New power generator setup? *UPDATED*

[Bourne223]

It may be able to be scaled up but I'm not sure. I mostly build as you call them "Cascading Cuboid" in my ships for simplicity sake and ease of building with symmetry planes. While I know more complex power reactors may get me more power I usually just start with a center reactor spanning the space I set aside for reactors and then from there "cascade" down.

Ah okay.

Thank you, Sven. I think I'll go back and try to re-work some of my power setups, with that new "9 block minimum" information you shared. I think it will be very useful indeed!

 

[Oekelboter]

Hmf. A tiny test yielded the following results:

using 10 cores:

case 1: single blocks generate 1408,4 e/s
case 2: a single line of 10 blocks generates 1472,8 e/s
case 3: the L-shaped block generates 1472,8 e/s
case 4: a 3d L-shaped block generates 1472,8 e/s
​

This suggests that only the total LENGTH of the chain is calculated (in a "how many beads are on this cord" kind of manner).

Can anyone confirm or disprove this?

 

[AtraUnam]

Its just the sum of the dimensions m8

 

[Sgtwisky]

Not sure if this still holds true or not, but this shows how I have always made my generators. At least until the 1 mil soft cap. IF it still holds true, maybe this can help anyone looking to make good power generators. As these have served me well for quite some time. Including some of my current builds.

 

[SuperWookie]

Apparently a good way to have the best power output (on big ships especially) is to dock power reactors that achieve the soft cap and have power supply beams constantly resupplying the main ship through the use of logic. This way you bypass the soft cap through the use of multiple entities. I've personally never used power supply beams so I'm a bit clueless with them, although I'm going to do some testing soon to try and figure them out.

 

[CaptainTaz]

Apparently a good way to have the best power output (on big ships especially) is to dock power reactors that achieve the soft cap and have power supply beams constantly resupplying the main ship through the use of logic. This way you bypass the soft cap through the use of multiple entities. I've personally never used power supply beams so I'm a bit clueless with them, although I'm going to do some testing soon to try and figure them out.

don't those only give 33% of the power though (Rest is consumed by the transfer units)? I'd think it'd be more efficient to fill that space with blocks instead...

 

[SuperWookie]

don't those only give 33% of the power though (Rest is consumed by the transfer units)? I'd think it'd be more efficient to fill that space with blocks instead...

Yeah idk not too familiar with the power supply beams, I've just heard that this is a good way to do it. Could easily be wrong.

 

[AtraUnam]

don't those only give 33% of the power though (Rest is consumed by the transfer units)? I'd think it'd be more efficient to fill that space with blocks instead...

They currently give you 50% of the power and that is due to a bug (they are supposed to give you 66%) And even at 50% they are vastly more efficient than solid blocks to the point that with docked reactors you can theoretically perma-cloak/jam a ship of any size.

 

[SuperWookie]

They currently give you 50% of the power and that is due to a bug (they are supposed to give you 66%) And even at 50% they are vastly more efficient than solid blocks to the point that with docked reactors you can theoretically perma-cloak/jam a ship of any size.

Would you happen to know of any videos or blueprints that could help give me an example of how to make them effectively?

 

[Panpiper]

I've been looking for a concise explanation/tutorial on how to make such docked power generators, pretty much since I first found the game, going on close to a year now I think. So far, no luck. I suspect those who know treat this information as a closely guarded trade secret so as to keep their advantage over the rest of us.

How to get the most power out of power blocks is one thing and fairly easily answered. (It has been answered many times.) How to transfer that power to a ship from a platform docked to that ship using transfer beams and (apparently) logic, remains a total mystery to all but a few.

 

[AtraUnam]

I've been looking for a concise explanation/tutorial on how to make such docked power generators, pretty much since I first found the game, going on close to a year now I think. So far, no luck. I suspect those who know treat this information as a closely guarded trade secret so as to keep their advantage over the rest of us.

How to get the most power out of power blocks is one thing and fairly easily answered. (It has been answered many times.) How to transfer that power to a ship from a platform docked to that ship using transfer beams and (apparently) logic, remains a total mystery to all but a few.

I didn't know how until 2 days ago, took all of 2 hours to work it out.

