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I have two theories...

1: The power setting allows up tp ten units power allocation starting at FIVE. Since it appears to do NOTHING. Perhaps this might be why; Solar reactor recieves priority allocation when you go into a low or critical power status, allocating units here would prevent them from getting userped somewhere else, thus effectively RESSERVING them.

2: SC used his old BC engine for the game it seems. Maybe perhaps the solar reactor DOES NOTHING... and since he had more than enough on his hands to program as it was, he just DIDN'T BOTHER with something that wasn't effecting gameplay. ((This theory almost sounds like I'm speaking blasphemy... You may TAR and Feather... TIGERCLONE.))

TGCLN: I WILL RULE THE-

ANGRY MOB: ROAR!!!

TGCLN: AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

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This is interesting, has anyone considered that it's a capacitor? Maybe the reason we're not seeing it is because the conditions whereby we would see the extra power are not present until you don't have the primary reactor helping you out.

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Ok, i take back everything i have posted on this thread...

Just downloaded the old BC3K manual (which is way more comprehensive on technical matters, from my point of view).

From the hand of SC himself:

"If the nuclear reactor cooling system is destroyed, the logic control system will automatically shut down the nuclear reactor to prevent overheating. It then attempts an auto-power reallocation.

The ship has an auxiliary solar reactor which converts solar power retrieved by the solar panels to raw power. When the ship is close to a solar source, the solar panels automatically convert this to power and store it in an internal battery. This power is then added to the total amount of power available to the ship. Once the solar batteries are exhausted, they will automatically be recharged again when the ship is near a solar energy source. The status of the solar panels determines the amount of solar energy extracted.

In order to convert solar energy captured by the solar panels to raw power, the solar reactor needs to be activated. It requires 10 ten (5 for UC) units of power to do this otherwise the energy will not be converted. Once the solar panels are extended, they will effectively charge the solar reactor with solar power which is then converted to power that can be used by the ship. If there is no power to this system, extracting the solar panels will have no affect and the solar reactor will not be charged. Once the solar panels are extracted, the solar reactor battery is charged at a constant rate and the power immediately stored in internal battery cells for use. The stored converted power will eventually be depleted."

oh well...

In UC, SR needs 5 units to operate, and 5 more can be allocated on (10 units in total). Then, those additional 5 units could be used to increase the internal battery cells charging rate in order to be ready faster, or to prevent power from being depleted...

[ 08-11-2004, 11:38 AM: Message edited by: APOLLO ]

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In UC and AFAIK in BCMG too the solar reactor is always on and you don't need to activate it to use the energy it produce..... maybe in the original game it worked differently...

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Guest kenny87

It might be one of those features that was never implimented and has just carried on through the different games.

SOP indicator anyone?

Or how about shuttle launch profiles? (Think they're still in UC, gfx card died so can't check)

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*something to make you think (more)*

ok, just to experiment, i re-aranged my ship, so it had 99 SR power, shut down the NR, and I left my ship in a shuttle to go mining, and powered up life support sys. aux life support and launch control. when i returned in my shuttle, everyone had lost health and was off duty so that either means:

A: something is wrong with my game

B: something don't work with SR and life support

or

C: everyone threw a wild party while i was gone and drank way too much space-beer

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quote:

Originally posted by ScottyBeamDownMyClothes:

*something to make you think (more)*

ok, just to experiment, i re-aranged my ship, so it had 99 SR power, shut down the NR, and I left my ship in a shuttle to go mining, and powered up life support sys. aux life support and launch control. when i returned in my shuttle, everyone had lost health and was off duty so that either means:

A: something is wrong with my game

B: something don't work with SR and life support

or

C: everyone threw a wild party while i was gone and drank way too much space-beer

hehe, next time remember to

a) put your engineering officer to DETENTION, so that he doesn't get any "ideas"

B) set your CC to HALT

c) don't stay away for long, because after a period of time, the ship loses optimal lock of the sun and needs to be realigned

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quote:

Originally posted by DennyMala:

In UC and AFAIK in BCMG too the solar reactor is always on and you don't need to activate it to use the energy it produce..... maybe in the original game it worked differently...

That's true, and it's also true that you can turn SR off, or increase it's power supply.

Having the SR allways on since the game start, doesn't mean that what the old manual says is wrong.

On the contrary, it says how this thing works and what will happen if you shut it down

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Im probably not really giving any important input into the matter however i got to thinking and perhaps the amount of solar output ie 99 when you face the sun ect...is just the raw potentail power you get from the solar panels being extended. However such power would be useless without conversion. Perhaps teh power allocation to the solar reacter is how much of the raw power you are turning into actual usalbe energy...spend money to make money...it could be like a percentage...5 power allocated to the solar reacter 50% of the solar panels intake is converted to power for the ship. Its just a thought. Its kind of like in a car how you have how the faster you drive/user power by running the ac and all the more the alternator works to charge your battery. The potential out put is there ot charge the batter very quickly but unless you make it work harder it doesn't put out as much power as it could.

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No, that theory can be crashed wookie. I did a test by shutting down the MRC and the SR and alligned the solar panels to face the sun. Got all the power they generated as according to logistics. Solar panels produce power, they produce right there in photoelectric cells. Modern Satellites work on Solar Panels, and you never hear anything about SOLAR REACTORS.

IF the SR actually has a real purpose in the game anymore, it's a side system of some kind. But if you can allign and get the power you need from the panels, why would you need an SR, unless it does something for storing that power for when you don't have MRC and Solar Panels readily available... and I've not seen evidence of it doing anything. So I stick with either my Theory One, or my Theory Two.

