I want to suggest a new type of Module!

[Noddie]

A module (I'll call it the "Advanced Configuration Control Module") that allows you to selectively overclock and underclock certain modules, via the "Modules" screen. This way you can get more performance from smaller, lower-cost modules. But... At a cost... To use it you just buy it, fit it, and access the modules screen to make your changes. Reboot the ship to fix the changes (this adds a degree of realism!)... and off you go.

Power & heat output of a module increase in direct proportion to the overclock. SO - overclock a module by 10 percent and it uses 10 percent more power & makes 10 percent more heat. At first the extra power and heat is all you need to worry about, but as you further overclock the overclocked module may suffer a certain amount of damage through use, and at the highest settings may spontaneously malfunction. EG it may spontaneously reboot, fail to operate, it's capabilities may fluctuate (IE randomly return briefly to standard) or otherwise misbehave. The hotter the ship (in terms of temperature) and the closer you are to 100 power use, the more likely you'll get glitches from your overclocked modules.

At the other end of the scale, you can underclock modules. This reduces their performance, but also their heat output and power consumption by (say) 1.5 times the amount of underclocking. Helpful for commanders requiring discreation, or with power-management issues due to -for example - powerplant damage.

Perhaps higher rated ACCMs would be more stable cause less issues, and able to hit bigger overclocks?

Could add a whole new level of realism to the ships, and a whole new dimension of depth to the power-management aspect of the game.

Probably particularly relevant to larger vessels.

 

[Macy]

I like the idea of under clocking modules to save power.

Good idea.

 

[Watcher]

I rather like this idea, even if it wasn't a separate control module having those sorts of options available would be interesting.
Probably want it to be non-linear so a 10% increase in performance (whatever that means per module) would require more than a 10% increase in heat/power/etc. And yes, damage and outage with increased chance at higher levels.

To hijack this a bit.
I would like to see the addition of 'module adapters'.
This would be a used in large bays (class 4 and up) to allow the fitting of more smaller modules.
The adapter itself would cost you power and weight internally and you wouldn't get your full amount of space back. You couldn't fit 2 class 2 bays in a module adapted class 4 but you might get a class 1 and 2.
Higher quality adapters would cost more, but be less weighty and power hungry and perhaps allow a better selection of sub-modules. So a low quality class 4 adapter might get you two class ones only.
Whether an adapter should allow for further smaller adapters or you would be able to get different adapters with different configurations is debatable, I suspect the latter would be easier on the UI...
Worth noting UI because its just be shown with the Horizons update that some sort of sub-module type display is possible as it is used for SRVs in the hanger.