Suit Battery Life

[SteveWW57]

Battery life is a designed limitation, and the consequence is that a CMDR has to take it into account.

It can be mitigated by having the suit upgraded to G5 and adding increased battery capacity, and trying not to drain the power too quickly.
Then there is learning in a settlement where the recharge points and battery cases are.
Failing all that, park your SRV fairly close and away from potential drop points and use that as your replen point.

As I move around a ground CZ settlement, if I pass by a recharge point or ammo box and I am below 80% I will top up. During lulls in the fighting I will top up anyway.

It might also help that I use a Maverick suit rather than a Dominator.

Steve

 

[alexzk]

Does it get that much better? Because now, I'm getting out of my SRV, and by the time I draw my weapon, turn on my shield, and take two steps, it's at 96%. Not exaggerating. I creep up to cover on the edge of the settlement, fight for a few minutes, then turn around and run back to the SRV to recharge.

Make in engineered. And use proper suit. They have different base batteries too.

 

[Morbad]

An hour of life support, with no tool or shield use, in rather modest conditions, is incredibly skimpy. A fully modded 'exploration' focused suit should last days, at least, and there should be ways to recharge it, or carry significantly more backup power.

I have no problems with shields, cooling at extremely high temperatures, or even tool consumption, being brutal on batteries, but being tethered to the ship or SRV (which are functionally unlimited endurance thanks to the absurdity that is synthesis) is a huge problem with on-foot non-combat gameplay.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

Let's not have a go at FDev trying to do something a bit different and stand out from every other FPS game out there. What they've done is add a tactical consideration, which is in keeping with ED as it's never been a point and click shoot fest.

Now- in the course of fighting in CZ, have you been keeping an eye on energy cells stored around the settlement? There's other ways of keeping your energy stocked up that don't rely on recharge points. Even then, with a stock of energy cells already in your possession at the start of any CZ, how many times do you actually need to recharge? Pretty sure I'm only doing it twice.

 

[Morbad]

What they've done is add a tactical consideration, which is in keeping with ED as it's never been a point and click shoot fest.

The tactical considerations are mostly taken care of by the shield energy expenditure and combat against NPCs is still what I'd call a 'point and click shoot fest'.

Even then, with a stock of energy cells already in your possession at the start of any CZ, how many times do you actually need to recharge? Pretty sure I'm only doing it twice.

In a high CZ with a mid-ranked dominator suit, as many as half a dozen times. However, I suspect most of the complaints about suit power consumption have little to do with active combat endurance.

I don't have a huge problem with needing to recharge frequently to keep shields up to avoid any mistake resulting in my CMDR going down. Shields are extremely potent and should be quite costly in terms of trade-offs.

I do have a problem with space suit life support in conditions where neither a heater nor heatpump would need to run, where shields are turned off, and where tools are not being used, only being able to sustain a CMDR for twenty minutes. Even the 1970s tech used on Apollo could manage 8 hours, not including a 30 minute emergency reserve, though at the cost of significant bulk. Modern systems can be much better. Two liters of LOX, as part of a closed circuit rebreather, powered mostly by suit movement itself, could keep a human at modest activity levels going for two days, with early 21st-century technology. With what seems routine in the Elite setting, I'd expect the fundamental limit of endurance for a CMDR to be food calories, at least in conditions where the suit doesn't need to be aggressively cooled (and cold temperatures in a vacuum or tenuous atmosphere should be advantageous for suit power consumption, not require extra power...basic suit insulation is more than enough to handle any radiative losses, so only cooling is the limiting factor).

I'd vastly prefer a game with no shields and slower med kits as combat constraints than baseline power limitations that make it functionally impossible to do extended EVAs outside of combat. Before the Odyssey alpha, I was expecting to be able to circumnavigate small planets entirely on foot...maybe having to seek out geothermal or bio/geochemical features to recharge the suit, and occasionally gather specific resources to replace certain consumables, but certainly not having to recall a ship every twenty minutes. To say the endurance of the suits was a disappointment would be a profound understatement.

