It bears repeating that this is a first iteration dev build. They're mostly testing to see that the thing works. Things like actual number balancing, getting displays and tooltips updated, etc comes after that.
The reactor tab shows the draw of power of each system. Giving you a good understanding between what you need and what your making.
It is relevant, I think, that basically everything besides guns was practically like that already. Power is generated continuously by reactors, and drawn continuously by systems. Only weapons, as far as I can recall, actually ate power in big chunks at a time as opposed to tick-by-tick. Thus, capacity was little more than a balancing mechanic for high-alpha weapons.
agreed, I don't understand why capacity system was dropped. just seems more complicated.
Yea, and it seems to have greatly exacerbated the problems with weapon balancing now. Building a ship that stored it's damage for 45 seconds so as to deliver all it's DPS in one shield annihilating punch, used to require a very substantial investment in batteries that other weapons did not need. That helped balance things greatly. Now you don't need those batteries. In theory you don't even need more than the maintenance trickle power. You can build a ship that requires twenty minutes or more to recharge it's missiles, but it won't matter, because you will have obliterated any conceivable opponent with just your first shot.
Hundreds of missile/beam seekers coming all at once dealing billions of damage... Nothing will survive. Nothing.
I've made some point-defense setups that were really effective at taming missile spam. Ages ago, I did this one ugly little civilian tug/recovery ship once (The IMX Tomahawk) that had a couple dozen high-powered "inline shredder-style" (alternating primary and secondary blocks in a single line) AMS turrets, and I experimentally launched hundreds of missiles at it, and it swatted them all down in seconds. Pirates looking for a quick freighter gank would be hard-pressed to get through this point-defense net:
It works in practice only when you have a sturdy computer, or are playing on a good server. One bit of lag, and you'll get eaten alive.I've made some point-defense setups that were really effective at taming missile spam. Ages ago, I did this one ugly little civilian tug/recovery ship once (The IMX Tomahawk) that had a couple dozen high-powered "inline shredder-style" (alternating primary and secondary blocks in a single line) AMS turrets, and I experimentally launched hundreds of missiles at it, and it swatted them all down in seconds. Pirates looking for a quick freighter gank would be hard-pressed to get through this point-defense net:
The server AI aim setting has a lot to do with it. That effects Anti Missile Defense to.
Some numbers, to consider:
The same AI difficulty setting that makes turrets more effective as AMS also makes pirates more accurate, too, so a lot of servers keep it at the default or even turn it down, rendering AMS useless and missile spam very effective. Lag also contributes to inaccuracy. What works locally doesn't always work on a server.
And you could build this same thing now with missile/missile arrays on docked entities with their own 2 million e/sec generators all tied to a wireless remote and an inner ship remote.
