Engineering Station: Player Guide

The Engineering console is somewhat optional, but a good Engineering Officer (or, if you like, Chief Engineer) can double or even triple the speed and firepower of the Artemis. If no one is available to man the Engineering console, it will operate in Autonomous mode. Consider using the Data display on the Mainscreen to monitor the damage to the ship in this case.

The primary job of Engineering is distributing the ship's power between the available systems in order to get the best performance out of the Artemis. The systems available on the ship will vary, but will usually consist of Beams and Torpedoes, Impulse, Maneuvering thrusters, Warp or Jump Drive, and Fore and Aft Shields. Since it is not possible to run all of the systems at full power, Engineering must constantly shift power allocation to meet the Captain's requirements. 

Basic Play:

• Power settings:
• Setting a system above 100% with the applicable slider generates increased effectiveness/efficiency out of that system, at the cost of increased energy consumption and increased heat.
• Setting a system below 100% reduces energy consumption - at 0%, the system will consume no energy.
• Setting power on one system does not affect power available to other systems.
• Maximum power is 300%. If screen space is limited, as in the screenshot to the right, the text will be truncated, running from 0-30% instead of 0-300%.  
• Overheating and Coolant
• Overheated systems will overload and be damaged. "Givin' it all she's got, Captain" really will blow your ship up if you keep at it too long. 
• Coolant is organized into four Subsystems, each of which can be associated with one or more systems.
• The four Subsystems are Weapons, Engines, Sensors and Shields.
• For example, both Beams and Torps are part of the Weapons Subsystem, and use the same coolant.
• If either Beams or Torps overheats, the heat will be built up in the Weapons Subsystem and coolant levels must be raised for Weapons.  
• Overheated systems can be cooled by setting them below 100% and/or allocating coolant to them.
• If a Subsystem is allowed to overheat until it takes damage, a random system node for the given Subsystem will be selected and turn red.
• This will continue until the entire Subsystem shuts down. 
• Allocate coolant by clicking the green segments next to the heat indicator for each system.
• As coolant is allocated, some segments will turn grey to indicate that the coolant cannot be set to that level using the remaining coolant. 
• Unlike in Artemis 2.0, there appears to be a buffer for absorption of a certain amount of heat.
• If only one system is overheating, and there is enough coolant to partially compensate, overheating will stop and stabilize. 
• Overheating will continue if multiple systems begin overheating. 
• It is not known if the number of systems in a subsystem affect this behavior
• For instance, Engines may stop at 1/3 of the bar, or Sheilds at 1/2 of the bar, but Sensors will continue to build up heat until they take damage
• More testing is needed 
• Artemis has 8 units of coolant that are shared across all systems. 
  
• The following table shows roughly how many units of coolant are required to keep a system cool for a given level of over-powering (for a more detailed calculator, see https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MbNzkA4uAVEda4hKnZ-w7ZSjrQpSaW-AtcuV1VOhSho/edit#gid=1330492660): These tables have not been verified and may not be valid for Artemis Cosmos. 
  

  0	2	4	6	8
  100%	150%	190%	220%	250%

• updated safe energy/coolant levels (http://artemis.forumchitchat.com/post/coolant-levels-6713845?highlight=heat&pid=1281250284):
  

  Coolant	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
  Energy (%)	100	128	151	171	189	206	221	235	248	261	273

