Power Generators/Cooling System

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    Suggestion:
    Create 3 new blocks to emulate a power reactor with active cooling requirements
    Purpose: Allow power generation above the 1mil soft cap without resorting to chained logic weapons and docked ship entities

    Proposal:
    Add in the following blocks:
    A. Power Reactor Core (act as primary block for all power reactors)
    B. Radiator (act as heat dissipation point in the cooling system)
    C. Coolant Generator-Transfer Module (generate coolant and transfer to radiators)

    Concept:
    1.Power Reactor Core is placed using new hot-key binding
    2. Rail docker is placed directly attached to Power Reactor Core (mandatory placement directly attached to Core)
    3. Rail Docker is docked to rail of mother-ship.
    ** The core will upon docking to mother-ship will supply any energy it contains immediately has long has activated (core can be activated/deactivated like a logic button), if deactivated core does not supply any energy.


    Power Reactor Entity Can only have the following blocks attached;
    Power Reactor Core 1
    Rail Docker 1
    Power Reactor Module (unlimited)
    Radiator (unlimited)
    Coolant Generator (unlimited)

    Power Reactor Core Detail:
    Core gathers all energy from reactor modules attached to its entity structure and immediately transfers to docked mother-ship (no max transfer rate it is equal to the max energy generation from its entity). Core entity does not contain any energy soft cap and is theoretically unlimited in its power generation ability. Core does though get a heat increase per second based on a percentage of power generation per second. Example: power generation is 1mil per sec core heat increases by 1k per sec. 1heat to 1000 energy ratio (**just an example not a finalized balanced ratio). Core has a set amount of heat it can take before overheating Example: set max heat is 100k, 1mil energy generation per second causing 1k heat per second, core overheats at this rate in 100 seconds.
    Radiator: Is a point of heat dissipation in this proposal its effect is to reduce heat from core based upon coolant flow with a max heat dissipation affect per radiator block. Example coolant flow is 100 per second into radiator which translates into 100 per second heat dissipation. (again not intended for balanced implementation just a example for theory) Radiator max heat dissipation is 500 heat per second. So with 2 maxed radiators attached to Power Reactor Core from above example the core will accumulate 1k heat per second from 1 mil energy gen, but radiators will cool 1k heat per second effectively giving a stable core (will not overheat).
    Radiator placement requirements and specifics:
    1.Radiator must be placed in the power reactor entity or attached to a coolant generator that has one of its transfer points attached to the power reactor entity
    2. Radiator has 1 side (marked with a different texture) that must be open facing. Must face out with no blocked directly adjacent from any entity. For max effect a 3x3x2 space directly in front of the radiator open facing side must be free of any blocks.
    3. Radiator has no armor and only 10 structure HP (very fragile and an intentional weak point)

    Coolant Generator-Transfer Module
    This module will generate coolant and act as a transfer point for coolant from module to module, module to radiator, module on mother-ship to module on reactor entity. To generate coolant requires energy at a 10 coolant to 1 energy rate (again for example purposes not balanced). Coolant modules to transfer coolant form module to module must be directly attached, to transfer coolant from module to radiator must be directly attached, and to transfer from module on mother-ship to module on power reactor entity must be no more then 2 blocks apart (2 block space must be clear of any other block **open air), thinking an effect similar to factory units, but more blue). Each individual coolant module can produce up to 1oo coolant per second and does not gain any benefit from grouping, but a coolant module that is unable to transfer coolant to a radiator does not help in the heat dissipation process. (see above coolant transfer methods). Further:
    1. Coolant module is also fragile with no armor and 10 hit-points (again intentional as a weak point of the system)
    So following the above 1mil per second energy gen with 2 heat radiators with 10 coolant modules all properly connected would net a power reactor core that generates 1 mil per second with no acting risk of overheat.
    **If a reactor overheats (got to add this to drive innovative designs around power reactor deactivation/ejection) when the heat level reaches critical the reactor will meltdown. This means the reactor will explode (epicenter around the power reactor core block) with 40-60% damage of the amount of energy generation per second. In examples above the core would blow with 400k-600k damage with a radius determined again by energy per second (lets say 10 radius per 100k energy gen) so in this case 100 radius with a total damage randomly decided between 400k-600k. Now this of course scales up the bigger reactor and would mean total ship destruction at high levels, but this is the point. These are your cores-power reactors if the coolant system gets damaged to much they either need to be ejected or deactivated before exploding and ripping apart the inside of a ship. Again note above all power goes thru the power reactor core and this core can be activated/deactivated like a logic button (also even attachable to wireless button) so it can be deactivated remotely. Only down side of course for deactivation is it stops producing energy, but if a 10 mil reactor is about to explode it is probably better to turn it off first. Also the balance with this is you can have an insane amount of energy with this but requires increased amounts of cooling systems that are very fragile and easily destroyed if not highly protected in a fight.

    Again this is only a suggestion and all numbers above are purely for theory purposes and in no way are intended for game balance at this time.
     
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    TheOmega

    The reason Deb needs meds
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    When suggesting, think about the new players. Especially when its something so staple as power generation. If a new player can't build a working ship, they won't play the game.
     
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    Sorry if i did not state it. This is not a replacement for the current power reactor module setup or grouping function. I only suggest this instead of trying to do a docked power generator with logic power drain weapons like is common now. So a new person can still make a working ship with standard power reactor modules and such this is aimed at higher level (larger ships). Again sorry i reread and did not add this part into the disclaimer.
     
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    If this is a completely crazy idea fine, but have no idea how this would impact any new user. If power reactor modules stay the exact same and keep the 1mil gen soft cap, why would this have any impact on any new player. This only comes up when attempting to design a ship that requires more then the 1 mil energy gen.
    Again if there is a major flaw with the concept itself I would appreciate feed back on what it is.
     
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    i think part of the problem is your system is kinda complex and you have a serious wall of text going on usually when you get no responses its because people couldn't be bothered to read all the way through it and cannot therefore give you an opinion on your suggestion one way or another as they don't in fact know what you are suggesting.

    Personally while your system might work it has some serious designs and things you didn't cover like can you stack radiators if you can it completely removes the need to have them as you will just put them all in the same space however if you can't stack them then they take up alot of open space and alot of people don't like no rp open space in their ships or what happens if players come into contact with the radiators if you can just let them vent into your hallways where people walk then again there is no point in even having them.

    Another few things to address what does this system bring to the table that docked reactors don't already do... yes it provides you with power, yes it allows you to exceed the soft cap but we can already do that, why would this system be better.

    None of these things were covered and until they are i can't really give you a good opinion on the issue.
     

    TheOmega

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    Its too complicated. Make it simpler, or find a way to change the current system a little bit, find a new equation or something.