Cruiser Power

[JARG]

Making this thread(it is based on the game as it was some time ago, but I don't know that power dynamics have changed too much) as a rough explanation in an approach to the Cruiser's power console. This should give you a rough idea of how it works(if you didn't already), and involves some specifics as well. Energy and Core settings that players can directly change are dealt with in increments of 5.

*Stability: this is how stable the core is, this number itself doesn't really matter except for threshold events, i.e. 95% stability is fine. Your team controls where your stability is typically at by setting the core output. At 105% core output the Δstability(Δ=change) is 0, but as you lower the output, it becomes positive, and raise the output it becomes negative. However, the enemy can affect your core's stability with weapons such as the sabertooth missile or yamato blasts. It takes longer to raise stability than it does to lower it, so if you're running negative Δstability you end up losing energy/time efficiency in the long run.

Stability Thresholds:
Blackouts happen when stability is below 92.87%
sometimes at 90% Energy settings start changing randomly
<=80% Weapons can power off for a while at
<= 65% Engine turns off randomly
below 50%, when the energy settings change, it can also change the core settings(increase/decrease core output) //can lead to changes in stability as a result
<=45% console disconnects start happening
0% the Cruiser Explodes *the other team wins*

These affects range from annoying, to major hindrances, and even game ending, so it's something to keep an eye on.

~Addendum: Core purge, an ability at the science console restores 10% core stability and costs 30 kermiculite and has a 40 second cool down. With this ability being consistently used, you can run the core at about 130% output (which will do around 7.50% stability in 40s) consistently, or bump it up past that (the core takes around 10.78% at 135% output in ~40 seconds, so it's not sustainable really) and just handle the damage later by lowering the output. Keep in mind that the thresholds of stability are still relevant, so if you're running a negative Δstability, be careful.

* Energy: Energy is dealt with in several ways(I'm breaking it into 3 parts), you have core output, allocation, and reserve. The output is determined by your core settings, 100% is default, but it can range from 0 to 150%. Allocation is where the power goes, currently: Weapons, Shields, and Engines*others are planned*. Reserve is the extra energy you have left over, think of it like a capacitance or battery that you can pull extra energy from, or use for general abilities such as Engine boost. You can set the Allocation higher than the Output and draw from the Reserve, but when the Reserve hits 0, things like the shields stop working.

Core output was mentioned in the previous section. It gives you more energy output the higher the core is set to, but at the cost of Δstability as it goes higher. Core output higher than 105% Δstability is negative, so the useful power can be useful in a pinch, but extremely detrimental later in the game.

Allocation: This is what you choose to do with the Energy that the Core's output provides, all energy that isn't allocated will go to the Reserve.

Weapons essentially act as a second capacitor from which the lasers draw energy. Additionally, you can Allocate the weapons to be negative(all the way to -20GW) and then transfer the energy back to the main Reserve. 5 GW in weapons will transfer 5GW to this secondary reserve. The energy stored here is unaffected by EMP/ion damage.

Shields are the recognizable sci-fi staple, they protect the ship from damage and regenerate. Damage does not interrupt the shield's regeneration, except when the shields hit 0hp; they then go offline and take a few seconds to reactivate(when they do, they'll be charging back up from 0). 5GW in Shields will raise it's maximum hp by 100 and it's regeneration by 1hp/s.

Engines control the speed of your ship. The amount of power they get is directly related to it's maximum speed. In general, the Maximum Speed increases by @ .56... per 5GW of power allocated.

Reserve: If this hits 0, things begin to go offline. If you have extra energy in weapons, this will be transferred to the main reserve*any weapons energy over 100000 will be lost though, and your weapons allocation is set to 0 also*, disabling your lasers but keeping the ship going. If you do not, then everything shuts down, Allocation to shields and engines also hit 0, meaning that your shields go offline and you're a sitting duck. Your output remains unchanged though, and the Reserve receives all of it's energy until Allocation is changed.

That's roughly how the core and Energy work, it's still important to consider how your enemy and your team will want to interact with it though.



These weapons can damage your core or it's Energy.
The wasp light missile does some light EMP/ion damage(drains energy).
The Sabertooth missile does 2% core stability damage in addition to some moderate EMP/ion damage: so generally, the sabertooth is good for consistently reducing their efficiency.
In it's present state Yamato is supposed to reduce core stability by 15% (but not below 50% //not sure about this anymore). // I'd suggest the Yamato might do 16% of the current core stability in damage, so it'd be X -.16X where X is the current value. That'd make it 4 shots to take the enemy's stability to @ 49.3ish. It would still do more core stability damage than a sabertooth until the target's core stability was below 12.5.

Core stability and the Energy Reserve are so important that they are visible in the box which you can open on the top right to always keep an eye on them. You can try to estimate the core's output from the information displayed there *changing value of reserve, total shields, current speed* but the information doesn't provide weapons energy or engine power, just current velocity. In general, you just just hope that the stability is stable/safe, and the reserve is going up.


Energy Efficiency Basics: Anything that is not being utilized or preserved is wasted energy. This means having 100 GW in engines while you have the throttle set to 0 is wasted energy. If you know your team doesn't intend to move the Cruiser for a while, you can essentially gain an extra 100GW to allocate, or go to your reserve. Since weapons act as a secondary reserve that you can later allocate at -20GW*pulling the energy back to your main reserve* energy is not wasted from allocating it there unless someone is spending that energy on useless shots. Shields also waste energy, but given the nature of being unable to predict when you will take damage, and slow charge times, it's good to keep them at a baseline value. Energy neutrality is sustainable, but not ideal because you can still take EMP/ion damage, or later want to spend energy on abilities or fabricating minerals(if you go that route). Additionally, when the main reserve reaches 100,000 Energy, it's maxed out and energy will be wasted if not allocated. The Weapons reserve has a significantly higher capacity, but given it's limited ability to transfer back, that makes it great for storage*protected from EMP/ion as well I suspect* but poor for transferring back. So try stuff out, currently a popular build is 50 weapons(to store up some energy for weapons/shelter energy to transfer back later), 10-20 shields(to protect from the "Fasteroid" damage), and 0 engines(because where do you need to be? are you doing a rush or something?) at the beginning of the game, with adjustments made as the necessities change.


The management of energy is critical to keeping the ship running. Try to keep in communication with the team as to how the core and it's power is best used. Also, because of it's critical nature, the core is often the target of trolls so, if you see someone who is not communicating with the team messing around with it, be wary.

Occasionally, I'll might update this info as the game changes. I welcome anyone pointing out flaws or adding on.

[Corinthian]

Jarg, nice post, and well done.
If it wasn't for one major error you made in your analysis, I would be prone to think you have an agent within the CCA.
However, you have also written things not yet included in our documents. So congratulations and thanks are in order.

[Siretu]

What major error is there?

Also, you can feel safe. JARG actually wrote this post 4-5 months ago.

[Red-Rocket]

What major error is there?

Also, you can feel safe. JARG actually wrote this post 4-5 months ago.

Oh my! lol, well there goes the 'CCA is crazy awesome!' and that everyone is coppying

[DumbMarine]

What major error is there?

It doesn't take into account the core purge at all. Nothing wrong with that though because the report predates that ability. I just think Corinthian didn't know is all.

[Corinthian]

i had no idea this was first posted so long ago, thanks for telling me.

[LordDragon]

Thanks for taking the time to make this post - I'll be sure to keep directing people here, and specifically to this thread.