• Engineering Presets:
• There are ten buttons above the power/coolant controls for storing Engineering Presets.
• Click on the light up indicator next to the preset buttons and click on a preset to store the current configuration.
• Pressing on the button again will restore that preset.
• You can also use the SHIFT+ (number key) to save a configuration. Load the configuration by pressing the relevant number key. Currently, pressing a number key overwrites the presets. The hot_key_settings.txt file will have to be edited to make this work. See below.
• Suggestions include "Warp Preset" with 240% power to Warp to double your speed and potentially reduce your energy cost, and a "Red Alert" mode with increased power to shields, beams, and torps.
• Also see "Cruising Speed" below. For extremely long-range travel, set Warp and Sensors to 100% and all other systems to 0.
• Power up Maneuvers only when the ship needs to turn and power down while Helm is going straight. Impulse similarly doesn't need power once Warp is engaged. 
• This is overkill but is good for low efficiency warships like the Battle Cruiser and missions that call for you to travel a great distance. You can arrive at your destination with almost enough energy that you don't need to dock.  
• Experiment to find the settings that work for you and your crew.
• Press the Space bar to reset all systems to 100%.
• Press it a second time to reset all coolant to 0. 
• Presets are only saved to disk if you installed Artemis with the option "just for me". If you installed Artemis "for all users", you must run Artemis as an Administrator or go to the Artemis directory and set it to read/write.
• Do this by right clicking on the directory, choosing Properties->Security tab and click on Edit Permissions. Then select "All Users", select all checkboxes, and save. 
• Note that if you install "for all users" and run Artemis as an Administrator only when you want to change the presets, you can protect the file from being accidently overwritten.
• Damage Control  
• Damage control is carried out by Damage Control teams, represented on the engineer's view as an icon with three crewmen traveling along the lines of the Artemis structure.
• Many of the nodes of the grid represent ship systems or other rooms where activity can take place. 
• DamCon teams automatically move to the location of a damaged system node and begin repairs.
• DamCon teams can be given superseding orders by clicking the damaged node and selecting "Assign" and the name of a DamCon team.
• (It's not currently known whether multiple teams result in faster repair of a single node.)
• If Damage Control teams are in a location that takes damage, either through enemy fire or overheating, that team may be injured or killed.
• This will result in decreased effectiveness until the Artemis can dock at a space station and take on additional crew.
• Each DamCon team has a defined rally point, which appears as a square icon.
• When not engaged in repairs the DamCon teams will return to their rally point.
• You may change the location of a rally point by clicking a node on the grid and selecting "Set Rally Point". 
• DamCon teams may be selected and controlled by clicking on their rally point. The DamCon icon itself is not selectable.  
• Damage Control teams can also be controlled via the interface to the right, which allows a team to be quickly selected from the list.
• Information about the Damage Control team is displayed in the area above, even if the DamCon team was selected from its rally point on the grid.
• This information includes the team's health, current activity, and how well rested, well fed and physically fit the team members are. 
• The buttons "do work order now" and "cancel work order" appear to pause and resume repairs. But I have not tested this in combat. Further research is needed. 
•  This would be used to direct a DamCon team out of an area which is receiving enemy fire and to a safe rally point. 
• The DamCon team can move back in after damage has stopped.  
• For ease of recognition, here are the icons associated with each of the standard ship's systems: 

Beams	Impulse	Warp	Sensors
Torps	Maneuver	Jump	Shield

•  Off Duty Activity
• When DamCon teams are not engaged in repair to the ship's systems, the Engineering Officer may wish to direct them to Off Duty Activities. This will allow them to perform repairs faster and more efficiently.   

	Rest:  If a DamCon team is not rested, set their rally point to a Crew's Quarters. While in a Crew's Quarters, the crewmen will rest. After a short countdown, they will become rested and can engage in other Off Duty Activity. Rest will last for a short while, and then the DamCon team will have to rest again.
	Hunger:  If a DamCon team is hungry, set their rally point to a Crew's Mess. While in a Crew's Mess, the crewmen will eat. After a short countdown, they will have finished eating. As with Rest, the crewmen will not be hungry for a while but will eventually have to eat again.
	Weak: If a DamCon team feels weak, they need to work out in a gymnasium or a recreation room. Set their rally point to the appropriate node and they will work out and become fit. After working out, the crewmen will remain fit for a while but will eventually need to work out again.
	Injury: If a DamCon team is injured, set their rally point to the nearest Sick Bay. After a short countdown, they will be healed and return to full strength. A Viguratium Nodule can also heal DamCon teams. I have not confirmed this activity, but it seems to follow from the actions I have confirmed.

