Ships Power Distributor Special Effect - Huh?

[Greasetrap42]

I just G5 engineered a power distributer to be Engine Focused and desired to apply Super Conduits special effect... which is supposed to increase the recharge rate with a reduction in overall capacity. But hey, the ingame stats don't show a difference for Engines!

I can't scroll down to see more, it is not simply cut-off by the screen. Or maybe it is? Is this a graphical UI mistake? Am I crazy? Should I get another cup of coffee?

EDSY indicates Super Conduits does make a difference to engines. Which is correct?

 

[Cmdr Dreamer]

I think its graphical ui glitch
But i don't think that i would use super conduits with engines focused

 

[Greasetrap42]

But i don't think that i would use super conduits with engines focused

To boost repeatedly over and over, engine focused w/ super capacitors gives the best recharge rate. I haven't tested and it might depend on the ship, but I suspect this gives the fastest effective speed (for a python that I desire to go fast).

 

[Jack Brolin]

I  have tested with a Python that I desired to go fast, and super conduits is always best.

 

[Cmdr Dreamer]

Me i would have put the one who lower the weight
Lighter is faster

 

[Kira Goto]

It makes a difference, check the module's stats in outfitting in-game if you need to.

... also, I don't think power distributors can even be lightweighted.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

I just G5 engineered a power distributer to be Engine Focused

Your Power Distributor looks like 7A, which ought to allow any starship to use the boost without needing the extra ENG capacity—unless you intend boosting several times with no points to ENG, surely Charge Enhanced would be entirely better than Engine Focused?

 

[Greasetrap42]

Your Power Distributor looks like 7A, which ought to allow any starship to use the boost without needing the extra ENG capacity—unless you intend boosting several times with no points to ENG, surely Charge Enhanced would be entirely better than Engine Focused?

If a ship has no weapons and designed to flee then Engine Focused is best. Engine focused w/ super capacitors allows the most frequent boosts giving max speed. Full pips to engines, the rest of pips to shields, power distributor can be turned off (reduced power and heat), no need to move pips around. My specific example is Thargoid Stn Evac Ship. I don't care about weapons, and speed and keeping cold is more important than shields.

Engine Focused is also good for deep space exploration/exobiology ships. With no weapons and shields just to protect from bumping into things, Charge Enhanced isn't as beneficial. Being able to make multiple boosts off a planet is nice.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Engine focused w/ super capacitors allows the most frequent boosts giving max speed.

By a tiny fraction, this is false! Engine Focused gives 44% ENG recharge, whereas Charge Enhanced gives 45% recharge to all three.

When you use Engine Focused, the penalty to SYS and WEP is in return for ENG capacity, probably the only purpose of which is for fitting a Distributor which is otherwise too small to enable your boost. Conversely, if your Distributor has already the ENG capacity to enable boost, one has no need for Engine Focused at all.

 

[Greasetrap42]

If a ship has no weapons and designed to flee then Engine Focused is best. Engine focused w/ super capacitors allows the most frequent boosts giving max speed

By a tiny fraction, this is false! Engine Focused gives 44% ENG recharge, whereas Charge Enhanced gives 45% recharge to all three.

@Aleks Zuno is correct. Increased distributor capacity does not allow boosts to happen any quicker.

Intuitively the Engine Focused distributor would allow 3 boosts faster because it has the energy capacity to quickly allow a quick second boost... but this is not how the distributor works. Boosts take a fixed amount of time as long as there is sufficient energy in the distributor.

It doesn't matter how much energy the distributor has in it... a boost takes a fixed amount of time. Engine Focused has more energy capacity so graphically a boost appears to use up less... but of course it is actually using the same amount of energy and recharges that energy at the same rate. With full pips to engines both distributors recharge at the same rate which is faster than the time to boost.

Testing confirmed this.

Exact same ship time to boost 3 times (timing from 1st boost to 3rd boost, all pips to engines):
a) 7A Distributer Engine Focused & Supercap.
9.89 sec
9.50 sec
9.43 sec

b) 7A Distributer Charge Enhanced & Supercap.
9.55 sec
9.69 sec
9.68 sec

In this test the recharge rate is faster than the time required for a boost. So the distributor fully charges before the next boost can happen, and the extra capacity is of no benifit.

It is interesting to note changing the pips affects the recharge rate but does not affect the boost time. Reduced pips gives the exact same results, unless the distributor gets depleted. Reducing the pips will make the recharge rate slower than the boosting time, so the capacitor can get used up.