As things stand now, there's a huge gap between munitions-based weapons and lasers. Anyone using the former a lot is essentially stuck near civilized space, where docking with a station and spending credits is the only way of replenishing ammo stocks.
What i propose is a system of (yes, i dare use the word) crafting ordnance and ammo-like items in general without the need for a station and therefore allowing munitions users to have a theoretically infinite supply or ammo, much like power and fuel already are.
Firstly, ammo containers taking up cargo space. You could buy those in a base's munitions menu, but not sell. Depending on weapon type, there appears to be a number of clips factory-loaded to the weapon hardpoint. I do believe, that those magazines constitute a considerable portion of the installed weapon's mass and therefore it can be measured how many shells should fit into a 1-ton container. These specific containers, aside from jettison/abandon options would have a "Load" button, as long as at least a ton's worth of ammo has already been used up by an appropriate weapon type. A similar mechanic could apply to fuel - loading hydrogen fuel canisters from the cargo hold. The broader use however is sharing supplies between ships. Indispensable for any group activity.
Secondly, Scrap scooping and recycling. This a feature with great potential, especially in terms of allowing ships to stay away from stations for longer. Even in deep space, there's a chance of encountering wreckage and later-on, presumably hostile aliens. Both are normally useless, but if for example, through EVA or cargo scooping or both - fragments of ship wreckage could find their way onboard our ships. And then, through the use of a variant of a refinery module (Or even the very same) we all know and love - be broken down into useful, even valuable resources, neatly packed up into 1t canisters. Those could be sold of course, adding one more, viable job type to the game, but why stop there?
Third, Manufacturing consumable items from stored cargo. Since ammo items cannot be sold, this would only be a way of maintaining good levels of supply when the option of just visiting a nearby station is unavailable. This would be done by using a refinery-like interface, which would turn the stored resources (recycled and mined) into ammo containers mentioned earlier. Much like the refinery, class and rating would respectively affect the types of ordnance an armory could manufacture and the efficiency at which the input resources would be used. For example, an A1 armory could turn scrap to multicannon shells. Lots of them, but still only those basic shells. An E3 armory on the other hand could make things as "advanced" as rockets aside from multicannon shells, but wasting a lot more resources than the A1 in the process.
A few balancing notes though: Underway replenishment and living off the land should be strategic advantages, not tactical ones. It should only be a valid option inbetween fights. Thus, things like cell banks and repair kits shouldn't be possible to store, while all manufacture should take time he order of minutes to complete.
What i propose is a system of (yes, i dare use the word) crafting ordnance and ammo-like items in general without the need for a station and therefore allowing munitions users to have a theoretically infinite supply or ammo, much like power and fuel already are.
Firstly, ammo containers taking up cargo space. You could buy those in a base's munitions menu, but not sell. Depending on weapon type, there appears to be a number of clips factory-loaded to the weapon hardpoint. I do believe, that those magazines constitute a considerable portion of the installed weapon's mass and therefore it can be measured how many shells should fit into a 1-ton container. These specific containers, aside from jettison/abandon options would have a "Load" button, as long as at least a ton's worth of ammo has already been used up by an appropriate weapon type. A similar mechanic could apply to fuel - loading hydrogen fuel canisters from the cargo hold. The broader use however is sharing supplies between ships. Indispensable for any group activity.
Secondly, Scrap scooping and recycling. This a feature with great potential, especially in terms of allowing ships to stay away from stations for longer. Even in deep space, there's a chance of encountering wreckage and later-on, presumably hostile aliens. Both are normally useless, but if for example, through EVA or cargo scooping or both - fragments of ship wreckage could find their way onboard our ships. And then, through the use of a variant of a refinery module (Or even the very same) we all know and love - be broken down into useful, even valuable resources, neatly packed up into 1t canisters. Those could be sold of course, adding one more, viable job type to the game, but why stop there?
Third, Manufacturing consumable items from stored cargo. Since ammo items cannot be sold, this would only be a way of maintaining good levels of supply when the option of just visiting a nearby station is unavailable. This would be done by using a refinery-like interface, which would turn the stored resources (recycled and mined) into ammo containers mentioned earlier. Much like the refinery, class and rating would respectively affect the types of ordnance an armory could manufacture and the efficiency at which the input resources would be used. For example, an A1 armory could turn scrap to multicannon shells. Lots of them, but still only those basic shells. An E3 armory on the other hand could make things as "advanced" as rockets aside from multicannon shells, but wasting a lot more resources than the A1 in the process.
A few balancing notes though: Underway replenishment and living off the land should be strategic advantages, not tactical ones. It should only be a valid option inbetween fights. Thus, things like cell banks and repair kits shouldn't be possible to store, while all manufacture should take time he order of minutes to complete.
