The holodeck does what is required of it. This is not an artifact of Hollywood writing - it is the very thing the machine was designed to do!
During times of scarcity, the holodeck might be required to only do holo-food, which is within its capabilities. Doing real food might be omitted from the options if it consumed too much power.
However, the holodeck overall does not consume a lot of power. At the slightest complication, Janeway decides to drop the use of holodeck energy, because it is no big deal - she can skimp on life support on one deck instead, i.e. peanuts. Holo-entertainment does not make any needles wobble on Torres' warp power gauges; at most, it may make the lights on Deck 9 flicker. (It takes a truly extreme power emergency for the skipper to order holodecks shut down - see "Booby Trap".)
Replicators really aren't that much worse. No character ever thinks of conserving power aboard a working ship or station by using non-replication manufacturing or cooking methods. Again, the whole ship must be falling apart for the replicators to quit ("Night Terrors" and the like).
In any case, rationing originally had to do with the ship being broken. She got fixed after the first two years when the heroes started reaching friendly ports. That rationing would continue past the Nekrit Expanse seems like a morale control technique rather than anything to do with shortages.
Perhaps group activities would not merely warrant a discount but actually would yield you extra credits? After all, the real danger in overuse of holodecks would be in the crewmembers getting isolated and lost in their personal fantasies. Punishing solo use and rewarding group use seems useful in Janeway's predicament.
Timo Saloniemi
During times of scarcity, the holodeck might be required to only do holo-food, which is within its capabilities. Doing real food might be omitted from the options if it consumed too much power.
However, the holodeck overall does not consume a lot of power. At the slightest complication, Janeway decides to drop the use of holodeck energy, because it is no big deal - she can skimp on life support on one deck instead, i.e. peanuts. Holo-entertainment does not make any needles wobble on Torres' warp power gauges; at most, it may make the lights on Deck 9 flicker. (It takes a truly extreme power emergency for the skipper to order holodecks shut down - see "Booby Trap".)
Replicators really aren't that much worse. No character ever thinks of conserving power aboard a working ship or station by using non-replication manufacturing or cooking methods. Again, the whole ship must be falling apart for the replicators to quit ("Night Terrors" and the like).
In any case, rationing originally had to do with the ship being broken. She got fixed after the first two years when the heroes started reaching friendly ports. That rationing would continue past the Nekrit Expanse seems like a morale control technique rather than anything to do with shortages.
Perhaps group activities would not merely warrant a discount but actually would yield you extra credits? After all, the real danger in overuse of holodecks would be in the crewmembers getting isolated and lost in their personal fantasies. Punishing solo use and rewarding group use seems useful in Janeway's predicament.
Timo Saloniemi
