Fundamentally fuel is different, because inadequate fuel can keep you from even playing. It doesnt take away a function in the game, it takes away the entire game for that base. It seems to me that kind of outcome should pretty be hard to do, as it is now -- you have to take down a whole lot of hangars. With fuel as it used to be, it only took a few cannon rounds.
That my friends is the "meat on the bone" ... read it carefully and commit it to memorization.
