Speed

[Northpin]

I don't think your thrusters make any difference on what temperature you get in supercruise. At least I've never noticed any.

Temperature depends on power consumption. Thrusters consume power in SuperCruise so they contribute to heat generation
Clean Drives consume more power than Drag Drives and will generate more heat in SuperCruise, but they will be better while doing maneuvers on planets.

So just to confirm what you mean, If I had 2 pips in engines and 4 in systems then turned off my PD, my shields would still recharge as if they had 4 pips in them? If so then that's pretty awesome, I just assumed when the PD was off everything would act as if it had 0 pips. I've been learning a lot here the last couple days. This is what happens when I make assumptions and don't actually test things to see how they work...

Yes, everything acts like the PD is on (recharge included) but you cannot adjust pips anymore if the PD is off

 

[Northpin]

I guess it is the same with your shield. With the exception that it doesn't reload, once it is depleted, after you have switched the PD off (but I may be wrong, I have never tested that.

no, no
Setting the PD to 2-4-0 then turning it off means that your shields act like they have 2 pips in shields and they recharge too.
You can also boost and the Eng capacitor will recharge at the 4pips rate.

I have a lightweight Cutter with no shields and i keep the PD off with a 1-4-1 setting.
I could boost as needed and my chaff and pdt were working properly. My size 1 laser turret too

 

[Caramel Clown]

Odd. I suppose if it's not been fixed by now it's intentional design. Even though it seems it shouldn't be.

 

[Northpin]

Odd. I suppose if it's not been fixed by now it's intentional design. Even though it seems it shouldn't be.

Why not?
Ships systems are designed that you never run out of power
A Power Plant at integrity bigger than 0 provides 100% power, while malfunctioning it provides only 40% power
A Power Plant at 0 integrity still provides 50% power, while malfunctioning it provides 20% power

I would expect the same for PD. Even if turned off, it will transport power at the last setting it had while on.
A damaged PD will not stop transporting power, but it will either randomly divert power to Sys/Wep/Eng or turn off completely preventing you to change pips.

 

[Caramel Clown]

Why not?
Ships systems are designed that you never run out of power
A Power Plant at integrity bigger than 0 provides 100% power, while malfunctioning it provides only 40% power
A Power Plant at 0 integrity still provides 50% power, while malfunctioning it provides 20% power

I would expect the same for PD. Even if turned off, it will transport power at the last setting it had while on.
A damaged PD will not stop transporting power, but it will either randomly divert power to Sys/Wep/Eng or turn off completely preventing you to change pips.

I always imagined PD as being a sort of a gearbox that scales power, and directs it to systems. In case of it being shut down, emergency system kicks in that is sort of direct drive. In my mind it would make much more sense for it to just give power to all systems equivalent to PD being at 2/2/2. It's just odd that power distributor is shut down, but power still goes through it and somehow is redirected as if it was on? Is it a purely mechanical device? I don't know. It seems odd to me, personally.