Newcomer / Intro Dumb dumb dumb

[Sts]

A cautionary tale.

After treating myself to a shield bank and field maintenance unit for my cobra (and remapping my joystick in the options) I merrily went off exploring. A few systems out I got jumped by an NPC viper. Usually this is no issue so submitted, locked on and deployed weapons.

I immediately received a message say power overload and it was shutting down systems... including life support. Eeek. Since I was on fire group 2 where my discovery scanner was I tried to change to fire group 1. Didn't work. Turns out that I had also misconfigured the controls and now I has no key binding or joystick to switch between fire groups.

By this time of course I had lost my shields, cracked canopy and hull down to 50%. This was a reasonably tough npc. It was only through sheer luck and random flying I managed to engage FSD and skip to another system and then on to where I could dock and get fixed.

So... when buying those upgrades make sure you have enough power and if you have remapped your controls, test them before you get jumped.

S.
(Survived without combat logging)

 

[Sapient6]

A cautionary tale.

After treating myself to a shield bank and field maintenance unit for my cobra (and remapping my joystick in the options) I merrily went off exploring. A few systems out I got jumped by an NPC viper. Usually this is no issue so submitted, locked on and deployed weapons.

I immediately received a message say power overload and it was shutting down systems... including life support. Eeek. Since I was on fire group 2 where my discovery scanner was I tried to change to fire group 1. Didn't work. Turns out that I had also misconfigured the controls and now I has no key binding or joystick to switch between fire groups.

By this time of course I had lost my shields, cracked canopy and hull down to 50%. This was a reasonably tough npc. It was only through sheer luck and random flying I managed to engage FSD and skip to another system and then on to where I could dock and get fixed.

So... when buying those upgrades make sure you have enough power and if you have remapped your controls, test them before you get jumped.

S.
(Survived without combat logging)

I don't think fire groups matter when it comes to overdrawing power. Even if you switch away from the group that includes your discovery scanner, that disc. scanner will still draw power won't it? I think the only trick for load outs that exceed power generator is to set the module priority for stuff you don't need while fighting to 2.

 

[jonne]

When I had my Cobra, I never had to engage anyone if I didn't feel like it. Boost out of range and jump out.

 

[Sts]

I think it was the field maintenance unit taking a lot of power. I have set all non-essential stuff to lower priority now and treated myself to a bigger power plant. I have some to spare now but did come very close to dying.

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When I had my Cobra, I never had to engage anyone if I didn't feel like it. Boost out of range and jump out.

The problem was getting shot up trying to fix the power and fire group problem. I did quickly remove fire group 2 which gave me back my weapons but I was so shot up I ran.

 

[cmdr lowest]

Yeah, a tale of caution for everyone.

Keep a close eye on power usage when buying new modules. And test before you find yourself in combat.

Good flying managing to escape. A lesser pilot would have bought it.

 

[Syst3m]

You can select power priority in the right UI menu modules tab. I routinely overrun my power core, but if you set your priority (lower is more priority) then you shouldn't have to worry about running out of power. Set your shields, weapons and thrusters at 1 or 2, set everything else at 3 or lower. You don't need a cargo scoop or FSD while fighting. You do need FSD to leave a bad fight, but you can't with your hardpoints out anyway; with hardpoints retracted, you turn them off and have enough power.

The modules menu will tell you how much power you've used and gives a nice little infograph with how much power is in each priority group.

I'm at the office right now or I'd show a screen print