I was exploring out in Kepler's Crest when I wanted to figure out how long my suit could last without recharging. It turns out no one else (to my knowledge) has bothered to do this, so I figured I would take the time to determine the various battery consumption rates of every suit function.
My methods were simple: walk outside my ship on a temperate planet and determine the battery consumption of oxygen generator. From there, I can determine the rates of other functions by subtracting the rate of the oxygen generator.
Flashlight - 0 MW/min. Does not work when battery is depleted though.
Genetic Sampler - 1.75 MW per sample. Does not use battery when "honking" or when completing a collection after 3 samples.
Overcharge - 3 MW per overcharge. Cannot be done below 7 MW of charge. Pro tip: you can kill unshielded people by overcharging them! It's stealthy too.
Oxygen Generator - 0.25 MW/min.
Night Vision - 0.11 MW/min. Requires the night vision mod to be installed to use.
Shield Generator - 2 MW/min. This is the most power hungry function of the suit.
The last two are the most complicated.
Jump Assist Replenishment - 1.33 MW/min. This is a misleading number, as you will not always be replenishing your jump assist reserves. Using my Artemis suit with an Improved Jump Assist mod, I was able to make it replenish 25% of the time, which required me to constantly jump up and down while using it at every opportunity. Your suit may vary in this percentage due to the inherent differences in jump assist in each of the suits and whether or not you have the mod. However, in practice you will not be jumping all the time. Assuming a more conservative 10% replenish time, you will use 0.133 MW/min, which is about half of the Oxygen Generator's rate.
Temperature Control - Varies, up to 0.26 MW/min. This is the only function that varies depending on an external factor. This external factor is the environmental temperature. I determined the specific values by travelling to different planets with different temperatures. Between the temperatures of 180K and 380K, your suit will not use any battery. Beyond these limits your suit will deplete the battery at a rate linearly proportional to the temperature beyond those prescribed limits--up to a certain maximum cap. This maximum cap will occur at ~590K on the higher end and ~30K on the lower end. Beyond those temperatures, your suit will use the same battery regardless of how much over the cap temperature it is. That is, at 600K, your suit will consume the same battery as at 775K. At this cap, your suit will consume 0.26 MW/min, which for reference, is about the same as your oxygen generator's rate. Here is a crude graph to show the power consumption rate of the temperature control based on temperature.
Furthermore, we also know that the limits of the suit are up to 800K and up to 2.7g. Beyond 800K you may disembark, but you will take constant damage, which will let you survive for the first footfall but not give you much time to do anything else. You cannot disembark beyond 2.7g.
From here, I have compiled a list of useful battery life times. If you have the increased battery mod, then multiply each time by 1.5x.
If you want to attempt to join the Planetary Circumnavigation Club on foot, then the best suit to use would be the Artemis Suit with the increased battery mod, on a planet between 170K and 380K. Your battery life would be a whopping 102 minutes!
And finally, since I was in the black I was unable to attempt to determine the battery consumption of other functions. I was also a little exhausted after all this testing. Perhaps someone else can figure those out?
My methods were simple: walk outside my ship on a temperate planet and determine the battery consumption of oxygen generator. From there, I can determine the rates of other functions by subtracting the rate of the oxygen generator.
Flashlight - 0 MW/min. Does not work when battery is depleted though.
Genetic Sampler - 1.75 MW per sample. Does not use battery when "honking" or when completing a collection after 3 samples.
Overcharge - 3 MW per overcharge. Cannot be done below 7 MW of charge. Pro tip: you can kill unshielded people by overcharging them! It's stealthy too.
Oxygen Generator - 0.25 MW/min.
Night Vision - 0.11 MW/min. Requires the night vision mod to be installed to use.
Shield Generator - 2 MW/min. This is the most power hungry function of the suit.
The last two are the most complicated.
Jump Assist Replenishment - 1.33 MW/min. This is a misleading number, as you will not always be replenishing your jump assist reserves. Using my Artemis suit with an Improved Jump Assist mod, I was able to make it replenish 25% of the time, which required me to constantly jump up and down while using it at every opportunity. Your suit may vary in this percentage due to the inherent differences in jump assist in each of the suits and whether or not you have the mod. However, in practice you will not be jumping all the time. Assuming a more conservative 10% replenish time, you will use 0.133 MW/min, which is about half of the Oxygen Generator's rate.
Temperature Control - Varies, up to 0.26 MW/min. This is the only function that varies depending on an external factor. This external factor is the environmental temperature. I determined the specific values by travelling to different planets with different temperatures. Between the temperatures of 180K and 380K, your suit will not use any battery. Beyond these limits your suit will deplete the battery at a rate linearly proportional to the temperature beyond those prescribed limits--up to a certain maximum cap. This maximum cap will occur at ~590K on the higher end and ~30K on the lower end. Beyond those temperatures, your suit will use the same battery regardless of how much over the cap temperature it is. That is, at 600K, your suit will consume the same battery as at 775K. At this cap, your suit will consume 0.26 MW/min, which for reference, is about the same as your oxygen generator's rate. Here is a crude graph to show the power consumption rate of the temperature control based on temperature.
Furthermore, we also know that the limits of the suit are up to 800K and up to 2.7g. Beyond 800K you may disembark, but you will take constant damage, which will let you survive for the first footfall but not give you much time to do anything else. You cannot disembark beyond 2.7g.
From here, I have compiled a list of useful battery life times. If you have the increased battery mod, then multiply each time by 1.5x.
- Dominator Suit (10 MW), O2, Shields ~ 4 min 30 sec
- Dominator Suit (10 MW), O2, Shields, Max Temperature Control ~ 4 min
- Dominator Suit (10 MW), O2, Shields, Max TC, Night Vision ~ 3 min 48 sec
- Maverick Suit (13.5 MW), O2 ~ 54 min
- Maverick Suit (13.5 mw), O2, Shields ~ 6 min
- Artemis Suit (17 MW), O2 ~ 68 min
- Artemis Suit (17 MW), O2, Max TC ~ 33 min 20 sec
- Artemis Suit (17 MW), O2, Max TC, Night Vision ~ 27 min 25 sec
If you want to attempt to join the Planetary Circumnavigation Club on foot, then the best suit to use would be the Artemis Suit with the increased battery mod, on a planet between 170K and 380K. Your battery life would be a whopping 102 minutes!
And finally, since I was in the black I was unable to attempt to determine the battery consumption of other functions. I was also a little exhausted after all this testing. Perhaps someone else can figure those out?
- Determine arc cutter battery consumption
- Determine energy transfer tool battery consumption (normal mode)
- Determine scan tool battery consumption
- Determine identity theft scan tool battery consumption
- Determine if gravity has effect on O2 generator
- Determine if movement has effect on O2 generator
- Determine if an oxygen atmosphere lets you walk around without using the oxygen generator
- Determine (if above not true) if a specific oxygen rich atmosphere composition is required to walk around without oxygen generator
- Determine what reduced tool battery consumption does to the genetic sampler
- Determine what reduced tool battery consumption does to the arc cutter
- Determine what (if any effect) reduced tool a battery consumption does to the energy transfer tool and scan tool
- Determine if shield recharging affects battery consumption
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Thanks
