Is power generation (e/sec) determined by box shape?

[KiloZulu]

It might be because I've hit the cap on my power without adding more storage tanks, but it seems that the e/sec is only adding 25 per block no matter what configuration I put them in. I've tried single lines, T-shapes, and just packing them in together.

 

[Sheldin]

Go for typical L-shapes and make sure the shape is not connected to any other power-blocks. That way you\'ll get a ton of power per block.

 

[heskey30]

I think there is a cap, it\'s somewhere around a million. Not sure though.

 

[EpicFailLord123]

a cross shape in all directions is my favorite fill in all spaces with sheilds

 

[Qweesdy]

Hi,

A power block gives you about 28 e/sec (regardless), plus a bonus of about 118 e/sec if there aren\'t any other blocks in that power group in any of the 6 (X, Y or Z) directions. What this mean is that it makes no difference (to regen rate) if you have 10 scattered blocks, 10 blocks in a line, 10 blocks in an L or T or + shape, 10 blocks in a checker-pattern, or whatever; you still get the same bonus. The only difference is the amount of space the blocks take up (which is almost entirely irrevelevant if you\'re doing a practical ship and need to fill space between lines of salvage/weapon/thruster blocks anyway).

Once you reach about 1 million e/sec you don\'t get the bonus anymore. In this case the number of blocks you add is the only thing that matters.

 

[EpicFailLord123]

Sooo blocks that dont touch any other power blocks give you the bonus?

 

[DracoNB]

This is very wrong.



You get MASSIVE bonus for having ever-increasing box dimensions (each new block added adds in one direction)



You can cap @ 1 million power with just 1000 blocks, or get 755k with 600. 600 is about where the gain starts to drop, but at 600 you are getting 1,258k power PER block.



The best thing to do is have your power and thrusters follow the shape of your ship. Have them extend from the nose to the \"wings\" to the tail.

 

[DracoNB]

No, he was very wrong. A single block will give 140.8 power, as it has a box dimension of 3 and gives power itself.

10 connected blocks only give 1,472 (147 per block) so its not that great, but 20 blocks give 3,926 (196 per block). This increases up until around 600 which gives 1,258 per block.



Note this only works until you hit the soft cap around 1 million, then each block only gives a small increase.

 

[fstratzero]

If the dotted line is made of power blocks, then it will act as if the entire was full of generators. It\'s a 3 dimensional cube territory type of thing. Where you only need one corner of a cube to make a full cube of generators, if that makes sense.

 

[Qweesdy]

Hi,

Technically; DracoNB is correct - more power generators connected together do give more bonus (due to an overcomplicated mess of a formula) as long as each block increases the X, Y or Z. For practical purposes this can be ignored (and a much simpler explanation without the overcomplicated mess is sufficient) unless you\'re desperately attempting to design a ship capable of perma-cloak and can\'t afford to consume a tiny bit of extra mass.

Fstratzero is the victim of misinformation. The formula uses the sum of the box dimensions and not the product of the dimensions (e.g. \"X + Y +Z\" and not \"X * Y * Z\"); but it\'s much more complicated than that.

For reference; the \"most correct\" version of the power generation formula can be found here: http://star-made.org/comment/20043#comment-20043

 

[Energy]

In my early days in starmade I always tried to get the most efficient reactor I could get with less power blocks. I tried every way to do this. L shapes, crosses, even some weird donut like shapes. Then I started fighting, and all of that changed.

The problem here is you need to consider what happen to your ship while fighting. A big chunk of your ship just got obliterated, and now you\'re powerless? That\'s because you power reactor just got divided, and the benefits from its design are now your main problem. As an example, a design like fstratzero showed some post above, with 10x10x10 dimension, can produce 6500ERS (Energy Regen per Second), but just by destroying the connecting block (the origin of the \"cross\") you\'ll end with only 3840ERS, and that could mean no more power for PewPew!

Your main concern while designing your power should be, not the most efficient reactor, but a reactor that is versatile enough to sustain some power while still managing to power your ship after some damaged.

 

[fstratzero]

Thanks for setting me straight.