Guide to power

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Introduction

Understanding the intricacies of the power dynamic in the station is key to keeping the station in order. Many, especially the HoP, believe that the Captain is the seat of power on the station. This is untrue as having the Captain wired into the station's power grid provides minimal power at best.

The real source of power comes from Engineering because without Station Engineers to set up the power sources at the beginning of a shift, the station would cease to function normally and devolve into a degenerative society with no more power than a uncivilized horde of lowly Assistants, who, it should be noted, also provide even less power when wired directly to the grid.

Power Sources

Supermatter Engine

The supermatter is a giant pile of exotic material capable of emitting both ionizing radiation and (flammable) gasses. While the generation of these elements is normally rather low, the supermatter can be "activated" into releasing more by, well, most anything: even gasses can start the delamination process if they hold enough energy (heat, usually). You see where this is going? That's right, self-induced chain reactions. Your main job as an engineer will be to cool the supermatter down to prevent it from exploding (luckily a very easy job), while simultaneously exciting it to harvest radiation pulses. It's not an unforgiving engine, some would say it's even too stable to sabotage in a timely manner; read the Guide carefully and it will be hard to mess it up.

Singularity/Tesla Engine

Файл:Singularity engine.png

The singularity and tesla engines are the primary source of power of some station. By harnessing either the radiant energy produced by a locally-controlled cosmic Singularity (otherwise known as a man-made black hole), or straight-up capturing the electric arcs from a giant ball of lightning, an enormous amount of energy can be generated for the station.

Singularity Engine

The harvestable power emitted by a singularity takes the form of ionizing radiation pulses. These can interact with the misterious substance called "plasma" so as to generate electricity. The more plasma available, and the stronger and more frequent the pulses, the more power is generated. The net power output can be measured directly by using a multitool on the collector's wire, checking the first SMES unit connected for available power, or by looking it up on a power monitoring console (though the latter will give skewed results if other power sources such as solars are connected).

Tesla Engine

This giant ball of incandescent energy regurarly regurgitates power in the form of electric arcs. These arcs can be partially captured by tesla generators, and will generally flow along the most conductive/least resisting path. Metal structures are prime target for its strikes, and grounding rods are the safest there is, drawing arcs to themselves and subsequently dissipating them into the whole station. The latter are regularly used to direct lighting through tesla generators, and are best deployed between the engine and anything you hold dear.

Solar Arrays

See Solars.

The solar arrays act as a secondary power source. They are composed of 60 panels per array and there are 4 arrays on the station. Each panel can produce 1.5 kW of power for a total of 90 kW per array.

The solar arrays only produce power when directly facing the local star. (The star is off-screen from the station and cannot be located by the player directly.) A solar tracking module can be wired into the solar array circuitry and, with the help of a solar power console, the solar panels can be made to automatically track the local star, which maximizes the power generation for each panel. However, as the station revolves around the star (which, again, is unseen by the player), the solar arrays often land in the shadow of the station which negatively affects solar power generation at the affected arrays. This effectively gives the solar arrays a solar day-night cycle, where it generates power during the day cycle and does not generate power during the night cycle. Because of the solar cycle, a given array will be able to generate power about 50% (estimated but unconfirmed) of the time, which can be translated to an average 45 kW per unit time, rather than the full 90 kW.

The solar panels themselves can be, and often are, broken by debris floating in space. Each broken panel reduces the total power generation of the array.

The solar arrays can typically power the entire station on their own, once the arrays are wired properly.

Solar Power Generated

Maximum		Average
per panel	per array	per array
1500 W (1.5 kW)	90000 W (90 kW)	45000 W (45 kW)

Connecting Solars to the Grid

There are two main schools of thought when wiring the solar arrays:

• use the Solar SMESs to distribute power into the grid
• wire the solar array directly into the power grid

Distributing via SMESs

Distributing solar power through the SMESs is the generally preferred method of wiring the solars, mainly because it provides a steady power output and requires no extra wiring. One benefit of the pre-laid wiring to the SMES is that during a night cycle of the solar array the Engineer does not need insulated gloves to wire the solar array.

While the maximum power generation of a given solar array is 90 kW, it is advised to set SMES inputs to slightly lower level to account for solar panels that might break during the course of the shift. For example, setting the SMES input levels to 85.5 kW may not collect all 90 kW produced by the array, but allows for the SMES to charge even when up to three panels get broken on the array. Otherwise, should the Engineer set SMES input levels to 90 kW and should a single panel get hit by space debris and break, the array will always produce less than 90 kW, so the SMES with a required 90 kW input will not charge.

