A simple question abour boosting , distirbutors and power plants

[Lucius-Darcia]

Yes, I have done builds on medium pad ships with a tiny 3A power plant. They didn't have to power any weapons or large shields.

As long as the overall ship power load doesn't exceed the Power Plant, you are good to use it.

One thing to consider, is the 50% power drop point. IIRC, in combat when a power plant is targeted and drops to 0%, it's power output will reduce to 50%. So it's key to use the power management groups (1,2,3, etc.) to make certain that your core modules (Group 1) will have power if your Power Plant is at 50% output. Anything above that should be in Group 2, 3, etc., and those would go offline in case the Power Plant goes down.

I keep these modules in Group 1:
Thrusters - Gotta keep mobility
Distributor - To recharge for boosting away
Chaffe/Point Defense - Maintain defenses
FSD - Critical, my escape hope.

Then in Group 2:
Shields/Boosters - If the Power Plant is sniped, the shields are already offline. Worthless.
Life Suppport - With an A rated module I'm good for 25 minutes, other builds might reconsider this being in Group 1.
Weapons
Cargo Hatch
...

The point regarding Power Plants and this is... This 50% balancing act might be hard on a ship with super small Power Plant and large module power draw. The boosted/engineered thrusters alone might take up 45% of the full power output, leaving little room for critical stuff like FSD.

If anybody sees that I'm doing something wrong above, please post. Certainly worth knowing and considering.

Sry but this isn't right.
If your powerplant goes to 0% integrity you have 0% energy. You're dead unless you make a restart/repair sequence to bring the powerplant back online.

These 50% power is when your powerplant experience a malfunction which will usually happens below 80% integrity.

 

[CMDR-AD]

Sry but this isn't right.
If your powerplant goes to 0% integrity you have 0% energy. You're dead unless you make a restart/repair sequence to bring the powerplant back online.

These 50% power is when your powerplant experience a malfunction which will usually happens below 80% integrity.

Excellent, thanks for setting that straight.

And it was asked if I might face this... I play solo mostly, but outfit my ships to be suitable for occasional open play. Lots of combat on YouTube targets the Powerplant to good effect.

 

[JetsonRING]

So how does this sound

1) Check if I can get a smaller A class distributor wth enough juice to do a jump otherwise stick with a slightly bigger D class

2) Get an engine focus upgrade from an engineer

3) Switch all pips to engines and switch it off the distributor (I dont use shields or weapons). Will the engineer upgrade still work with the distrib off?

4) Switch off stuff I dont use (like senors because when interdicted I plan to boost and run and I have a docking computer and a pair of eyes for landing)

5) Get the lightest / smallest power plant I can fit and assign module priorites

Is there an engineer thing that I can use to reduce the weight of the power plant?

All this depends on your intended use for the ship i.e.: fighting, trading, hauling, mining, etc.. Things like turning off the cargo scoop and sensors are handled by configuring priorities in your power settings, look it up. Regarding outfitting: for fighting, go all A-rated. For long-distance, as much D-rated as you can stand except for the FSD (always an A-rated FSD). Usually an A-rated Power Distributor too, as it affects capacitor recharge time and therefore engines, weapons and shields recharge time. You will not turn off the PD, you will be re-balancing power constantly depending on what you are doing at any given minute. Fit everything else, then select a Power Plant that can barely drive it all, deployed.