Why do spaceports need excess energy?

[mianmar]

I did read energy guide here on forums, and I understand how it works and even started to design my own ships heh, but why do space ports need so much excess energy?

the AI spaceport designs goes over 400 excess energy while it's weapon and shield requirements are only some 200 energy.

also what's the point of spaceports having so much fuel reserve when it has more energy surplus than it needs, and uses no engines?

thanks a lot for explaining.

[Bingeling]

It is very possible that the spaceports you see have very much more than required energy.

As far as I see it.

You have the static energy cost (running cost). I would expect all spaceports to cover this with energy collection, meaning the reactor is not needed in this case, and it burns no fuel.
Then you have the max energy use, which should be static-cost + all-weapons + shield recharge. It is probably too expensive to cover this with energy collection.

If I ever need to cover max power on a spaceport with reactor energy, I would for sure have a decent fuel capacity. Fuel in the tanks are not gone if there is a fuel shortage, and I would not ever want to see my spaceport not firing its weapons because it lacks energy.

Btw, you have not experienced this game if you have not experienced a proper (could be local) fuel shortage. They are not pretty.

And a spaceport not requiring more than 400 energy at max use sounds very puny to me.

Add to this, that a reactor spare may not be all that silly if in a hard fight. Components get damaged if the shield struggles and the armor is gone.

[mianmar]

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

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And a spaceport not requiring more than 400 energy at max use sounds very puny to me.

Add to this, that a reactor spare may not be all that silly if in a hard fight. Components get damaged if the shield struggles and the armor is gone.

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Didn't quite understand you point, are you saying during a prolonged fights spaceports can spend more energy than one would expect by observing numbers in design screen?

or should I remove excess energy so that it covers exactly weapons + shields + static use only? if so then exactly 200 excess power should be enough in this example.

ie. weapons + shields + static cost = 200 energy use, so what the point of having more than 200 excess energy which is enough to cover max fire/shield usage?

I assume this must some really long and epic spaceport battle to need so much energy on hand, and not be afraid of running out of fuel.

[Bingeling]

If weapons+shields+static is 200, you need 200 energy generated. This could be 200 in energy collection, or reactors that give more than 200. Or a mix of both. And I believe you must have one reactor anyways.

If you have 100 static cost and 100 in weapons and shields, you could go for 100 energy collection and 100 in reactor power. In that case you need some fuel to run the reactor while fighting happens, but spend no fuel outside that.

A minor reason for some more spare power, is damage during battle, but it is probably not so important.

I believe the program assigns reactors to AI designs automatically, and 200 more than needed seems excessive, as I seem to remember reactor output being quite a bit less than that.

[mianmar]

ORIGINAL: Bingeling
I believe the program assigns reactors to AI designs automatically, and 200 more than needed seems excessive, as I seem to remember reactor output being quite a bit less than that.

ok thank you, I feel more confident assembling designs now [:)]

also the game adding more reactors instead of more fuel doesn't seem to be economical in size since reactors consume much more space than fuel cells and also a single fuel cell in the end provides much more energy than generator itself.

ORIGINAL: Bingeling
A minor reason for some more spare power, is damage during battle, but it is probably not so important.

how can damage influence energy usage?

[Shogouki]

Well if the reactors or energy collectors get damaged or destroyed during combat you could end up with a half-functioning or non-functioning station. For that reason I always equip my ships and stations with at least a few repair systems.

[Bingeling]

ORIGINAL: mianmar

ORIGINAL: Bingeling
A minor reason for some more spare power, is damage during battle, but it is probably not so important.

how can damage influence energy usage?

It can influence energy supply. If reactors or energy collection is damaged, they won't supply energy.

After shields are down, and for most weapons after armor is down, random components are damaged. The first one could be a reactor. Thus, the repair system tech is very nice as written above, and have more than one of them (in case the repair system is hit).

[mianmar]

ahh damaged components
didn't think about that, this is then good reason to put 1 extra generator or collector heh, if we don't have repair component researched yet.

thank you guys for explaining!

[Shogouki]

No problem. 😊