The output on the SMES should be at most 50% of the input level due to the revolution of the station around the local star (percentage estimated but unconfirmed). Since the solar has to collect enough energy in the day cycle of the array to output for both day and night, it's usually good to round down a little more. Additionally, if the solar is initially wired during its day cycle, it typically won't be able to collect enough to keep it charged for the first night cycle, resulting in a little bit of lag in the output of the solars. For example, if the input is set to 85500 W (85.5 kW), the output shouldn't be bigger than 42750 W (42.75 kW). Typically, 40 kW is a good round number for long-term power output.

If more power storage is desired, say in the initial stage of the set-up, the engineer may want to reduce or even eliminate power output for the first few solar cycles, before setting the long-term power output.

Once all four Solar SMESs are adequately charged and outputting long-term power, they will provide a very dependable power output with almost no oversight needed. In our example, the station would receive 160 kW (4 arrays x 40 kW SMES output) from solars, which is usually more than enough to sustain the station on its own without the engine. This system is also modular, so that even if only three out of four Solar SMESs are used, the total power output is reduced accordingly but still completely steady.

That being said, if unchecked, power sinks can drain the solar SMESs, which if depleted would need to go through a solar cycle again before being able to provide steady, adequate power to the station.

The biggest failure of the Solar SMES system is more often the fault of the Engineer, not the power sink. A rookie Engineer usually sets input levels and output levels too high or too low to meaningfully sustain the station, and/or fails to re-set the SMESs to a more adequate output level after initially charging the SMES.

Pros: Steady power supply, no additional wiring necessary, stores power, modular, does not require insulated gloves.

Cons: Lag due to first night cycle and initial SMES charging, prone to being set up improperly, some power loss to correct for potentially broken panels, can be drained by power sinks.

Wiring to the Grid

Wiring the solar arrays directly to the grid is often used as a more straight-forward approach to hooking up the solars, which benefits the Engineer by bypassing the intricacies of the SMES and generating a generally larger power output but at the expense of a less steady, less modular electrical source. This is often helpful in the emergency circumstance when the singlo is loose or otherwise not available, effectively making the solar arrays the primary power source.

To achieve this, the Engineer usually just wires together the cable leading from the array directly to the cable leading out from the solar maintenance room. Typically, insulated gloves are a necessity since the Engineer will need to tap the solar power lines into the main power grid. However, as easy as that sounds, rookie Engineers tend to mangle the wiring so much that the array power lines never make it to the grid.

Once all the arrays are wired, and because of the day-night cycle, on average, about two solar arrays worth of power will be generated at any given time, equating to about 180 kW of power. However, the exact number will fluctuate depending on how much light reaches individual panels. Additionally, if not all of the solars are wired to the grid, the output will be drastically lower and may cause brown outs in the station.

On the plus side, wiring the solars directly to the grid prevents wiring sabotage since anyone cutting the wires also needs insulated gloves. Also, power sinks pose little risk as the solar power is immediate and not distributed from an SMES.

Pros: Straight-forward explanation, avoids setting SMES, deters sabotage, acts as primary power source, not prone to power sinks.

Cons: Minor fluctuations in power if fully implemented, severe fluctuations if incompletely implemented, requires insulated gloves, often incorrectly wired.

Dual-Wiring: The Best of Both Worlds

There is another, less used option that utilizes the benefits from both wiring ideologies while mitigating the risk: dual-wire the solar arrays both to the Solar SMESs and directly into the grid at the same time.

Initially, the Engineer would want to charge the SMESs enough to where they could give an adequate supply of power. Then, if the Engineer is skilled enough at wiring, both the SMES and the solar arrays can be wired to the grid at the same time. Since the station only draws about 150 kW, but the solars wired to grid produce 180 kW, there's a spare 30 kW to split between the Solar SMESs for recharging. Setting all four Solar SMESs to charge at 6 kW is feasible (reduced from 7.5 kW to account for broken solar panels). The output setting on the SMES can be any value so long as the station draws full power from the solars wired directly. This effectively makes the Solar SMESs a backup power source.

The drawbacks though are that the Solar SMES input levels should not be put higher than 6 kW since a Solar SMES located at an array going through the night cycle will attempt to draw power from a Solar SMES higher upstream in the #power queue, cannibalistically draining that SMES.

Also, the 2 conventional Backup SMESs can't be charged for the same reason of the power queue. However, since the 4 Solar SMESs act as backups, this trade-off is in favor of the dual-wiring of the solars.

