How to check power draw?

Amos.37

Veteran endo
Joined
Aug 22, 2019
Messages
154
#1
I am building a large hauler ship, and am having all kind of trouble providing enough power for it. This is made worse by the fact that 'rechargable' batteries are very buggy and only sometimes work.
Is there a way to calculate how many generators you need based on number of engines, thrusters, etc.?
Do generators even work as intended yet? Because they seem very buggy when it comes to fuel consumption (will usually consume fuel up to 29760'ish, then stop).
How do generator enhancers work? How much extra power do they supply per tier?
Can you change the power output of a generator? Or give set priority for what gets power if your batteries run flat?

Clarification on these points, and a way to check them in the ship builder would be greatly appreciated.
 

CalenLoki

Master endo
Joined
Aug 9, 2019
Messages
741
#2
Here's some answers. I mean numbers ;)

Various component efficiency calculations, but also thruster resource usage:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...gO1AGW5o2p8mOZx8WiJ2tjyrk/edit#gid=2140110931
Box use 140e/s, Tri 18e/s, Man 5e/s

Generator science (by Blitz), including enhancers, fuel and coolant:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Jqxk8OUG7EI-eCuwvvQEkfartiZyA48jX-19T2wSuec/edit#gid=0

Each generator unit produces 1000 energy.
Each fuel chamber can supply 3 generator units
Enhancers reduce fuel consumption when attached to fuel chamber. One reduce by 33% (from 42f/s to 28f/s). Two reduce by 47% (22f/s). More has no effect.
High tier enhancers give the same bonus, but can enhance more fuel chambers (untested).
You can change generator output. Just change the first device (GeneratorRateLimit) field to something lower than 100.
There is no priority AFAIK. You can prioritise which battery will drain first.

Can't comment on buggy gen or bats, as I never run into any problems.
 

Amos.37

Veteran endo
Joined
Aug 22, 2019
Messages
154
#3
Thanks for the info.

The problem I'm having seems to be that my ship is only drawing power from 1 of 3 generators on it.
I have 3 separate generators all linked to the same power grid, and only the first 1 seems to supply power or consume fuel.
I've tried adding generator units to the first 1, and that doesn't seem to have any effect either.

Is there some dumb mistake I'm making? (Probably) Or are other people having similar issues with multi-generator designs?
Note: This is only testing the ship in the flight test mode, not in universe, as I don't want to buy the ship until I get this sorted out. I don't think that should affect fuel and power use, but just in case thought I'd mention it.

Also (just looked through the experimental data), how do you adjust your generator rate? Is it as simple as turning up the number using the universal tool?
 
Last edited:

CalenLoki

Master endo
Joined
Aug 9, 2019
Messages
741
#4
So far testflight behaves exactly the same as actual game (except that you can't unbolt stuff), so it shouldn't be the problem.

Yes. Just change the value of GeneratorRateLimit to something between 0 and 100.
Then the GeneratorRate will match it:
If you reduced, the change is instant.
If you increased, it'll increase generator output by 1% per second.

If I weren't at the Outpost, I would come to your designer and help troubleshooting.
 

Amos.37

Veteran endo
Joined
Aug 22, 2019
Messages
154
#5
And I found the problem. The butten I had to turn the generators on had a generatorlimit set on it. I just needed to raise that limit.
Thanks for all your help and info.
 
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