Refer to this reply in ryan reign Grid Amplification module post. And Shapenaji's Battery tweaks.

Briefly:
The size of Powercells must relate to its weight and grid, instead of only "refill rate" and storage capacity. The larger the battery, heavier it must be, but also store more energy and provide larger power current.

Referencing the Hydraulic analogy, the GRID is the size of pipes, the amount of water(energy) it can feed at once. So larger water containers not only can store more water, but also supply a larger volume at once.

So, trying to include those physical properties while trying to keep game balance, I propose:

Powercell Cap Chrg Mass Grid Changes to
Free. 250 38/s 100kg 20 90kg , 12
Light. 300 38/s 100kg 20 100kg, 16
Medium 450 40/s 100kg 20 200kg, 20
Heavy 550 45/s 100kg 20 400kg, 24
FCC... 250 50/s 110kg 20 160kg, 20
HiveFC 300 48/s 110kg 20 200kg, 18
UltraC 300 50/s 100kg 20 180kg, 26
Extreme 550 48/s 100kg 5 360kg, 28
Trident 550 45/s 100kg 20 10t , 36
Table highlights parameter changes

It also would be interesting to have additional requirements for using grid above 24. Either a Grid Amplification module in sotorage bay, or only some versions of ships can use 26 or 28 grid. Can equip any cell, but to use it hae additional reqs.

+1

This does 2 things. It adds a level of balance to the various batteries through weight and power tradeoffs, but it also creates an opportunity for exotic weapon setups to combat flare usage in furballs. Some minor tweaking might be required, but it is definitely an improvement.

I think this is a good start, but it's not complete. At the same time as equipment is being rebalanced (starting with Powercells as the obvious example here), we can also be looking to expand manufacturing. Each addon could be broken into three (or more) tiered levels.
- Addon Mk1 would be purchased at all appropriate stations.
- Addon Mk2 would be manufactured at all appropriate mining or commercial stations.
- Addon Mk3 would only be manufactured at conquerable stations with a per <interval> limit, and could possible require a certain number of other manufacturing missions completed before they unlock.

Addon Mk2 should be considered the average, mk1 should be slightly worse (lower cap, lower grid, lower recharge, higher mass), and mk3 should be slightly better.

The manufactured variants should probably also be tweaked to be better in some areas to reflect the extra effort to get them, and the fact that they will now be filling a different roll compared to in the past. For instance, light powecells should probably be tweaked with the idea that they be more in line with the demands of a light fighter.

I've posted some numbers to illustrate my point at http://vo-wiki.com/wiki/User:Draugath

EDIT: The main thing to keep in mind with the manufactured variants is to make sure that the price and quantity of components is not so high as to make it undesireable to make. Or perhaps the Mk1 variants could be at the current stats, and each variant could be incrementally better.

BUMP, since Incarnate is reading posts today...

I'd prefer Shape's changes or Incarnate's idea to make Power Cells ship-specific (that one turned out great for engines imo). Shape's changes would be easier to implement in the short term however, but they may need some additional balance thought.

Regardless of whose suggestions are finally implemented, I think there needs to be a progression of quality (ie Mk1 - Mkn) with non-faction-specific variants crafted in some way. This gives players who want to manufacture something to do. This gives miners who want to supply the manufacturers with something to do. It also stimulates the economy, because there is potentially more money changing hands.

This should probably be made into a new thread, since it's really not powercell specific. Powercells are just the easiest place to start implementing it, since they're the only thing that doesn't already have additional variants of each type.