• Special missions may call for non-player characters to appear on the ship's grid. They may need to be directed to VIP Quarters, the Shuttle Bay, or other locations on the ship. The possibilities are limited only by the mission script. 
• EPad 
• The EPad option in the interface to the right can be used to customize the Engineering grid to simplify the display. Rooms in the grid can be displayed as either icons or white circles, while systems in the grid can be displayed as icons or green diamonds.
• The Engineering Officer may wish to change all room icons to circles to make the display less cluttered in combat and emphasize those systems that are damaged. 
• Likewise, if a mission is calling for interaction with a dignitary on the ship, the Engineering Officer may wish to display room icons to easily distinguish locations from one another but display ship systems as diamonds if it is unlikely the dignitary will need to go to such locations. 
• Rooms and systems may still be distinguished by the node name, which is displayed on the information area for that node. 
• The EPad option can be hidden if needed, by clicking on the tools light up button. Other tools may be added to the Engineering display in the future or may be available in special missions. 
• Grey diamonds on the Engineering grid represent passageways. They can be damaged just as systems and rooms can be damaged and must be repaired by DamCon teams before they can be passed through.  
• The Engineering grid can be clicked and dragged into the center of the grid area if it is positioned too far to one side. The mouse wheel can be used to zoom in or out on the display to get a closer look at the node icons. There is a single zoom icon below the grid, which will restore the grid to its original position, but unlike with other consoles, there are not multiple zoom levels.  

Systems and Energy Allocation 

Energy allocation affects how effectively the various systems perform, at the cost of increasing heat to the powered (or overpowered) system and increasing total energy consumption. Energy allocation is controlled by sliders. Putting more power toward a particular system means that it performs better in one of several ways. Here is a breakdown of the effect of power allocation on the various systems:   

• Note that Warp and Jump Drive are mutually exclusive; that is, if you have selected Warp, you will not have a Jump Drive slider, and vice versa. 
• See also the Energy page for further details

