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Things I Learned From Video Games - On Vespene
Alrighty, let's talk about Vespene Gas. I think most of you are probably familiar with Starcraft, if not, and even if you are, I'm gonna do a quick review.
Vespene Gas is one of the two resources in Starcraft (Starcraft Encyclopedia, Wikipedia(!?) It comes out of vents in the ground that look like that pic over there.
Of course, you can't use it like that, you have to build a refinery, to process and package the Vespene so your SCVs can carry it. Or probes, or drones, but I like the Terrans. Each little dude can carry 8 units in one barrel or cube or mucus sack. Then they carry it back to your HQ, so you can use it. You need the Vespene gas for most advanced units, research, and repairing advanced units. The biggest limit on how fast you can get the Vespene is the fact that only 1 dude can be in the refinery at a time. If you try and have too many guys carrying stuff, you end up with a line.
Early on, it doesn't matter, most of your stuff doesn't need much Vespene. But once you start pumping out tanks and mechs and medics and researching, you can spend it quicker than it comes in. So, if you need more, you need to find mode Vespene sources. Which there usually are, and you can survive fine on two or three, at least for the duration of a game. There's a 200 unit limit anyway. Each geyser has a certain amount of gas, after that's exhausted you can still get a little out, but not much.
There's only so many uses you can have for Vespene in a game, because of the time and the limited amount of research and things, and the fact that it's just a war game. But imagine it was larger scale war, you could build over all the geysers and keep having things to build, repair, and research constantly. Eventually, you'd hit the point where you had to choose what to use the gas for, repairs, new stuff, or research, because there's faster ways to spend it than all your guys can bring it in. And, if you wanted to add a little more realism, things would need it for fuel, too. So what do you do when you're pulling out all the Vespene as quick as you can? Fuel your battlecruisers? Repair your tanks? Equip Medics? Research armor?
That's what we're probably getting near. The world uses almost as much oil a day as we can pump out. What happens when we need more than we can pump? It depends. It depends on how much more, and how prepared we are. If it's slow, and we start conserving, things will probably just gradually get more expensive. If things ratchet up quick? That could be bad. It's not gonna happen today, or tomorrow, but probably sometime in the next decade. Not that we'll "run out" of oil, but we'll just want to use it faster than we can physically pump it out of the ground. Demand keeps growing, but supply takes longer to be able to build. Pumps and wells and refineries and ships and things like that. And when that happens, we'll have to choose.
Don't say video games never taught you anything.
Tags: GamingMindscribbles, Economics, SCIENCE!, The Environment
Vespene Gas is one of the two resources in Starcraft (Starcraft Encyclopedia, Wikipedia(!?) It comes out of vents in the ground that look like that pic over there.
Of course, you can't use it like that, you have to build a refinery, to process and package the Vespene so your SCVs can carry it. Or probes, or drones, but I like the Terrans. Each little dude can carry 8 units in one barrel or cube or mucus sack. Then they carry it back to your HQ, so you can use it. You need the Vespene gas for most advanced units, research, and repairing advanced units. The biggest limit on how fast you can get the Vespene is the fact that only 1 dude can be in the refinery at a time. If you try and have too many guys carrying stuff, you end up with a line.
Early on, it doesn't matter, most of your stuff doesn't need much Vespene. But once you start pumping out tanks and mechs and medics and researching, you can spend it quicker than it comes in. So, if you need more, you need to find mode Vespene sources. Which there usually are, and you can survive fine on two or three, at least for the duration of a game. There's a 200 unit limit anyway. Each geyser has a certain amount of gas, after that's exhausted you can still get a little out, but not much.
There's only so many uses you can have for Vespene in a game, because of the time and the limited amount of research and things, and the fact that it's just a war game. But imagine it was larger scale war, you could build over all the geysers and keep having things to build, repair, and research constantly. Eventually, you'd hit the point where you had to choose what to use the gas for, repairs, new stuff, or research, because there's faster ways to spend it than all your guys can bring it in. And, if you wanted to add a little more realism, things would need it for fuel, too. So what do you do when you're pulling out all the Vespene as quick as you can? Fuel your battlecruisers? Repair your tanks? Equip Medics? Research armor?
That's what we're probably getting near. The world uses almost as much oil a day as we can pump out. What happens when we need more than we can pump? It depends. It depends on how much more, and how prepared we are. If it's slow, and we start conserving, things will probably just gradually get more expensive. If things ratchet up quick? That could be bad. It's not gonna happen today, or tomorrow, but probably sometime in the next decade. Not that we'll "run out" of oil, but we'll just want to use it faster than we can physically pump it out of the ground. Demand keeps growing, but supply takes longer to be able to build. Pumps and wells and refineries and ships and things like that. And when that happens, we'll have to choose.
Don't say video games never taught you anything.
Tags: GamingMindscribbles, Economics, SCIENCE!, The Environment