Is a 8A power distributor useful with an 8C power plant?

[CMDR Kantos Kan]

Since I got my Anaconda, I had the 8D power distributor with the 8C power plant. I've been doing fine with it. 2 days ago, I decided to upgrade it to 8A. I still have the 8D thrusters, due to power limitation. I have a 4B gimbaled cannon in the huge hard point, 2 gimbaled beam lasers i the large hard points, 2 turreted pulse lasers in the medium hard points and 2 turreted fragment cannons in the small hard points. Now, when I put 4 pips in WEP, I end up overheating and have to transfer 1 pip to SYS with my belief to help with the shields.

I haven't seen much difference in PvE when undermining and wondering if the 8A power distributor is a bit overkill for the 8C power plant. If I check the stats at coriolis.io, the power plant gives 30MW. The power distributor can direct 72MJ (7.2MW) to weapons and 4.8MW to both SYS and ENG. I'm not sure if the weapons use all the power that the distributor gives them.

Is this a good combination?

 

[Chaodiurn]

Depends on your full loadout. The power plant doesn't affect what the distributor does in any way afaik. As long as your ship doesn't turn off and doesn't overheat you're good.

However:

7A power plant (30 MJ) > 8C power plant (30 MJ), as it has better cooling. A bit more expensive though.

 

[KG_Jedi]

Power Distributor requires energy. If it's working, then it is obviously getting needed amount of energy. Otherwise it'd shut down.

 

[CMDR Kantos Kan]

Power Distributor requires energy. If it's working, then it is obviously getting needed amount of energy. Otherwise it'd shut down.

Well, not sure I understand. Both the 8D and the 8A power distributors are working. I'm just wondering if the capacity of the 8A given the 8C power plant is a bit overkill.

 

[Twinn]

After reading your post carefully I'm pretty sure that you have the wrong idea about Power Distributors. Having an 8A Power Distributor simply means that you have a bigger energy pool for your weapons / engine / systems. The only reason that you are overheating is because you are able to fire longer before running out of energy (Which has no cons). The weapons creating the heat are the 2 Beam Lasers. Just because you can fire them for a longer period of time now doesn't mean that you should. Many people use pulse lasers because of this. Like others have posted above, higher class Power Plants have better cooling than lower class ones and an 8A would alleviate your heat issues to an extent.

For a combat build having the highest rated distributor you can afford is always top priority. Only max out your power plant if you need the extra power for adding more shield boosters / weapons.

 

[noldunar]

The power distributor is fine. It's capacity has nothing to do with heat generation. If your ship is overheating it is because if you put 4 pips in weapons now you can fire a lot longer than with the 8d distributor. Because of the now continious fire of the beams your ship will get hotter. Short story: always go with the best a rated distributor you can fit.

 

[Chaodiurn]

Well, not sure I understand. Both the 8D and the 8A power distributors are working. I'm just wondering if the capacity of the 8A given the 8C power plant is a bit overkill.

It's not if you make it work:

Power plant size dictates how many weapons you can have draw energy simultaneously, how fast you will overheat, how many shield boosters you can fit.

The distributor dictates how long you can shoot your weapons, how often you can boost, how much energy goes into SYS for shield rechargement.

If you can't fit everything you need to worry about your power plant. If your weapons drain energy too fast you need a bigger distributor. Choose where to invest first.

My opinion:

The 8C plant gives you the same energy a Python can have. That's enough to support some nice weapons with okay-ish shields. However, the Anaconda is sluggish and doesn't earn much by boosting more often, so there goes a big gain of the 8A distributor. With an 8C distributor you almost get the same energy for your weapons as the Python, what frankly is enough most of the time. And since you can't make much of the slow boost speed, the gain of the bigger power plant (bigger shields being possible) makes the decision easy. That's the true strength of a combat Anaconda: shields for days! Plus, less heat. Yay!

 

[Dogeh]

I use a 7A Power Plant with my 8A Power Distributor, running 2x class 3 beams, 2x class 3 pulses and 2 x class 2 pulses, all turrets. I don't get any overheating because of the A rated PP.

 

[CMDR Kantos Kan]

Thanks, guys. Now, I have a better idea. I will stick with the 8A power distributor. Eventually, I want to get the 8A power plant but that will have to wait a bit. And, like I said, I'm very pleased with the results so far. It's just that putting that 8A power distributor to replace the 8D cut my jump range by almost 3Ly.

EDIT: Oh! Thanks, Dogeh. Didn't think about the 7A power plant. I'm getting one right now! Will increase my jump range with the same power plus better heat efficiency! Of course, it's more expensive than the 8C but still, makes me wonder why an 8C. Maybe if you don't have the credits...

 

[Antoniius]

Power Plant and Power Distributor are completely different items. They are not related in any way (excluding the turn on-off issue).

Briefly:

- Power Plant just tells you how many (and what level) items you can equip. It has no effect on firepower, shields etc but to allow you to equip better items.

- Power distributor replenishes your Sys, Eng and Wep bars, so it affects the firepower.

Hope it helped!