Hi everyone,
We're in the second week of ALPHA 10 development and things are far enough along to introduce what's going on.
Basic paperdoll look with energy states
Energy is getting a significant change. Previously, reactors would increase a total energy pool, and generate a certain amount of power at a specific refresh rate. The problem that system was it wasn't very rewarding. Having an energy problem? Slap in more reactors. There wasn't enough control over how energy was used, and as other systems were tied to energy (like shields and engines) issues with controlling use of the energy started to rise. We didn't want to add further controls just for energy, so we sat down and did some thinking.
Mousing over a reactor reveals the energy grid. Black is 0 energy
What we've come up with is a more passive, but at the same time an indepth solution. The way energy and reactors work now is: Energy is now tile based. Reactors produce energy in a pre-determined pattern. Every tile that the pattern overlaps gains (or loses) energy. Most components require energy to be enabled. If their tile doesn't have enough energy, the component is disabled (or severally crippled).
This gives the following benefits: Building is far more indepth. You can just slap stuff on, but there's far more room for really thoughtful ship design. It encourages reactors to be spread out to give adequate coverage for components. No more slapping reactors in the middle of your ship. Ships and stations will now have better vulnerabilities, and it should promote different design philosophies. Finally, it makes reactors far more interesting. There'll be far greater possibilities in reactor design and choices.
In addition, reactors will be capable of being rotated, with a 90 degree snap.
Example of how the energy grid looks on large ships, pre-rebalance
The biggest challenge at the moment is making the UI give you all the information you need, without overwhelming you with that info. Stuffie's doing a great job on it, and we're sure you're all going to like it too.