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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(Please note as the power update is coming, this information may become outdated.)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!
(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!
