Forums » Suggestions
Dual Powercells...?
... Or even more. Just thinking, it would be useful to be able to have more than one on each ship.
Hmm. Why?
There have been suggestions mentioning multiple power cells per ship, for instance to power turret weapons, or gadgets.
Nothing became of them (which does not have to mean anything).
There have been suggestions mentioning multiple power cells per ship, for instance to power turret weapons, or gadgets.
Nothing became of them (which does not have to mean anything).
That was the idea. For example, there could be an upper and lower power cell slot on larger ships to power weapons on the underside of the ship.
Also or instead - two powercells could generate at the full generation power of the most powerful one and 2/3 or 1/2 of the least powerful one. The capacity could be combined similarily.
Also or instead - two powercells could generate at the full generation power of the most powerful one and 2/3 or 1/2 of the least powerful one. The capacity could be combined similarily.
honestly, when i first read the thread title, i was like... hell no. But now that I'm thinking about it, why not? a powercell is just a battery after all, what's physically limiting a ship from having more than one. I feel like if the weight were somehow a factor, it would be more balanced. Like lets just say that you need certain capacitors and such to better channel the energy. So each time you add a new battery, your overall mass goes up at an increasing rate. It might not be good to mess with your center of gravity on some ships, on others it may be...
Well...
I think there are reasons why multiple power cells do not make sense from a gamplay point of view.
For one thing, it would be easier to escape from whoever is chasing you, because your power cell used for propulsion does not see any drain from turrets or gadgets.
For another, if you have two power cells, which one determines your ability to jump? If it were both, it would balance the aforementioned problem, but needlessly complicate things.
As for the physical aspect of the idea:
It would make sense, from an engineering point of view, to design the ship around its heaviest parts, so that those envelop or are close (and symmetrical) to the center of gravity. So if a ship were meant to have more than one power cell, it should *always* have the slots filled, not just change this on a whim. Like you say, the moment of inertia of the ship would be wreaked havoc upon, which could add another interesting factor.
P.S.: The Power cell is more like a capacitor than a battery, except that it charges in a linear fashion.
I think there are reasons why multiple power cells do not make sense from a gamplay point of view.
For one thing, it would be easier to escape from whoever is chasing you, because your power cell used for propulsion does not see any drain from turrets or gadgets.
For another, if you have two power cells, which one determines your ability to jump? If it were both, it would balance the aforementioned problem, but needlessly complicate things.
As for the physical aspect of the idea:
It would make sense, from an engineering point of view, to design the ship around its heaviest parts, so that those envelop or are close (and symmetrical) to the center of gravity. So if a ship were meant to have more than one power cell, it should *always* have the slots filled, not just change this on a whim. Like you say, the moment of inertia of the ship would be wreaked havoc upon, which could add another interesting factor.
P.S.: The Power cell is more like a capacitor than a battery, except that it charges in a linear fashion.
I could see adding a port capable of holding a free/light battery on certain interceptors (Greyhound, Corvus Vult), which would be irrelevant to jumping but that would drain first when firing energy weapons. Obviously the effect would be to extend the legs--I'm torn as to whether the weapons' power cell should charge independently from the main, or have to be filled first.
I would say - if the plan was to have the extra powercell actually power weapons - to do it independently of the main cell. Not to overcomplicate things but it would maybe be useful for introducing new larger weapons that would require their own powercell.
I like what lecter and token said.
The jumping tosh, would just reset all batteries, and the main battery charges first I would say lecter, so you would have to wait until your main is fully charged before the add-on one(s) charge.
Also having not played in a while i forget which is the charge-up weapon, but obviously you could charge that bitch up more.
Also, it would probably only be useful on the rag prom or moth even, maybe the cent, depends how heavy the "ability" is for the add-on of another battery. Making the add-on ability possible for the battery would definately fuck up your ship's mass, and it would handle like a moth probably.
The jumping tosh, would just reset all batteries, and the main battery charges first I would say lecter, so you would have to wait until your main is fully charged before the add-on one(s) charge.
Also having not played in a while i forget which is the charge-up weapon, but obviously you could charge that bitch up more.
Also, it would probably only be useful on the rag prom or moth even, maybe the cent, depends how heavy the "ability" is for the add-on of another battery. Making the add-on ability possible for the battery would definately fuck up your ship's mass, and it would handle like a moth probably.