The Solar SMESs will still be prone to power sinks, but since the solars are wired directly to the grid it doesn't matter much.

The drawback that all solars must be wired directly to the grid to prevent severe fluctuation. The same is not true of the SMES-side of this set-up. Each SMES acts like an independent backup, so any undesired SMESs don't have to be set, making the system semi-modular.

Pros: acts primary and backup power source, deters sabotage, resistant to power sinks, semi-modular, resistant to brownouts

Cons: severe fluctuations if incompletely implemented, requires insulated gloves, often incorrectly wired, requires initial charging and follow up on the SMESs before implementation

Gas Turbine Generator

See: Incinerator

The gas turbine generator is a tertiary power source that was recently installed in the incinerator. By utilizing the temperature differential between very hot air and very cold air, the turbine generator is able to create a nominal amount of electricity. The hot air is created by burning plasma and oxygen gas mixtures. The cold air is creating by passing air through cooling tubes located in space.

Although it's usually the last power source set up on the station, it's the only power source that can be accessed by Atmospherics. Also, they're the only ones who can turn on and mix the gas feed needed to sustain the generator without the use of gas canisters. The exact gas mixture for optimal power generation is unknown at this point, but some Engineers have reported values as high as 100 kW and in typical Engineer fashion forgot to write down their recipe. Be prepared to field questions from overprotective proactive AIs who notice plasma in the mixtank.

Портативные генераторы

Портативные генераторы пользуются спросом, когда все остальные системы отключаются. Они нуждаются в топливе, которое загружается руками прямо в генератор. Тип топлива отличается в зависимости от типа.

Портативные генераторы можно улучшить, заменив детали на новые в протолате. Scrapman

Типы генераторов и топливо для них

Tип	Топливо
P.A.C.M.A.N. Portable Generator	Phoron
M.R.S.P.A.C.M.A.N. Portable Generator	Diamond
S.U.P.E.R.P.A.C.M.A.N. Portable Generator	Uranium
S.C.R.A.P.M.A.N. Portable Generator	Scrap

Один ПАКМАН и форон для его питания находится в инженерном хранилище. По 2 СКРАПМАНА находится у мусорщиков и у шахтеров. Еще 4 ПАКМАНа находятся на астероиде (2 у ученых, 2 у шахтеров).

Батарейки

Батарейки используются для питания вещей меньших масштабов, нежели станция. Например, АПЦ и Киборгов. Создаются в протолате, делятся на разные типы в зависимости от емкости: обычная батарейка (default), высокой емкости (high-capacity), супер-высокой емкости (super-capacity), гипер (hyper-capacity) и блюспейс (bluespace-capacity).

В игре имеется также картофельная и батарейка из ядра слизня.

Емкости в зависимости от типа

Тип	Емкость (Вт)
Стандартные батарейки
Power Cell	1000
High-Capacity Power Cell	15000
Super-Capacity Power Cell	20000
Hyper-Capacity Power Cell	30000
Bluespace-Capacity Power Cell	40000
Нестандартные батарейки
Potato Cell	300
Slime Core Cell	10000

Распределение энергии

Энергосеть

Для большинства людей это просто провода, которые бьются током, если их резать без изоляционных перчаток. Но на самом деле, электрическая сеть это "хребет" станции, питающий все: от эмиттеров, удерживающих сингулярность, до туалетов, которыми вы никогда не пользуетесь. А, точно, еще это дерьмо, которое обжигает вас, если вы не носите изоляционные перчатки.

СМЭХ

Сверхпроводящее Магнитное Хранилище Энергии - СМЭХ или SMES - гигантская версия батарйки. Стандартно настроенный СМЭХ включает:

1. Вход для энергии от источника (терминал), например от панелей, сингулярного двигателя или просто из общей энергосети, если СМЭХ используется в качестве резервного хранилища.
2. Выход для энергии в энергосеть или в закрытую энергосистему типа спутника ИИ или шахтерской станции.

Свойства СМЭХов

SMES обладает модифицируемым хранилищем энергии, зависящим от батареек, которые были вставлены в него при постройке. Все СМЭХи, находящиеся на станции, по-дефолту имеют 3.33 МВт емкости.