Advanced Play

• Power saving tips:
• Shields consume energy when they are up, so drop then when they're not needed. Similarly, having both front and back shields up is twice the drain on the Artemis' energy and cooling systems. If the tactical situation permits, coordinate with the Captain, Helm, and Weapons to reduce power to the unneeded shield.
• Similarly, dialing back power to other unused systems based on the current situation can have dramatic effects on Artemis' total power needs and energy burn rate. Warp power is especially power-hungry, and turning it off can be a big saving - provided you don't need to go to warp.
• Use presets to easily but precisely match power allocation to the circumstances. Consider having a preset where all systems are powered down, which you can use while your crew are considering the next move
• Detailed, well-thought-out presets will give you a significant edge in shifting situations. Knowing which subsystems benefit (or not) from increased power and which ones aren't missed if you starve them a little will allow you to do the most with the Artemis' finite capabilities and appear to be the miracle worker that every engineer should be.
• Some examples of useful presets: (provided on the forum Negative Zone by user Varos, now a dead link)
• Red Alert - If Communications calls for Red Alert, set Fore Shields, Aft Shields, Beams and Torpedoes to 150%. Assign two points of coolant to all four systems. 
• This preset will not overheat, and will provide improved combat performance, including faster fire rate and stronger shields.  
• Full Power to Fore Shields - 250% power to Fore Shields, 100% power to Aft Shields, 150% to 200% power to Beams, all coolant to Fore Sheilds.  
• Potentially turns an even match into a one-sided beatdown as your overpowered beams punch holes in their shields and their beams splash against your overpowered shields.
• You can run Beams hot until they start to overheat or split the coolant between Beams and Fore Shields. It is possible that at 200% power and 4 points of coolant they will build up heat but stop before they overheat, but if they do overheat, drop power to 185%. 
• Set power to Aft Shields to 0% if that shield isn't taking damage. This will conserve energy but will stop your Aft shield from regenerating.  
• Full Power to Aft Shields - 250% power to Aft Shields, 100% power to Fore Shields, 0% power to Beams, all coolant to Aft Sheilds 
• Used to make a strategic retreat or when making a dogfighting pass to expose your rear to attack. Again, the enemy will waste their beams on an overpowered shield, while you buy time to get into position for another pass. 
• This setting should cool down Beams, but fairly slowly. Lowering Shield power and shifting coolant will cool Beams down faster. Aft Shields may heat up very slowly, but I believe they will stop before they overheat.   
• As above, set Fore Shields to 0% when it isn't taking damage.  
• Warp Preset - 240% power to Warp, 100% power to Sensors, 0% power to Sheilds and Weapons, all coolant to Warp. Impulse can be 0% (it isn't needed at Warp) and Maneuvers 0% or 100% if the ship needs to turn. 
• The Warp system is MUCH more efficient at high power levels, meaning that you fly faster without spending any extra energy. Therefore, flying at warp without putting more power in the system is somewhat wasteful, and gets more wasteful the higher the warp factor. 
• See "Getting Obsessive with Performance" below.  
• Cruising Speed - 100% power to Warp, otherwise as Warp Preset. 
• For long range travel, shutting down all unnecessary systems will allow your ship to travel much farther at Warp 1. It will take longer, but you will have much more energy when you arrive at your destination. 
• This is very useful to conserve power with a ship that has extremely inefficient Warp Drive, like the TSN Battle Cruiser.  
• Jump Preset - 240% power to Jump, 100% power to Sensors, Impulse and Maneuvers, 0% power to Sheilds and Weapons, all coolant to Jump.  
• For Ximni ships, while preparing a long-range Jump.  You want power to Impulse and Maneuvers so the ship can begin moving right after the Jump, but otherwise as Warp Preset. 
• Out of combat, Jump is not necessary unless preparing for a Jump. However, in combat power to the Jump Drive is definitely needed since Combat Jump will not charge without it. The presets below all assume 100% power to Warp, and this should be 100% to Jump as well.
• The exception is the Bombing Preset, which will absolutely need 200% power to Impulse, not Jump. 
• Bombing Preset - 200% power to Torps, 200% power to Impulse or Warp, 100% power to Shields and Beams. Coolant split evenly between Torps and Impulse or Warp. Be ready to cut power back to 100% if the engines start to overheat or set to 185%. 
• The idea of a bombing run is to fly into an enemy formation, drop two mines and fly away. This can be performed very effectively at warp or impulse speeds, but is most commonly performed at warp, to avoid enemy fire as much as possible. With high power in the Torpedoes, you can execute many bombing runs fairly quickly.
