Power

Power is a special resource which is transmitted through cables and measured in MW. Power is required by most equipment, and is therefore one of the most important resources in the game.

Power supply and demand can be viewed in the Powergrid screen. From there, power can be reduced by equipment category, causing affected equipment to perform slower.

The starting power system consists of a reactor, with fuel supplied by pipe from a loader loading fuel containers. This simple system has some power consistency shortcomings that become more important as the ship's power requirements grow.

Generation

There are a few sources of energy available with varying size-efficiency, fuel-cost efficiency and reliability.

Name	Output	Fuel	Fuel Consumption	Notes	Size	Power Density
Reactor	100 MW	Fuel	0.01/MW	Standard Power System for most ships	3x3	~11.11 MW/sq.
Fusion Reactor	500 MW	Deuterium	0.02/MW	Draws significant power during activation	5x5	20 MW/Sq.
Solar Panel	10 MW	N/A	N/A	50% power in gas clouds 0% power during Hyperspace jumps	4x8	0.3125 MW/Sq

Reactor Power Production Cycle

The Reactor power cycle uses Metreon Gas Clouds to convert power -> Fuel -> MUCH MORE power
less than 44 MW -> 4 Metreon Gas + 4 MW -> 3 Refined Metreon + 6 MW -> 3 Fuel -> 300 MW (Net Power = approx. 246-290 MW per 3 Reactor Seconds)

Reactor (Base Peak Consumption*)
[1s] 1 Fuel -> 100 MW

Chemical Lab (1 per 5 Reactors* + 2 per 5 Engines*)
[2s] 10 Refined Metreon + 20 MW -> 10 Fuel
[1s] 5 Refined Metreon + 10 MW -> 5 Fuel

Refinery (2 per 3 Chemical Labs)
[2s] 20 Metreon Gas + 20 MW -> 15 Refined Metreon
[1s] 10 Metreon Gas + 10 MW-> 7.5 Refined Metreon

Gas Collector (about 1 per Refinery*)
[1s] 11 MW -> 1-17+** Metreon Gas

*: Reactor Efficiency Research, actual power draw, Fuel use in Engines, and time spent in Metreon Gas Clouds can all affect these ratios. Use storage wisely to balance these highly variable loads. You can often get away with far fewer than 1 Chemical Lab per 5 Reactors if your Reactors often operate at lower than max draw by using a Fuel Tank to absorb the spikes. Infrequent use of Engines would require far less than 2 Chemical Labs per 5 Engines. Etc. These ratios are what's required to keep everything running at peak consumption, you can often get away with less.

**: Gas Collectors collect at variable rates depending on the density of the Gas Cloud they are pulling from. Since it's relatively easy to get 10+ density just by moving around a little, but it's also possible (even desirable?) to refine stored raw Metreon Gas even after leaving the cloud, a ratio of about 1 collector per refinery should be considered a ball-park figure, adjust that upwards if you're willing to add some extra Tanks and want to spend less time in the Gas Cloud and adjust downwards for ships expected to just sit in the clouds farming them continuously (for instance to produce excess Fuel for other ships and/or Explosives to sell).

***: Best storage rates are as Fuel or Refined Metreon; however, since you only need enough Chemical Labs and Refineries to meet your average Fuel consumption needs (give or take), it is often better to store the slightly less efficient raw Metreon Gas and have fewer Refineries and Chemical Labs than needed to process all the incoming Metreon Gas from your Gas Collectors. This allows for several Gas Collectors to rapidly fill the raw Metreon Gas Tanks, which can then be 'slowly' converted as needed long after leaving the cloud. Thus reducing overall percentage of time spent waiting around in Gas Clouds.

Fusion Power Production Cycle

The Fusion power cycle uses hyperspace jumps to convert power -> Deuterium -> MUCH MORE power
40 MW -> 20 Hyperspace Isotopes + 30 MW -> 15 Stable Isotopes + 75 MW -> 30 Deuterium -> 1500 MW (Net Power = 1355 MW per 3 Fusion Reactor Seconds)

Fusion Reactor (Base Peek Consumption*)
[1s] 10 Deuterium -> 500 MW

Chemical Lab (5 per 2 Fusion Reactors*)
[5s] 10 Stable Isotopes + 50 MW -> 20 Deuterium
[1s] 2 Stable Isotopes + 10 MW -> 4 Deuterium

Refinery (2 per 5 Chemical Labs**)
[3s] 20 Hyperspace Isotopes + 30 MW -> 15 Stable Isotopes
[1s] 6.66 Hyperspace Isotopes + 10 MW -> 5 Stable Isotopes

Hyperspace Scoop (Peak Consumption*)
[1s] 100 MW -> 50 Hyperspace Isotopes

*: Reactor Efficiency Research, actual power draw, and time spent in Hyperspace can all affect these ratios. Use storage wisely to balance these highly variable loads. The ratios given are for continuous peak load, which is generally a rare occurrence. So, in practice, any ship that makes semi-regular Hyperspace jumps can easily keep multiple Fusion Reactors running with just a few tanks, a Chemical Lab, a Refinery, and a few Hyperspace Scoops. Larger tanks and more scoops allow you to operate longer between jumps, whereas more reactors/labs/refineries increases your max sustainable power output.

**: The best storage stage (0.5 storage/Deuterium equivalent) is Stable Isotopes. And since it takes only 2.5 Chemical Labs to fully support each Fusion Reactor it's worth having extra Refineries to quickly compact Hyperspace Isotopes into Stable Isotopes and primarily store that; then use smaller storage for the other stages. 1 Refinery per 2 Chemical Labs will produce 5 and consume 4 (or less) Stable Isotopes every second; this will allow you to refill your Stable Isotopes tanks even at peek usage.

Reactor output scaling

Reactors don't always run at full capacity (because that would unnecessarily consume fuel), instead reactors attempt to supply only the amount of power that the connected system demands. Reactors take time to scale power production up or down, so when demand increases the supply will temporarily be insufficient until the reactors scale up sufficiently.

Continuous power flow

One of the first shortcomings players are likely to notice with the starting power system is a loss of power when a fuel container runs dry, until the crew loads a new container. The duration of this power outage will depend on the availability of crew members to retrieve a new fuel container and the distance between the fuel storage and the loader. This kind of delay can cause significant problems during a time-sensitive mission.

One solution is to introduce a tank into the system. Excess fuel will be stored in the tank and provided to the system as needed. Fuel containers will be quickly drained into the tank, and the tank will supply fuel to the system while the crew retrieves a new container.

Another solution is to introduce a battery into the system. A battery stores excess power, and provides this power back into the system when supply is insufficient, such as when the reactor has shut off due to lack of fuel.

Demand spikes

Some equipment has variable power draw. Each time the power demand increases, a reactor-based power system will have insufficient power until the reactor scales up output to match. A battery in the system can supply immediate power to cover these demand spikes until the reactor can catch up.

Emergency backup

If a ship with a reactor-based power system runs out of fuel, the ship is effectively dead in space, unable to produce power to run the FTL drive. Solar panels, or a single solar panel that charges a battery, can provide backup power in this situation.