Зависимость емкости SMES от батареек

Батарейка	Емкость
	на одну батарейку	на 5 батареек
Стандартные
Standard	TBD	TBD
High-Capacity	TBD	TBD
Super-Capacity	TBD	TBD
Hyper-Capacity	TBD	TBD
Bluespace-Capacity	TBD	TBD
Нестандартные
Potato Cell	TBD	TBD
Slime Core Cell	TBD	TBD

Потребление (зарядка) СМЭХа и отдача могут быть модифицированы с помощью конденсаторов. Все стандартные СМЭХи с базовыми конденсаторами имеют максимальную мощность в 200 кВт.

Уровни потребления/отдачи в зависимости от конденсатора

Конденсатор	Max уровень потребления	Max уровень отдачи
Basic	200000 Вт (200 кВт)	200000 Вт (200 кВт)
Advanced	400000 Вт (400 кВт)	400000 Вт (400 кВт)
Super	600000 Вт (600 кВт)	600000 Вт (600 кВт)
Quadratic	800000 Вт (800 кВт)	800000 Вт (800 кВт)

СМЭХ будет заряжаться только при условии, что входная мощность будет равна или больше мощности, установленной в панели настройки.

Также, СМЭХ будет отдавать энергию в зависимости от мощности, установленной в панели настройки (меньше или равно).

АКП

АКП (APC), или Автоматизированные Контроллеры Питания находятся во всех отсеках, которые питаются энергией. Они могут использоваться для включения/выключения оборудования в комнате, освещения и окружения (двери, консоли воздушных тревог).

Concepts

System Power

System power is the amount of power available to the station at any given time. Power is made available through charged SMESs outputting power and through immediate power from power sources wired directly to the grid.

(System Power) = (Total Output Power of SMESs) + (Power Sources Wired to the Grid)

Power Queue

To maintain a stable source of power for station equipment, the station power grid follows a power queue where an electrical component with higher rank on the queue has its power draw from the grid evaluated before an electrical component with a lower priority. APCs are typically the lowest priority since they only draw power, while the power sources on the station are the highest priority since they only produce power.

Power Queue
Rank	Category	Location
1	All Power Sources
2	Power Sink	You wish I told you
3	Solar SMES #1	Starboard Forward Solar Access
4	Solar SMES #2	Port Forward Solar Access
5	Solar SMES #3	Starboard Aft Solar Access
6	Solar SMES #4	Port Aft Solar Access
7	Singlo SMES #1	SMES Room
8	Singlo SMES #2	SMES Room
9	Singlo SMES #3	SMES Room
??	Gas Turbine SMES	Incinerator Access (Gas Turbine Power Room)
10	Backups SMES #1	Electrical Maintenance
11	Backups SMES #2	Electrical Maintenance
12	Station APC Queue
Isolated SMESs
N/A	Gravity SMES	Gravity Generator Chamber
N/A	AI SMES	AI Chamber
N/A	Mining Output SMES	Mining Outpost
N/A	North Mining Output SMES	North Mining Outpost
N/A	West Mining Output SMES	West Mining Outpost

Power Output and the Power Queue

The most visible effect of the power queue is that if there is not enough output power available on the grid because a component with higher rank is requesting it, then a lower rank component will not charge. For example, if the Backup SMESs are set to input 200 kW each from the grid and the APCs draw 150 kW, but the grid only provides 250 kW total, then the second Backup SMES will not charge and around two out of three APCs will go unpowered as well.

SMES Charging and the Power Queue

Файл:SMES Room markup.png

The three Singlo SMESs in the SMES Room.

Similarly, if a higher rank component has a high enough output level to handle the station's power draw, then the station will draw all of its power from the higher rank component instead of splitting the draw with a lower rank component. This phenomenon is seen often when the singlo is set up. An unaware Engineer will purposefully set all three Singlo SMESs to output at a very high value, say 100 kW, or 300 kW, thinking that this will be more than enough to power the station. While this is technically correct, it isn't advised since it slows down the time it takes until all SMESs are completely full.

An example is the best way to see this. The total power draw on the station is usually near 150 kW. This means the station will draw 100 kW from Singlo SMES #1, 50 kW from Singlo SMES #2, and 0 kW from Singlo SMES #3, resulting in different charging rates of the SMESs. Since SMESs have a capacity of 3,333,333 W (3.33 MW) and assuming an input level of 200 kW, it should take 33.3 cycles before all the SMESs are completely charged (9.99 MW total power stored).

