A few quick observations on the new auxiliary generators...

[Dvaren]

After some quick and sloppy testing, a few quick facts for those who haven't done their own:

(1) The new power blocks stack bonuses the same as capacitors, not reactors, so group them all together up to the soft cap, not in line patterns.

(2) There is a soft cap, it seems to be 289 power per block, and it is achieved somewhere in the range of 7200 blocks in a single group. The power will still increase from here, but the power per block ratio will slowly decline as their numbers increase. This cap is per group, so multiple groups will work fine and surpass the soft cap.

(3) The new power blocks add a button to your hotbar that you can activate/deactivate

(4) The new power blocks do not seem to work with logic, but I only tested it with an activator block so far. Sigh.

(5) The new power blocks act as a capacitor which slowly charges when off or quickly charges when turned on and will discharge its full load into your system in about 8 seconds. If the amount being transferred is larger than the amount the ship needs or has capacity for, you lose the excess.

(6) After transferring its full load to the ship, the new power blocks will continue to provide power regeneration as long as they're kept active.

(7) 7200 power blocks will provide about 1.25m per sec and an initial dump of around 8.8 million. Not exactly the model of power generating efficiency.

(8) The new power blocks do not remember their last state, so if you leave them on when you log off, they will be off when you log back in.

 

[Lecic]

(9) They power auxiliaries are permanently on for stations. Probably for planets and asteroids as well.

 

[TBterra]

(9) They power auxiliaries are permanently on for stations. Probably for planets and asteroids as well.

i would imagine that that is due to not being able to fly them and so no hotbar activation

(2) There is a soft cap, it seems to be 289 power per block, and it is achieved somewhere in the range of 7200 blocks in a single group. The power will still increase from here, but the power per block ratio will slowly decline as their numbers increase. This cap is per group, so multiple groups will work fine and surpass the soft cap.

odd, my tests (various sizes from 100 to 16k blocks) showed a peak of 192.9 power per block at about 10k blocks

(5) The new power blocks act as a capacitor which slowly charges when off or quickly charges when turned on and will discharge its full load into your system in about 8 seconds. If the amount being transferred is larger than the amount the ship needs or has capacity for, you lose the excess.

full discharge time is exactly 4 seconds (if there's no lag), also the total storage will continue to grow with size and has no soft cap

(7) 7200 power blocks will provide about 1.25m per sec and an initial dump of around 8.8 million. Not exactly the model of power generating efficiency.

at 10k blocks it generates 1.929mill/sec giving it a power per block of 192.9, which is almost exactly the maximum possible efficiency for a docked reactor (once you include the powerbeam as well as the reactor)

these where never meant to be a substitute for a main reactor, they where for when you already had a maxed main reactor but needed even more power

 

[Dvaren]

odd, my tests (various sizes from 100 to 16k blocks) showed a peak of 192.9 power per block at about 10k blocks

My tests were only for the active regeneration rate, so perhaps this is where our results differ. Also, I am not dividing the total amount of power generated by the total amount of blocks. One of those tests was performed to find at what number adding additional blocks initiated a decline in additional power and the maximum that last additional block would add to the regeneration rate (289 as it were).

full discharge time is exactly 4 seconds (if there's no lag), also the total storage will continue to grow with size and has no soft cap

Perhaps it varies with size of the group, as there is no lag issue with a single small ship, alone in a sector, in single player, on a watercooled gaming system, lol. I definitely was timing more than 4 seconds though.

at 10k blocks it generates 1.929mill/sec giving it a power per block of 192.9, which is almost exactly the maximum possible efficiency for a docked reactor (once you include the powerbeam as well as the reactor)

True. Although my docked reactors didn't have to be activated via the hotbar, remembered their last state, interacted with logic, and didn't self immolate if hit by a stray bullet, lol. =)

 

[TBterra]

Perhaps it varies with size of the group, as there is no lag issue with a single small ship, alone in a sector, in single player, on a watercooled gaming system, lol. I definitely was timing more than 4 seconds though.

I was only looking at the rate it claimed to discharge / total storage, I didnt time them. that would explain the differences between our numbers

True. Although my docked reactors didn't have to be activated via the hotbar, remembered their last state, interacted with logic, and didn't self immolate if hit by a stray bullet, lol. =)

to contrast, they did immolate your computer and the server if they ever got detached

I also wouldn't consider the hotbar to be an issue as if you use them like the docked reactors, you turn them on and then mostly forget about them, the logic interaction is annoying but im not sure how useful it would be without the ability to use logic to detect out of power and full of power for the main capacitors. and Im hoping the state not saving is a bug

 

[Scypio]

Wait we can toggle them on/off with logic or not ? I'm lost. And how should we do it ?

 

[Dvaren]

to contrast, they did immolate your computer and the server if they ever got detached

Only the fools who buried them inside their ships, knowing full well the consequence, encountered this issue...which of course has led to the current changes. I always mounted mine outside the ship.