• Dogfighting Preset - 200% power to Beams, Fore/Aft Shields and Maneuvers. Coolant two points to all four systems. Maintain until Beams start to overheat. 
• This preset will allow you to stick in a fight and pump out beam damage at a good rate. This preset requires more skill for a pilot to carry out, since the high power in the beam system will be wasted if you aren't firing them frequently, therefore, careful maneuvering is needed to keep an enemy in the firing arcs as often as possible. 
• For more dynamic control of the battle, switch between Full Power to Fore/Aft Sheilds (described above) and only set Beams to full power when Weapons is firing. This will take some communication with Weapons and Helm to time perfectly. 
• Torpedo Barrage Preset - 200% power to Torps, Shields and Maneuvers. Coolant as above, with Torps instead of Beams. 
• This preset allows you to fight with torpedoes more effectively. Power in the Torpedo system makes the tubes reload faster, giving you a higher rate of fire.
• This can be useful after running with the Dogfighting preset for a while to lower enemy shields after which you switch to a Torpedo Barrage to finish off the enemies. 
• Torp power can be dropped to 100% once they are loaded and ready to fire. This will cool them down if they are overheated. 
• High Energy Turn - 300% power to Maneuvers, 100% all other systems. All coolant to Manuevers. 
• This is a great way to end a bombing run and set up for another.  The HET is also useful to get you into firing position, or out of trouble. Make sure the Helm or Captain calls for this preset before using it, as the ship will turn much faster. 
• This preset will build up heat, but it should only be used for a few seconds anyway. Follow up with the Torpedo Barrage Preset and set Torp power to 300% so you can reload the tubes with mines and set up for another run.  
• Resting Preset - 100% power to Impulse, Maneuver, Sensors, 0% power to Warp, Beams, Torpedoes, and Fore/Aft Shields. 
• This is useful to conserve energy while you are crafting your next move, or waiting for the enemy to come to you, or waiting for your fleet to be in position, etc. You aren't wasting power while sitting still and not in battle, but you have enough power to scan the sector and can start moving when needed.
• Setting Sensors to 250% (and diverting coolant) will let Science scan much faster, but testing so far does not suggest that scan range is extended. 
• Remember that pressing Space will reset all power levels to 100%. Use this to cool systems down when a preset starts to overheat. 
• Pressing Space twice will reset coolant, so only press Space once to leave the coolant set for that preset.  
• For instance: Angling the shields (dropping e.g. back shields that aren't facing an enemy) allows you to devote the unused power and coolant to the front shields and beams, potentially turning an even match into a one-sided beatdown as your overpowered beams punch holes in their shields and their beams splash against your overpowered shields. 
• Become familiar with DamCon nodes - in particular, which ones support which systems; when you start taking a pounding you're not going to have time to mouse over each node to tell which ones you need to fix before you can warp out of there. 
• The icons help identify which systems are which, and you can set room nodes to circles as described above to reduce screen clutter, but it can still take time to identify a specific system.  
• Self destruct sequence - In a normal game, self-destructing will lose the game, but it can be useful in a Co-op game since your ship will automatically respawn with a full complement of energy and nukes.  The self-destruct sequence is:
• (helm/weapons) lower shields
• (helm) stop dead
• (engineer) reduce all systems power to zero.
• (engineer) increase power to warp, to cause an overload. 
• This may not be implemented in Artemis Cosmos.  
• Getting obsessive with performance - In practice, you don't have to keep some systems at big power levels for them to perform at that capacity.
• There are several facts:
• Primary Beams energy setting only matters while you are firing or recharging beams. Likewise, Torpedo setting only matters when Torpedoes are being loaded or unloaded, not fired.
• Front/Rear Shields energy setting matters the most the exact moment your ship is hit. (the moment a colored hemisphere appears, which is not the moment enemy beams are drawn, but right after they disappear) That is when the amount deducted from your shields is calculated. Shields will recharge slower with a lower energy setting, but if your ship has not taken damage that may be unimportant.
• What this yields is that you never need to have shields above 100% in any continuous preset. You can change to 300%/8 to shields just before an enemy gets into beam range - when it fires, your shields will be at 300% and lose three times less points. You can then reset them back to the default. You can then time the power boost to the enemy's recharge rate, if you know it. Once your shields begin to fall, you can raise shield setting, possibly on only front or rear, to 150% or 250% to get them to come back faster.