Singlo SMES Non-optimized Charging for 150 kW Power Draw

				Charge at n Cycles
Singlo Cell	Input Level	Draw	Charge Rate	17	23	34
SMES #1	200 kW	100 kW	100 kW	1.70 MW	2.30 MW	3.33 MW
SMES #2	200 kW	50 kW	150 kW	2.55 MW	3.33 MW	3.33 MW
SMES #3	200 kW	0 kW	200 kW	3.33 MW	3.33 MW	3.33 MW
Total	600 kW	150 kW	450 kW	7.58 MW	8.96 MW	9.99 MW

A better way is to set output levels on Singlo SMESs #1 and #2 to a third of the total power draw of the station (here, 50 kW), while allowing the remainder (also, 50 kW) to draw from Singlo SMES #3, which would be set higher than that to account for power fluctuations. For the same case where the total draw was 150 kW, we would set SMES #1 and #2 to 50 kW and SMES #3 to something higher like 200 kW. This would have all three SMESs charged in 22.2 cycles -- 33% faster than the situation above.

Файл:SMES Output v Cycles to Full v01.png

The optimal number of cycles it takes to charge the singlo SMESs is dependent on both not outputting too little, and not outputting too much.

Singlo SMES Optimized Charging for 150 kW Power Draw

				Charge at n Cycles
Singlo Cell	Input Level	Draw	Charge Rate	17	23
SMES #1	200 kW	50 kW	150 kW	2.55 MW	3.33 MW
SMES #2	200 kW	50 kW	150 kW	2.55 MW	3.33 MW
SMES #3	200 kW	50 kW	150 kW	2.55 MW	3.33 MW
Total	600 kW	150 kW	450 kW	7.65 MW	9.99 MW

ИНЖЕНЕРЫ ЧЕМ ВЫ ЗАНИМАЕТЕСЬ ГДЕ ЭНЕРГИЯ

Рано или поздно, практически на любой, даже идеально настроенной станции, энергия вдруг исчезнет. В этом случае ты - ДА, ТЫ, ЛЕНИВЫЙ МУДАК - должен ворваться на мостик и отозвать чертов шаттл, потому что ты можешь все починить! Энергия может пропасть по многим причинам. Пункт твоего отправления - консоль мониторинга электроснабжения в инженерном отделе, предполагая, что он еще не уничтожен. Затем, спросите себя, что происходит:

• Энергия пропала везде, в течение 10 секунд или еще быстрее? Вероятнее всего, это поглотитель энергии. У поглотителей есть странная особенность - они не высасывают энергию из области, где установлены, поэтому лучше всего будет искать отсек, где все еще работает свет или хотя бы двери.

• Энергия исчезает везде, но постепенно, отсек за отсеком? Это значит, что проблема в самом Инженерном отсеке, так как станция получает электричество именно отсюда. Для начала, сразу будет очевидно, если двигатель не запущен или уже упущен. Следующий пункт - СМЭХи. Убедитесь, что энергии на выходе достаточно, чтобы покрыть ее расход ИЛИ, если ни один АКП не отображается на консоли мониторинга электроснабжения, это значит, что где-то в инженерном или его окрестностях была обрезана проводка и энергия не поступает на станцию.

• Энергия кончилась в конкретной области? Вероятнее всего, проблема в обрезанной проводке, самый простой способ найти это место - прочесать окрестности с мультитулом и т-рей сканером и, чем лучше вы знакомы с расположением проводов энергосети, тем легче вам будет ориентироваться на местности.

• Энергия кончилась в одной комнате? Скорее всего, что-то не так с АКП. Либо он был взломан, либо каким-то образом разрушен, либо в нем попросту нет батарейки, а может кто-то взял и выключил на АПК режим зарядки. Опять же, нельзя исключать повреждение проводки.

• Питание идет с перебоями. Оборудование отключается на некоторое время, включается, а затем снова отключается? Ваши СМЭХи не отдают достаточно энергии для зарядки всех АКП. Часто так случается, если уровень потребления примерно равен уровню отдачи.

• СМЭХ не заряжается никак без какой либо причины? Баг. Напишите в F1 и попросите администраторов решить эту проблему.

• Энергия вообще отсутствует? Все очень плохо, а скорее всего, станция просто временно обесточилась.

Теперь, когда вы знаете, почему исчезла энергия, ваш долг - восстановить ее! Если сингулярность отказалась есть станцию и улетела в космос, подключите солнечные панели, если не сделали этого раньше. Затем, вам может быть придется построить новые СМЭХи, запчасти для них можно взять в РнД или просто разобрать один из резервных (около солнечных панелей). Также, карго может заказать полностью новый ускоритель частиц и другое оборудование для настройки нового двигателя!