See, I've done that myself. Unfortunately, I put 1 engine on the escort. I want it to be able to move a little in combat. It starts with the red supply icon, but it does have some supply, so I really don't know.
Anyway, aren't supplies only used by engines and weapons? Long time ago someone tried to mod other components and found that SE4 is hard coded to not allow other components to use supply.
While Remote Miners use supplies they work even without supplies...
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Currently Playing:
Megamek (latest dev version with home-made random campaign generator), Dominions 3 (with CBM) and Sins of a Solar Empire (heavily modded)