 

[Groovrider]

Once you you get the hang of it it's not such a mystery. Basically you are just building a small ship with no weapons, just as many generators ass you can pack in. They way I did it 1st it had a 500k/sec reactor. I gave it 700k power capacity. I set up the logic with 2 separate power supply computer and module groups. Activate and point at something so that you are transferring power. The only trick was to make sure each beam surge didn't use over the max regen and that the power tanks were returning to 100% after a surge. Once that's done dock that sucker and it's good to go.

 

[AtraUnam]

And suddenly I need help with shield reactors, wiki has no info on shield supply beam stats and I don't trust the in-game stat display.

 

[Master_Artificer]

Shield supply beams use the docked entities power, not the docked entities shields.

Most people just make power reactors for big ships, few make shield supply beams. But being able to regen many times more than the equivalent block size is definitely a boon in battle, and now that rails and shield sharing exist, this has become a closely guarded faction secret most likely.

My faction doesn't have any of this technology, but I hope to pioneer that on a small 30k destroyer, FOR SCIENCE.

 

[SuperWookie]

Once you you get the hang of it it's not such a mystery. Basically you are just building a small ship with no weapons, just as many generators ass you can pack in. They way I did it 1st it had a 500k/sec reactor. I gave it 700k power capacity. I set up the logic with 2 separate power supply computer and module groups. Activate and point at something so that you are transferring power. The only trick was to make sure each beam surge didn't use over the max regen and that the power tanks were returning to 100% after a surge. Once that's done dock that sucker and it's good to go.

How many power supply modules did you use for each group? And does it require any support or is it fine on its own?

 

[Panpiper]

It's really hard to know if shield resupply beams in docking modules are worth while without actual numbers for those systems. How much shielding does a module of shield resupply beam provide, and for how much power? Is it constant once turned on or does it too need massive logic acrobatics fiddling to get working?

 

[Groovrider]

How many power supply modules did you use for each group? And does it require any support or is it fine on its own?

I have no clue and you don't really need too. I'm not convinced that the numbers are reliable so I do it this way: I make a logic clock with 6 delay modules. one PS computer is hooked to the clock the other to the clock and a NOT block. That way when one turns off the other turns on with a small delay between the two. When adding ps modules, I start with 5x5x5 cubes in build mode and add them to each group during a pass. I then go into flight mode and check to see if it's maintaining a charge or draining. If there's still a lot of power left, I add modules equally. If it's draining then I take away modules equally. once I hit the sweet spot where it's supplying power to the mother ship without draining itself I plug it in to my test ship and hit max speed while firing my big logic guns and charging the hyperdrive. This is the only reliable way to see where the redline for you power system is.

I'll log in to my server and get some numbers in a bit.

 

[Panpiper]

My brain is not agile enough any more to handle many of the complexities of logic circuits. This is the hack job I did to control a docked power module. It is built this way mostly to be easy for me to follow the logic of. While any of the bottom delays are active, they will activate the lower 'or' block that activates the bottom power supply beam computer. While any of the top delays are active, they will activate the upper 'or' block that activates the top power supply beam computer. All the delays feed into another 'or' block which in theory always stays 'on/high'. If for some reason however due to a reboot or whatever, the circuit is not working, that 'or' block will be off, which will activate the 'not' block to the left, which will restart the clock.

I am pretty sure this is not the ideal setup, but this is as good as my limited understanding of logic circuits can do at the moment. Sven the Slayer has a video tutorial on clocks in which he describes what would clearly be a better clock, but despite watching it several times, I cannot understand what he has built or how it functions (my brain is not what it used to be).

Anyone care to tell me what I should do differently? I realize I could likely do away with one of the rows of delay blocks and simply invert the signal for the other beam, but the one presented is both easier to understand for my brain and visually more pretty.

 

[Panpiper]

Hmm... It would appear to me that shield supply modules are either broken, work in a manner completely different than power supply modules, or serve such a completely different function as to utterly escape me.

When I built a docked shield supply system similar to the above to help shields regenerate, it appears to have absolutely zero effect upon the shields of the ship to which it is docked. This despite having several thousand shield supply modules and more than enough power. Is there any way to make these work? Am I completely clueless?

The docked power supply system works as intended. I cannot fathom why the same setup would not work with shield supply modules.

 

[Groovrider]

Perhaps you need to test it under fire.