Theory.

Hypothosis.

Experiment.

Results.

Answer.

Conclusion.

Repeat until satisfied.

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Off topic:

quote:


Theory.

Hypothosis.

Experiment.

Results.

Answer.

Conclusion.


Not to be picky, but the order should be:

Hypothesis (statement what you think is true).

Experiment (test of hypothesis).

Results (result of experiment).

Theory (if results supportive, hypothesis now has a more solid, factual basis and gets "promoted" to next level).

Conclusion (summation of the above process and thoughts for future work -- new hypotheses! -- or if results unsupportive, new hypothesis as to why -- again, future work).

and maybe...

Answer (theory proven irrefutably true -- which is why there are many theories and few answers in science).

/nod to Mr. Parker, 8th grade science teacher who drilled this into his students' brains till we can still remember it more than a decade later...

Back on topic:

I'm pretty sure I tried shutting down the NRC (you can turn it off from main interface) and reducing SR power from Logistix to 0. However, IIRC I still got power from the solar panels -- it depended on ship attitude relative to the sun.

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(( Yeah, you have the scientfic process down. It's been about three years since I've even discussed it. So I just bullsh*tted my way through it. Still, I got the point across.))

Will SC ever tell us? Or is he going to wait a little more? Or do I have to hire someone to break down the code for UC and see what the SR does?

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...so far i haven't seen any physical evidence of an existing SR internal battery...

Has anyone tested SR on a 5-10 ingame days old game? Or we are all searching for that thing on a newly made test game?

I'm just wondering if we can't see that thing, just because it hasn't been charged yet...

I don't want also to believe that we need to have to let the NRCoolant get blown, wait for the system to shut NR down and then see that battery working...

EDIT: the more i think about it, the more i believe it... SR is able to power subsystems at direct use, BUT it's battery might be possible to be used to power engine, main weapons, and shield... i know what i saw, and it was my reactor turning on with no fuel, but i had this game playing for at least 3-4 game hours... this might be the key, and i'm putting my main campaign save under serious testing.

[ 08-12-2004, 12:36 PM: Message edited by: APOLLO ]

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quote:


Originally posted by APOLLO:

quote:

Originally posted by DennyMala:

In UC and AFAIK in BCMG too the solar reactor is always on and you don't need to activate it to use the energy it produce..... maybe in the original game it worked differently...


That's true, and it's also true that you can turn SR off, or increase it's power supply.

Having the SR allways on since the game start, doesn't mean that what the old manual says is wrong.

On the contrary, it says how this thing works and what will happen if you shut it down


Basically I can't see a way of shutting down the solar reactor and panels as they keep supplying energy to the CC if properly oriented regardless of anything else...
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quote:

Originally posted by street:

LOL

I say, they had a big fight amongst themselves, as to wheather a mutiny would be in order, upon your return...

OMG! MUTINY! In that case, there is going to be a whole lot of ing ing, and ing!

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quote:

Originally posted by DennyMala:

Basically I can't see a way of shutting down the solar reactor and panels as they keep supplying energy to the CC if properly oriented regardless of anything else...

Denny, I share your concerns, i really do...

I too have noticed that thing, yet if SR hasn't changed much since bc3k, there has to be a battery hidden somewhere inside that just needs to be charged (orelse what's the reason of having a power switch for that?)

My speculation after all of this, is that SR works in both passive and active states:

1) Under passive state, it can power up most subsystems around, only if ship is perfectly aligned.

2) Under active state, that legendary internal battery is charged (i would expect a low charging rate) and for some time, the ship operates without needing to be aligned to a sun...

IF that thing can powerup our fuel-driven primary systems too, (i need to reproduce a fuel-less reactor startup for that, something i still haven't done), that would be our best example of SR's true capabilities...

Let BC community be sure that if and whenever i'll be able to reproduce such a thing, i'd be glad to upload the savegame somewhere, and my ship's log as well, for further investigation.

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Guest kenny87

quote:

Originally posted by Kenworthy:

It might be one of those features that was never implimented and has just carried on through the different games.

SOP indicator anyone?

Or how about shuttle launch profiles? (Think they're still in UC, gfx card died so can't check)

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Maybe the battery is really an artifact that has yet to be found, and once we find it then we can use the SR to charge it.

I say we each take a different solar system and do a search of every planet and moon to make sure we're not missing anything...

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quote:

Maybe the battery is really an artifact that has yet to be found, and once we find it then we can use the SR to charge it.

I'm going to just, keep plugging along, in my crappy little garid, and hope I eventually stumble on some anomoly, which will reveal the TRUE nature, behind the SR contols.

BUT...!! if you can find a way to get that crashed probe off the ground; that which you so diligently seek, MIGHT be found......

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My opinion on that is that if that battery was truly an artifact, it should be listed on the ship upgrades in the UC manual. So far, SC has been wide sincere about ship upgrades (he hasn't hidden yet any artifacts existense). Therefore, we shouldn't mess it with something like the Galaxian Probe , which indeed has to be found ingame (although it's lodation is almost crystal clearly described in the manual appendixes).

It has to be something all ships have...

Oh well, i have made a test game on the ROAM peacefull scenario, i'll leave it running all night, and when i wake up, i'll chk the situation out. I hope this will work...

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i played bc3k and the large manual said that the solar reactor draws power into the reactors battery for use in emergancy situations so you can perform repairs and/or kick the but of your ememy while half crippled.

but in bc3k i never worked this feature out so..........

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