I also wouldn't consider the hotbar to be an issue as if you use them like the docked reactors, you turn them on and then mostly forget about them

That would be true, to a small extent at least, if they stayed on, lol =)

the logic interaction is annoying but im not sure how useful it would be without the ability to use logic to detect out of power and full of power for the main capacitors. and Im hoping the state not saving is a bug

That would only apply if the sole use of the new power blocks were to dump their load in one fell swoop. Logic would enable us to ensure they stay active on docked entities, for instance, providing power regeneration.
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Wait we can toggle them on/off with logic or not ? I'm lost. And how should we do it ?

No you can't and yes you should have been able to.

 

[EricBlank]

Anyone been able to actually find the math for the block in the config?

 

[NightFury76]

How do these things work in turret bases and turret guns?

 

[Az14el]

How do these things work in turret bases and turret guns?

only if they're manned for now

 

[NightFury76]

Bugger, so turrets still draw from the base power caps so you can get ai chain fire missiles right?

 

[Keptick]

i would imagine that that is due to not being able to fly them and so no hotbar activation


odd, my tests (various sizes from 100 to 16k blocks) showed a peak of 192.9 power per block at about 10k blocks


full discharge time is exactly 4 seconds (if there's no lag), also the total storage will continue to grow with size and has no soft cap


at 10k blocks it generates 1.929mill/sec giving it a power per block of 192.9, which is almost exactly the maximum possible efficiency for a docked reactor (once you include the powerbeam as well as the reactor)

these where never meant to be a substitute for a main reactor, they where for when you already had a maxed main reactor but needed even more power

That is correct. We (the council and devs) agreed that the maximum efficiency should be roughly similar to what a maximum efficiency 2mil e/sec reactor, for the same total amount of blocks.

As you said, auxiliary reactors shouls be used as an addition to normal reactors, not a replacement. You use normal reactors until the softcap and then boost it with auxiliaries if necessary.

Auxiliary reactors essentially emulate the behavior and risk of docked reactors (premature undocking ) with minimal or no lag. At least that's what we were going for when we came up with the idea. Explosion plwer and stuff might still need some tweaking though, if you think that you found more suitable config values please tell the current council members.

 

[CrunkPrime]

Now that we have auxillery power blocks, we just need to get rid of reactors needing to be placed down in XYZ lines,, and instead be able to just be put down in large groups like capacitors, and we'll be good to go.

 

[Calhoun]

Now that we have auxillery power blocks, we just need to get rid of reactors needing to be placed down in XYZ lines,, and instead be able to just be put down in large groups like capacitors, and we'll be good to go.

No.

 

[CrunkPrime]

Having to lay down reactors in anything other than the same way capacitors can be placed is just uneeded complexity for the sake of complexity. It serves no purpose. Having to lay them down in XYZ lines to get the biggest bonus out of them is one of the largest complaints I hear from new players.

But hey, I guess almost all the servers having a population below 10 players is fine so long as its needlessly complex right?

 

[alterintel]

IIRC Lancake said that the most efficient group size is 9750 blocks. So for a good integer box dimension, 30 x 25 x 13 will work nicely.

 

[MossyStone48]

8 seconds to discharge? I need more romance than that.

I hope to find a use for their explodie nature. Prolly why they don't play nice with logic yet. Should logic make them active or make them detonate?

 

[Az14el]

Having to lay down reactors in anything other than the same way capacitors can be placed is just uneeded complexity for the sake of complexity. It serves no purpose. Having to lay them down in XYZ lines to get the biggest bonus out of them is one of the largest complaints I hear from new players.

But hey, I guess almost all the servers having a population below 10 players is fine so long as its needlessly complex right?

well said, I love the learning curve too

 

[Jojomo]

Having to lay down reactors in anything other than the same way capacitors can be placed is just uneeded complexity for the sake of complexity. It serves no purpose. Having to lay them down in XYZ lines to get the biggest bonus out of them is one of the largest complaints I hear from new players.

But hey, I guess almost all the servers having a population below 10 players is fine so long as its needlessly complex right?

I love that reactors can't just be slapped together in a block to maximise effectiveness. It adds a new dimension to ship design. I just wish more other blocks had similar bonuses.

 

[MossyStone48]

I just wish more other blocks had similar bonuses.

see i agree with that. more blocks should have a bonus. it's not difficult to design a ship with like reactor. i stopped using the six arm style long ago. the line bonus would allow for smaller more efficient builds. the soft cap would keep the bonus from being abused. as it stands this is workable. the ability to assign multiple groups of weapons to a single output while keeping them in a waffle pattern would be killer. you just have to be careful where you put your aux power. if you distribute it throughout our ship you're basically surrounding yourself with explosives. i plan on rebuilding NASS' raider faction ships with lots of auxiliary power. should make it easier to cause good amounts of system damage since everything is packed in so tightly. right now it's really hard to blow one with equivalent equipment. but it'll have to wait until we can save the blueprint with them active so they spawn in fully turned on.