Power Management Question

[Roger Wilco Jr]

Assuming you only need to shut down your cargo scoop with your hard points deployed for everything else to work fine, is there any benefit to also shutting down other unneeded equipment like your FSD, FDSI, Scoop, and etc? It seems like there should be, but I don't know if it's modeled that way. Thanks.

[clivewil]

i'm assuming you meant fuel scoop not cargo scoop?

shutting down the FSD gives you more power available in real-space but it also gives you a delay of about 5 seconds after retracting your weapons before you can enter hyperjump or cruise

my power setups are typically like so:
1. all shields + boosters + SCBs, sensors, life support, cargo hatch if used, thrusters
2. all weapons
3. FSD
4. fuel scoop

...so if your power requirements are borderline-high and only shut down the fuel scoop but not the FSD, then you won't suffer the 5 second delay each time you want to enter SC or HJump

on a ship like the Vulture where every scrap of power is needed, then yes there is a very real benefit to shutting down the FSD - and turning off the cargo hatch also gives you about 3% extra i think? if you don't have any bays fitted. on a ship like that, every little bit counts. less so for the larger ships, many of those run way under 100% even when fully equipped

if i want to run a A shield plus one or two boosters, reasonable thrusters, maybe a beam laser instead of a pulse, and an online SCB then that can only be done by shutting down the FSD. otherwise it's going to come up short on power. i think the most extreme example i've built draws about 19MW from a 15.6MW power plant and works fine that way

[LionOfNarnia]

But there's a general problem with PM since 1.4

IF you get dropped to 50% power, the things you need on Priority 1 are very different from those on P1 in normal operations. The only solution would be to have more than one PM profile, which can be toggled quickly & easily in an emergency situation.

But I'd rather see FD concentrate (REALLY hard) on getting all the issues with the BGS sorted first!

[TorTorden]

Having more modules disabled will generate less heat.
If you feel like it you can drop into normal space somewhere and manually turn off all modules except life support and see what happens (once you get below about 10% heat your cockpit freezes over)

But the modules that really produce the most heat are things like the PDS, anything shield related and thrusters etc, all modules you really want on in a combat situation.

As for the new reactor mechanic.
The current Pwm system really isn't up to snuff, what we could do is have a second row whit just a checklist where we can select modules to be on when the power plant fails. Like thrusters and FSD.
We don't need another group but an entirely different layer of power management.

[Loriath]

I don't find the Power Management Or Power Priority system that bad. I always setup my module priority even if the ship has no power issues as it just seems logical to me in case I upgrade later and have issues.

The new Zero Power Plant = 50% (I know I said 40 before but I was wrong) mechanic is a good idea as it allows you to still survive the sniping. I make sure I have priorities set to limp/run away.

My Vulture build is a prime example. I can run 2 A-rated shield boosters with a KWS and Beams if I wanted, but I have to prioritize a lot. I run pulses to give me a little less power draw but even then, when hardpoints come out, Scoop, FSD, and Interdicter go offline. I can't jump with Hardpoints deployed, so its not an issue.

All my other ships I have are not an issue, but I still set the priorities based on the Power Plant=0% rule.

I miss the Python and its HUGE power supply. Big Guns, no power issues.

[LionOfNarnia]

LOL maybe less power issues (I can only have one SCB active at a time) but heat management (with 3 beams) is still an issue.

My point is, normally the FSD is priority 5, but if I ever got taken down to 50% power, I'd want it on priority 1 so I could GTFO & live to tell the tale!

[Flip]

I found that the priority also affect the order in which modules come back online, when you retract your hardpoints. So on my Vulture where I have to disable the FSD during combat, I set its priority to 2 and the rest to higher numbers, so the FSD is restored first.

[Loriath]

I found that the priority also affect the order in which modules come back online, when you retract your hardpoints. So on my Vulture where I have to disable the FSD during combat, I set its priority to 2 and the rest to higher numbers, so the FSD is restored first.

Never noticed that as I am usually Boosting and Chaf launching to GTFO in the Vulture, mostly with a busted canopy

[Xebeth]

Assuming you only need to shut down your cargo scoop with your hard points deployed for everything else to work fine, is there any benefit to also shutting down other unneeded equipment like your FSD, FDSI, Scoop, and etc? It seems like there should be, but I don't know if it's modeled that way. Thanks.

If you mean, is there any point in going from say 98% used power to say 85% used power, then no. The power distributer determines how much power is available to a given system, all the power plant does is provide the base power. Even if you had 80% free power you still wouldn't get any more through the distributor.

The power plant is very black and white, if you don't have enough power stuff shuts down, power management just gives you the opportunity to decide what shuts down and in what order.

I know what you mean though, it does feel logical that if you free up more spare power then more should be available for say your weapons, but alas it's not that sophisticated.

[Digga]

If things go south in a fight, the last thing you want to see go offline is your thrusters.

Priority 1 : Power + Distributor + Thrusters
Priority 2 : Weapons + Shield Generator
Priority 3 : Shield Cells + Shield Boosters
Priority 4 : Everything else

The above mostly applies to smaller ships, such as the Cobra where your shields can fade rapidly. That said I use the above on all my ships.

When I go fighting in the Cobra

Prior to using the above setup, I did experience a Thrusters Offline moment and sat helpless thinking I am dead, luckily for me the thrusters came back after a few seconds and I got away.

Since using the above setup I never experience a Thrusters Offline moment