Power Efficiency for Dummies

[Master_chief_150]

This forum will help explain the basics of how the current starmade power system works out.
(Please note as the power update is coming, this information may become outdated.)

Firstly, lets know what each block is, and what it does.

1. The Power Reactor

This block is the most basic block you will ever need. It's your power generator. The reason you can fly in your fancy space ships. Each block generates about 25 e/sec. These blocks DO NOT store energy. So for every second, one block will generate 25 energy into your ship. The more blocks, the better. Add them in groups for increased effect. HOWEVER! Having one giant group of blocks isn't the most efficient way to use these. For Efficiency, we'll go into later.

2. The Power Capacitor

This block is your battery! Build it so you can hold more energy! Power Capacitors help increase how much power your ship can hold. These DO NOT generate power. Power Capacitors store 1000 extra energy per block. So for each single block you have, you gain an extra 1000 energy. These blocks also work better when joined, so having two blocks next to each other gives more energy storage than two separate blocks. These blocks do not suffer from efficiency, so larger groups mean better rewards! Stick them wherever you can, since some extra energy could be the difference between life and death!

3. The Power Auxiliary

This block is a Power Reactor and Capacitor combined. They are different compared to the capacitor or reactor as they act as a kind of secondary power supply. A supply that charges separately to the primary. This secondary supply can be turned either On, or Off. Turned Off, the energy generated by Power Auxiliary's will go into it's own special storage. Once turned on, any power in the Auxiliary will flow into your regular power. Any power generated by the Power Auxiliary will flow straight into your power supply. The more of these you put together, the more power they generate, and the more power they store. A single Power Auxiliary gives 500 energy to storage, while also giving a certain amount of generation. When turned off, this power generation is only 20%, when turned on though, this power generation is 100%. These power auxiliary's are also very volatile. Meaning they EXPLODE when damaged. The larger the group, the larger the explosion. Groups separated by a wall will not explode together. So if one group goes off and destroys the wall, the other group won't go off as well. These are useful for massive ships, which exceed their soft cap of 2 million energy a second provided by a power reactor alone.

4. Power Efficiency
Power Reactors are some of the hardest things to "perfect" their efficiency. But they're easy to understand their method of efficiency. Without going into the math of the "perfect" group, (several blocks connected together) what you need to know is that efficiency relies mostly on placing as little reactors as you can, in as large a space as possible. So having a frame of a box, will be more energy efficient than having an entire box filled in. By Efficiency we mean how much power you get PER BLOCK, not how much power you get in a certain space.

Two Examples are:
Example A

This group is 2x1x2. It is the smallest amount of blocks you can place in a single group, which takes up the most space of it's size. This only shows a box of only one height.

Example B

This group has a 3x3x3 size, and has the smallest amount of blocks in the largest space. This shows an example in three dimensions.

THESE SPACES CAN BE AS LARGE AS YOU WANT!
Just as long as they contain as few power reactors in that space.
You can have a group of 100x100x1, which is a large L shape, and have a larger energy efficiency per block compared to an entire sheet of power reactors. Any size works as long as you have the minimum amount of blocks in a group.
ALSO NOTE: A group can only be so large before efficiency starts to drop off. To save the math, the largest amount of blocks a group can have while also being the most efficient is 895 blocks.

5. Enjoy your newfound understanding of power!
This applies for the current Starmade Version, and may become obsolete when the power update is released, until then, this is what you need to know!

I hope I helped anyone who may need to know this information, and please mention anything I may of missed so I can include it!

 

[Calhoun]

ALSO NOTE: A group can only be so large before efficiency starts to drop off. To save the math, the largest amount of blocks a group can have while also being the most efficient is 895 blocks.

wat

 

[Shaker]

Someones aiming at a mentor badge

 

[Master_chief_150]

wat

A group can only consist of so many blocks before the efficiency of each block starts to drop. The point in which these blocks start to lose their efficiency is if they're in a group of 896 or higher.

 

[Dire Venom]

wat

Take a read of this: Power Systems - StarMade Wiki
At 895 blocks, you get 1467322 E/S, with the energy to block ratio 1664.5 per block.
Add more or less blocks and the power effciencey per block drops.
No need to be exact though, just something to keep in mind (e.g may not a good idea to have all your power systems conected together)

 

[Calhoun]

A group can only consist of so many blocks before the efficiency of each block starts to drop. The point in which these blocks start to lose their efficiency is if they're in a group of 896 or higher.

Take a read of this: Power Systems - StarMade Wiki
At 895 blocks, you get 1467322 E/S, with the energy to block ratio 1664.5 per block.

Add more or less blocks and the power effciencey per block drops.
No need to be exact though, just something to keep in mind (e.g may not a good idea to have all your power systems conected together)

Sorry, but it's wrong.

I tested it just now, a single group of max efficiency reactors takes 1528 blocks to generate 2m e/s.

In contrast, I put down two max efficiency groups of 895, a total block count of 1790, and only got 1.95m e/s.

I believe the efficiency drop that is referred to has to do with the softcap, which is not per group but per ship. The most efficient power system is still a single max efficiency group.

 

[kulbolen]

The most efficient power system is still a single max efficiency group.

award this man with the new mentor rank post haste

 

[Crashmaster]

At group sizes of eight or less it is more efficient to place eight non-touching reactors so both power efficiency examples are in fact inefficient.

 

[Calhoun]

At group sizes of eight or less it is more efficient to place eight non-touching reactors so both power efficiency examples are in fact inefficient.

Yes, at sizes literally no one uses because it's silly, it's wrong. In sizes that are actually useful, a single max efficiency group, or as close as possible is what you should aim for.

 

[Az14el]

pretty much, a smaller & technically more efficient line is only *more* useful if you plan to power the whole ship (including all docked parts) off of just that power line alone, which is a very small ship, a 1528 block reactor group, while dimensionally large is only ~150 mass.

You'd be right to think it's an extreme example though, this is for the purpose of discussing a "maximum" efficient group size in practice. I rarely use 1528 long lines myself because loldimensions, but it certainly does help to maximise single line dimensions past 895 if it's an option (a single notably more extreme dimension is one trademark of a potentially dangerous ship to me, for this reason)

 

[StormWing0]

Just curious what's the smallest 2mil power generation block you guys have made?

 

[Calhoun]

Just curious what's the smallest 2mil power generation block you guys have made?

The smallest it can possibly be is 1528 blocks. That being said, that's a single group and the dimensions are a bit silly, the box dimensions would be 510x509x509.