 

[Shurimal]

I've no problems with Maverick or Artemis suits, especially with the modded battery. With my Maverick I can go through two dozen scavs in slower paced cover combat in a large settlement with the shield up all the time and not run out. And my explo Artemis can go for something like half an hour or even more with shield down and no scanning but using the jetpack constantly.

But with Dominator I feel like I'm tethered to the wall outlet, having to recharge some 3 to 5 times over a 10...15 minute CZ. And I have the battery mod on it. At this point it doesn't feel like resource management but more like trying to work around rubbish engineering. I don't even dare to take a Dominator suit to a solo settlement clear-out, the battery management would drive me insane (usually I end up in a complete charlie foxtrot and have no opportunity to seek out for charge points, spare batteries or even ammo crates under heavy enemy fire).

I guess infantry whining about issued materiel is a time-honored tradition*, so that's at least immersive

*Oh, the nicknames for weapons and equipment we had... "Bow", "Flute", "Pea shooter", "Robinhoods", "Throwing spade", "Sombrero", "Morale tablet (as in pill)"...

 

[aRJay]

Just to add some numbers from the Wiki.

Dominator Suit.

Shield Strength 15.0 MW​

Shield Regen 1.10 MW/s​

Battery 10.00 MW​

​

 

[Dillon Fallon]

The tactical considerations are mostly taken care of by the shield energy expenditure and combat against NPCs is still what I'd call a 'point and click shoot fest'.

If you're saying you can easily run and gun 6 NPCs straight out of a drop ship, I mean that's some great skills and knowledge of the game you've got there, but it'll put you in a tiny minority of players that can do that (plenty of games out there where I can do that with NPCs).

I do have a problem with space suit life support in conditions where neither a heater nor heatpump would need to run, where shields are turned off, and where tools are not being used, only being able to sustain a CMDR for twenty minutes. Even the 1970s tech used on Apollo could manage 8 hours, not including a 30 minute emergency reserve, though at the cost of significant bulk. Modern systems can be much better. Two liters of LOX, as part of a closed circuit rebreather, powered mostly by suit movement itself, could keep a human at modest activity levels going for two days, with early 21st-century technology. With what seems routine in the Elite setting, I'd expect the fundamental limit of endurance for a CMDR to be food calories, at least in conditions where the suit doesn't need to be aggressively cooled (and cold temperatures in a vacuum or tenuous atmosphere should be advantageous for suit power consumption, not require extra power...basic suit insulation is more than enough to handle any radiative losses, so only cooling is the limiting factor).

I'd vastly prefer a game with no shields and slower med kits as combat constraints than baseline power limitations that make it functionally impossible to do extended EVAs outside of combat. Before the Odyssey alpha, I was expecting to be able to circumnavigate small planets entirely on foot...maybe having to seek out geothermal or bio/geochemical features to recharge the suit, and occasionally gather specific resources to replace certain consumables, but certainly not having to recall a ship every twenty minutes. To say the endurance of the suits was a disappointment would be a profound understatement.

I'm inclined to agree with you with the exploration suit, let's get that one out of the way because if someone wants to scale a mountain or walk between settlements or anything else to do with spending large amounts of time walking on planets I don't see why not given all the other limitations of that particular suit. The rest though looks like the sort of survival mechanics that would make a very good game, but I can't think of many like that which don't go down the Fallout/Skyrim route of easier mechanics for those that don't want the more hardcore survival aspects. As a multiplayer game it was always going to be one size fits all and I can imagine a lot of the current player base wouldn't go for that.

 

[St0rmFury]

Battery life limitations may also mean we will never be able to explore caves if the planet tech ever allows it.

 

[Morbad]

As a multiplayer game it was always going to be one size fits all and I can imagine a lot of the current player base wouldn't go for that.

Significantly longer shields-down battery capacity, with an option to extend it further with 'survival mechanisms', wouldn't impact most players. Most of the tactical considerations would be limited to extremely rare, and largely pointless, PvP ambushes.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

Significantly longer shields-down battery capacity, with an option to extend it further with 'survival mechanisms', wouldn't impact most players. Most of the tactical considerations would be limited to extremely rare, and largely pointless, PvP ambushes.

To be honest if the discussion is energy depletion with shields down, I don't have any strong feelings about that. Effectively you are running in a energy efficiency mode so I'd have no argument if battery was only relevant to tool/shield use.