• Same with the weapons - you only need beams and torpedoes at above 100% if you are in combat and they are being fired. Hold off on setting Beams to 300/8% until the Artemis starts firing, (if using the shield boost above, you can raise beams when you lower shields) and then fire only two or three bursts at a time before lowering power. Raise the Torpedo setting ONLY when tubes are being loaded or unloaded. (Note you should not drop power to Beams between shots, as this will slow down the fire rate, although your own delay in adjusting the setting may result in nearly the same rate anyway)
• Warp drive performance is complicated by the fact that you are spending energy both to travel at Warp, and to power the ship while you are travelling at Warp. In general, the faster you get to your destination, the less energy you consume, as long as you consume less energy travelling at higher Warp than the amount of energy you save by getting there faster.  
• It usually costs less energy to set Warp power to 240% than it does to raise Warp level to the same speed. This is because Warp energy cost is based on the square of the Warp level, so Warp 4 is 16 times the cost of Warp 1, but Warp 2 at 240% is only 4 times the cost of Warp 1 + 5.76 times the power going into the Warp engines. 
• For Warp 1, the additional cost of Warp 2 is usually less than 5.76 times the cost the power the Warp drive, although this can depend on difficulty level.
• The break-even point is probably difficulty 7 for a Light Cruiser.
• For a Scout the difficulty is below 5, because of the efficiency of its Warp drive. 
• A Battleship or Dreadnought can go to a much higher difficulty level. 
• If your ship has inefficient Warp drives but its subsystem efficiency is high, like the TSN Battle Cruiser, this trick will save you even more energy. You are essentially using your subsystem efficiency to drive your Warp engines.  
• Because of the way Warp calculations work, 250% power to Warp will only double Warp speed. 220% power will result in 1.76 times the speed, and 300% 2.4 times. This isn't true of Impulse, which is doubled at 200% and tripled at 300% like most other systems. 
• Even with 8 coolant, setting Warp power to 250% will slowly overheat the Engines, as shown in the table above. 240% is recommended for long duration Warp. 
• This may not be true for Artemis Cosmos. As noted, heat seems to build up and then stop for a single system.  
• While precise testing has not yet been done under Artemis Cosmos, the logic should still be sound no matter how much the values have changed.  
• Jump Drive energy settings matter only the exact moment you initiate the jump (warm up time is calculated) or complete the jump (time it takes to get the console screens back online is calculated) 
• With Jump drive, you need your Helm to signal he's pressing the INITIATE button, then set jump energy to 300%, wait for the jump warm up sound to begin, take it back to 0, wait for the jump warmup to almost finish, set it to 300% again, wait for the screen to go black, set to 0.
• On a Ximni ship with Jump drive, do not set jump power to 0 unless you want to disable Combat Jump. In combat, when Combat Jump maneuvers may be needed, you should keep jump power at 100%. After a Combat Jump, set power to 300% to decrease the time it takes Combat Jump to recharge. Once it has recharged, set power back to 100%.  
• Those are really "nerdy" ways to do it, but it yields tremendous decrease of power consumption as well as raising the effectiveness of the ship. Using this, you can have both 300% on beams and shields at once without either system overheating too much. 

Hot Keys

• Shift+(1-0): Save Energy and Coolant Presets  This does not work due to a bug in the hot_key_setting.txt file. Add KEY_SHIFT to the keybinds to fix this.

• 1-0: Recall Energy and Coolant Presets 

• Space: Reset Energy Levels (x2 – Reset Coolant Levels)

• Enter: Reset Coolant Levels 

• 1-8: Click on button on grid interface. This function seems to override all others. Set keybind in hot_key_setttings.txt to add KEY_CONTROL or KEY_ALT to fix this.

Customizing the GUI

The Engineering controls can be rearranged to suit the Engineering Officer by pressing and holding the "F5" key. This will cause the widgets that make up the display to be highlighted. The widgets may be moved with the mouse or resized by clicking on a corner of the rectangle and dragging that corner. Different resolutions of the window may define different locations for each widget.

The image above has been modified to more clearly show the coolant connections between the Subsystems in the upper coolant widget and the power sliders in the lower power allocation widget. At the resolution chosen, the power allocation section should be slightly narrower. For best results, the Engineering console should be displayed in Fullscreen, to allow as much room as possible for the controls. In windowed mode, the coolant connections will often appear behind the sliders and be hidden. Of course, you may edit the display as I did.