With the advent of the Power Grid system, the Devs can at last limit not only the number of addons on a given ship, but effectively the value of those addons. I wonder if this means we can see some more standardized Powercells. The current ones are mostly useless, with (generally) the Heavy being good, the Fast Charge being better, and the Ultra Charge being the best. Rather than simply making "Trade" and "Fighting" batteries though, I think it'd be interesting to see ones that worked more or less well in all situations, with different benefits.

Here are some concepts for stats, with descriptions of possible uses:

Heavy
Capacity....... 550
Charge ......... 45/sec
Power Grid .. 20
Weight ......... 100kg

The Heavy cell we all know and love, renouned for it's prime level of capacity, is in fact quite light making it a suitable choice for combat. It's got a relatively low charge however, rendering it the least efficient for travel, or pursuit. However, it's the ideal choice for any high energy demanding outfit, and it's got enough grid to power as many weapons as you can fit. If mines had a high power requirement, such as 8 grid each, this cell would have a purpose for trading, as it would be the only choice if you wanted to load on 2 mine launchers.

Hybrid
Capacity....... 350
Charge ......... 50/sec
Power Grid .. 15
Weight ......... 300kg

While it has neither enough capacity nor grid to outfit a quad-rail hornet, this cell does have enough charge to satisfy trade ships with an infiniboost while providing enough power to carry sufficient weaponry. It's also relatively light, rendering it a useful cell for fighters, couriers, and mineral prospectors alike who don't want to weigh their ship down with a Fast powercell.

Fast
Capacity....... 200
Charge ......... 52/sec
Power Grid .. 10
Weight ......... 800kg

The Fast Powercell is physically heavy, and also with a light capacity. It shines with its charge rate, which is useful for both long distance travel and intensive dogfighting, however the added weight can be a bummer. The small powergrid is ample enough for most fighters, although Valkerye and Prometheus pilots using this cell will have to settle with atleast one low power sidearm. This cell is an obvious choice for serious mining and trading operations.

This is a good suggestion but i dont like the stats you put on the cells

If this were implemented like you suggested I would always fly with the heavy no matter what but the idea of making the ones that have high charge rates heavier is a good idea and have the UC power cell around 300 Kg with 15 gird power to make it the ultimate all around power cell (making it really rewarding mentoring 40 nubs).

So, I have this friend who says it burns every time he...oh wait this isn't WebMD.

Uh, I have this friend who started playing VO and wants to mine and trade but doesn't care about fighting. His philosophy is to just run from pirates for now. He has access to decent equipment with 0/0/0/x/x for levels, but currently has no hope of ever getting a power cell better than the free one. Not cool.

So how about some power cells for miner/traders that degrade over time and periodically need the cores to be swapped out (overall capacity and/or charge rate decrease). Those cores are produced by mining certain types of ores (say 50 cu or so per core) and taking them to either a mining or an industrial station. You could even make it something unlocked by a mission...added on to the new mining/crafting missions.

This gives a non-combatant player something better than a free power cell, but necessitates him or her having to actively mine or trade for the components. There could be several grades of power cells based on the ore used for the core.

This would also help make a reason/use for some of the more rare ores to exist in the galaxy.

The dart

Capacity....... 110
Charge ......... 55/sec
Power Grid .. 1
Weight ......... 75kg

Long distance traveler, zipping around trying to find ore, or just running like a chicken with your head cut off, this battery is useless in combat, but will get your around the universe quickly.

The grinder

Capacity....... 2000
Charge ......... 45/sec
Power Grid .. 20
Weight ......... 750kg

Need to build an energy tank to handle those capital ships, mount this baby and watch your guns fire and fire and fire.

Can we just have a fast charge with a capacity of 1? Just call it 'the XC', and fit it to the Behemoth XC as standard.

Sam.