My thought is that in a CZ, having suit battery impacted by shield use as an additional is fine as an extra concern. This is especially since battery drain is impacted more significantly by recharging, so playing tactically and trying to not get shot in the first place will help. Might be why I'm not seeing it as an issue.

 

[alexzk]

Battery life limitations may also mean we will never be able to explore caves if the planet tech ever allows it.

And this is good. I prefer to have "Tom Coyer" cave experience (danger, will I die, will I be able to get out?), than Skyrim's one.

 

[Morbad]

And this is good. I prefer to have "Tom Coyer" cave experience (danger, will I die, will I be able to get out?), than Skyrim's one.

I'm not sure why you'd think the current system would deliver such an experience, with only two general variables (temperature and shield/tool use) dictating endurance. You'd get half way in, then turn around, because there are no resources to manage, just a timer or two. And the maximum timer is so short there isn't a whole lot of potential for other dangers to manifest.

 

[Comandante]

I find it odd (yet strangely acceptable) that the exploration suit has the longest life; yet I rarely needed it because any xeno-biology I did I used the ship and SRV to get around doing things. So the suit hardly ever lost power. There are probably times (mountains etc.) that you do need that though I found that the exception rather than the rule.

 

[Comandante]

Regarding CZs though: I found that having to manage suit battery a strangely satisfying experience because you needed to factor this into the battle - it could make a massive difference to end results. Made it very tactical. And of course, the extra battery juice mod was installed on both my combat suits.

For the stealth/Maverick suit (my favourite game play loop was restore settlements) again, just switch shields off until needed, and getting power packs at abandoned sites wasn't difficult at all.

In all I don't think, once I learned the ropes, it bothered me that much. You need to learn to take control of your environment is the key to success for suit power.

 

[aRJay]

I find it odd (yet strangely acceptable) that the exploration suit has the longest life; yet I rarely needed it because any xeno-biology I did I used the ship and SRV to get around doing things. So the suit hardly ever lost power. There are probably times (mountains etc.) that you do need that though I found that the exception rather than the rule.

I have run the Artemis down to about 5% doing Exo, I landed in a cluster of short distance bios and by the time I had collected them and returned to the ship picking up a first sample from a Stratum I was getting nagged about the power level.

 

[Morbad]

You need to learn to take control of your environment is the key to success for suit power.

Managing energy where energy has been conveniently placed is a trivial matter.

None of the intended gameplay loop make battery capacity an issue. It's when I decide to do something not specifically incentivized that the inexplicable shortness of the leash becomes relevant. With a ship or SRV, I can just pick a direction and go. At some point I'll have to scoop or synthesize fuel, but there are very few caps on how long I can roam (and if anything there should be more). On foot however, I may as well be tied to a ship, SRV, or settlement with an umbilical...I don't even have time to get lost.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Both my Artemis and Maverick suits have improved batteries. With nothing else running the Maverick is good for ~20km per power pack.
Running the shield will deplete the batteries quickly, especially if combined with NV.
Fortunately CZs provide plentiful power packs and recharge points.
Presumably locating these should be a priority at the start of mission.

 

[Calebe]

I use the Maverick suit 100% of the time. I do mostly base missions and if anarchy I will take the entire base and then the power regulator. The Maverick is grade 5, with extended battery. I was at a base and forgot to disable the alarms and triggered the alarm. Well next thing I knew I was in a fire fight that lasted as troops were sent to the base. Had it happened a few times. I won, but it was intense and shields on the whole time. I did not run out of power, though my shot gun had 5 shots left, and pistol was used a lot as well. For me the battery lasts long enough though I got into the habit to charge the suit if I see a port close. In that fire fight power was my last concern and wasn't an issue though it was down to 25% or less when the smoke cleared.

 

[Frankymole]

Sounds like you're having difficulties tbh. Would be interesting to see your fit/tactics. For most non-CZ stuff, you should be able to get by with just short bursts of shield activation. For CZs, there's a variety of tactics you can employ to stay in the fight without shields and still get kills, in order to maximise longevity.

It's called "using cover".