issue, you could add a radiator or more to the engines. Otherwise, you need to add exhaust pipes to your engines, and they only connect to cylinders.