Horizons What does power distribution imply to the ships?

[CMDR Stradel]

Hello everyone, hope you had a good end of the year holidays.

I was wondering about the power distribution within the ships, that is to say, for the weapons, the engine and the system.
For example, I increased by a notch the engine power (3 out of 4 notches) and I noticed I was traveling a little faster but consumed more fuel.

I don't do combat because I would like to specialize in trading and exploration, so it's obvious to say that it's useless to distribute more power to the weapons.

For example, if I increase the power for the ship system, what does it imply? I'm sorry for not watching on YouTube but I'm too lazy to go and watch there. Also, I nearly never consult the modules on the right panel.
I'm now ready to buy a Hauler so maybe it could begin to become more important to have a look at the modules, but for the moment I don't really understand this part.

Sometimes, after an FSD and pointing at another system for the next FSD and I am close to a sun, and while engaging the FSD, some smoke comes out of the cockpit because of course I am near a sun. Even if it doesn't hurt the ship at all because of the smoke, do you think distributing more power to the system would prevent the smoke from appearing, protect more the integrity of the ship? Afterwards, giving more power to the engine might be a good idea to arrive at destination faster. Of course, if there are 4 or 5 systems to go through, I would set all the distribution evenly so that it doesn't consume too much fuel.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

More pips in the SYS capacitor will make your shields stronger.
More pips in the ENG capacitor will make you faster in normal space.

For defensive purposes 4/2/0 is considered best.

Watch this:
(mild profanity)
[video=youtube;Uh9AWV_BWo0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh9AWV_BWo0[/video]

Pips to SYS won't help for scooping heat.
Pips to WEP will help with weapon overheating otoh.

 

[Para Handy]

............., do you think distributing more power to the system would prevent the smoke from appearing, protect more the integrity of the ship? Afterwards, giving more power to the engine might be a good idea to arrive at destination faster. .........

1. No

2. No

To avoid the smoke, don't fly too close to the star. You temperature gauge (the scale to the left of the sensor display) is your guide, if it goes over 70% (not degrees, it is percentage of ship's cooling ability) you get the smoke, higher and you get sparks as well but you don't start to get damage until over 100%. Pips distribution has no effect in this situation.

In supercruise your pips to engines make no difference (so you won't "arrive at destination faster") but in normal space the more pips to the engines, the better they can perform, up to their maximum at 4pips. So in combat your thrusters are most effective with 4 pips to engines but that of course means less available for shields and weapons, hence you see tips about combat emphasising "pips management" - i.e. varying pip distribution at different times in an encounter.

good luck

 

[Misty_Dark]

Also how often you can boost is affected by the Power Distributor and how many pips you have to ENG.

As you have to charge up ENG before you can boost again, so
0 pips = on recharge
1 pip = slow recharge -> 4 pips = fastest recharge.



Engineering also effects this, most used is

Charge enhanced - Boost overall recharge rate for SYS/ENG/WEP at a small cost to the max capacity of these. This mostly the best one to get.



Then we have ENG focused - This increases ENG capacity and recharge rate, and this is often used on Exploration to allow atleast one boost with a much smaller Power Distributor. Here the negatives to SYS/WEP is not an issue, since why a boost is good on an exploration is partly to cover this scenario:
"OH CRAP I AM GOING TO HIT THE GROUND WAY TO FAST AND I WILL DIE, <boooooooooooooost and hope to miss he ground or atleast survive the impact>"


Then all the rest, have some niche uses, but in most cases Charge Enhanced i still the better option. This is since is does not give negative bonuses to the others, and max capacity is only good for a using stored energy, and once that is depleted, you now have a slower recharge rate to do this with.
Charge Enhances is also the most similar to the effect that the Guadian Power Distributor provides, so if you want to avoid doing engineering then doing unlocking Guardian Power Distributor, Guardian Power Plant and Guardian FSD Booster is a good option/complement (FSD engineering is always beneficial!)

 

[dognosh]

Sometimes, after an FSD and pointing at another system for the next FSD and I am close to a sun, and while engaging the FSD, some smoke comes out of the cockpit because of course I am near a sun. Even if it doesn't hurt the ship at all because of the smoke, do you think distributing more power to the system would prevent the smoke from appearing, protect more the integrity of the ship?

As others have said but also :
Grade A Power Plant is most efficient(least heat), so always go for xA(where x = 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, or 8)
If you want/need an even cooler running ship then engineer the PP for "Low Emissions" and add "Thermal Spread" as experimental effect to it.(https://inara.cz/galaxy-blueprint/14/)

Finally if you are happy with your current PP, or do not want to do engineering, pop a heatsink if heat gets near 100%.