How does my Cobra's energy supply work?

[Cholmondely]

The discussion above is a trifle too complex for my understanding (not being a programmer, and with no understanding of the coding entrails of the game).

Is this quote correct: Extra Energy Units with improved efficiency to standard units can be purchased... (from http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Energy ... o_the_best)?

It seems to imply that the EEU is a better Energy Bank than the regular 4 Energy Banks that the ship came with.

But my current understanding is that the EEU adds on to the current Energy Unit inside my cobra (which presumably feeds the Energy Banks from the Main Engine), thus enhancing their recharge rate.

I'd rather like to understand this before I edit the relevant wiki pages!

Thank you.

[Cody]

Is this quote correct...

Yeah, pretty much. The stock Cobra MKIII has four energy banks (mine has five), and the better the energy unit, the faster your energy banks will recharge. The EEU doesn't replace energy banks. Your current understanding is correct.


Now I need coffee! <worships at the shrine of the caffeine goddess>

[tsoj]

The discussion above is a trifle too complex for my understanding (not being a programmer, and with no understanding of the coding entrails of the game).

The naval energy unit multiplies your recharge rate with 2.6. The extra energy unit multiplies your recharge rate by 1.8. If you have both, it will be multiplied with 3.4 = (1.0 + (2.6 - 1.0) + (1.8 - 1.0)). That's at least what I believe is happening (can you even have the extra energy unit while also having a naval energy unit?).

[Cody]

...can you even have the extra energy unit while also having a naval energy unit?.

I've always thought that the NEU replaces the EEU. Any boffins about?

[Cholmondely]

Is this quote correct...

Yeah, pretty much. The stock Cobra MKIII has four energy banks (mine has five), and the better the energy unit, the faster your energy banks will recharge. The EEU doesn't replace energy banks. Your current understanding is correct.


Now I need coffee! <worships at the shrine of the caffeine goddess>

The naval energy unit multiplies your recharge rate with 2.6. The extra energy unit multiplies your recharge rate by 1.8. If you have both, it will be multiplied with 3.4 = (1.0 + (2.6 - 1.0) + (1.8 - 1.0)). That's at least what I believe is happening (can you even have the extra energy unit while also having a naval energy unit?).

Thank you, gentlemen!

Layne argues that the EEU & NEU are exclusive (and that the proof is in the game code): http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 13#p242613 (2015).

[Redspear]

I've always thought that the NEU replaces the EEU. Any boffins about?

Apprentice boffin here.

According to the shipdata.plist the two are incompatible, which combined with...

Layne argues that the EEU & NEU are exclusive (and that the proof is in the game code): http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 13#p242613 (2015).

...and the fact the the NEU recharge is double that of the EEU, would suggest replacement to me.

I did enquire about this specifically recently but without reply (as yet).

[Redspear]

Confirmed...

Code: Select all

missionVariables. [not telling :-P]  = "MISSION_COMPLETE";
				// for backward compatibility, remove energy_unit.
				if (player.ship.equipmentStatus("EQ_ENERGY_UNIT") !== "EQUIPMENT_UNAVAILABLE")
				{
					// remove the specified equipment, either working or damaged version.
					player.ship.removeEquipment("EQ_ENERGY_UNIT");
				}
				player.ship.awardEquipment("EQ_NAVAL_ENERGY_UNIT");

The EEU is removed before the NEU is awarded and the aforementioned equipment.plist (I mistakenly said shipdata.plist in my last post) restriction prevents you from purchasing a new one.

So it's one or the other but not both.

[Cholmondely]

Returning to the question about the role of the EEU and the main drive/engine!

The default model, as I see it, would be:

Energy generators -> accumulators (energy banks) -> shields

Extra Energy Unit and Naval Energy Unit are generators, which imply that engines aren't, and there are core game ships with low energy generation and high speed, like the Sidewinder Scout Ship.

In the core game, engines (cruising and Torus, not fuel injectors or wormhole generators) and energy generators are perpetual-motion devices, they work for free.

Now, if you run HardWay OXP, the model changes:

fuel -> energy generators -> energy banks -> shields
fuel -> engines (cruising, Torus and fuel injectors)

If you run out of fuel, you get into emergency mode, running on batteries, and when you run out of stored energy, booom!

So Dybal understand there to be two perpetual motion machines (pmm's), the engine, and the energy generator.

There would seem to be three possible models on offer:

1) Dybal's dual perpetual motion machine. The EEU is now a third such pmm.
2) My assumption (based on Stranger's World): it is the engine that creates the energy which feeds the energy banks, and the EEU is either an independent power source (a second pmm) - or also feeds off the engine in some way.
3) The third logical possibility that the original Energy Unit/Generator both drives the engine and supplies the energy banks. The EEU only feeds the energy banks, and is a second pmm.

I presume that the game coding does not help clarify the issue (Why should it?).

Following Ockham's razor (entities - especially imaginary ones - should not be multiplied without necessity), I think that the second version of the second theory makes most sense. It also seems compatible (to me, at first glance) with both Stranger's HardWay model, and with Phkb's Ship Configuration OXP.

Any comments?

Edited to show that my assumption is based on Stranger's World

[Nite Owl]

Basic Handwavium Premise: The Perpetual Motion Machine that is a ship's drive engine generates Heat.

That Heat needs to go somewhere lest the ship go boom. The Perpetual Motion Machine takes in stuff from space (Dark Matter, Hydrogen, anything else you might prefer). This stuff is then ignited in a combustion chamber resulting in a highly unstable plasma. This burning plasma is then expelled out through a ship's engine ports into the cold void of space in order to drive a ship forward. The greater the speed of a ship at a given moment the greater the amount of plasma generated hence the change in the size, shape, and color of the exhaust plume. It is that ignition/burning process that leads to the excess Heat that needs to be expelled from a ship.

The Extra Energy Unit and the Naval Energy Unit are advanced types of Thermoelectric Generators. These two items recycle a small portion of the excess heat that the Perpetual Motion Machine generates and converts that heat into energy. This converted heat energy then recharges the Energy Banks and, in turn, the Shields, and every other energy consuming device that a ship might be equipped with. The Naval Energy Unit can handle more heat and energy per second then the Extra Energy Unit so is capable of a higher recharge rate.

For something even more powerful and faster than the Naval Energy Unit one needs to look at the Eco Reactor from Norby's ECO LASERS. Highly recommended for the side mounts of your ship.

[Cody]

The Perpetual Motion Machine takes in stuff from space (Dark Matter, Hydrogen, anything else you might prefer).

To quote Giles: phlogiston!

[Disembodied]

I don't think you need Perpetual Motion Machines … a small tokamak fusion reactor would do the trick. OK, it does technically use fuel, but in such minute quantities that it would be needlessly petty to account for it. A kilo of deuterium and tritium would be enough to keep a ship going for at least a decade or two. The EEU and NEU increase the reactor output by augmenting the tokamak's magnetic pinch-field with a system of rotating monopoles. The EEU has two, and the NEU has eight; obviously, you can't run these both simultaneously, or the whole assemblage would fly apart. This sort of failure is known as an EBVN event - Exciting, Brief, and Very Noisy.

[Cody]

I like that!

… a small tokamak fusion reactor...

Which is toroidal, of course.

[Disembodied]

It's also notable that, when ships are in a very low-energy state, they start leaking plasma from their engine nacelles. Obviously this is because the magnetic bottle is unable to keep the plasma properly contained within the torus, and it has to be ejected into space. When the energy levels come back up, the bottle stabilises and the plasma leak is curtailed.

[Cody]

Excellent! [twangin' guitars] That's torus drives, energy units, and blowing plasma sorted. What's next?