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Engineering

Page history last edited by RyleyRA 3 years, 10 months ago Saved with comment

 

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 Status display on the Mainscreen to monitor the damage to the ship in this case.

 

Basic Play:

 

  • Power settings:
    • Setting a system above 100% 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.
  • 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. Heat buildup, if any, is displayed in a coloured bar next to each power slider.
    • Overheated systems can be cooled by setting them below 100% and/or allocating coolant to them.
    • Allocate coolant by clicking the yellow pips next to the power allocation sliders on each system.
    • 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):
      0
      2
      4
      6
      8
      100%
      150%
      190%
      220%
      250%

 

 

 

  • Energy Presets:
    • Use SHIFT+(number key) to save an energy/coolant configuration. Load the configuration by pressing the relevant number key.
    • Suggestions include "Travel mode" with high power to warp/impulse/maneuver, and a "Red alert" mode with increased power to shields, beams, and torps.
    • Experiment to find the settings that work for you and your crew.
    • Press SPACE to reset all systems to 100%.
    • 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 white diamonds traveling along the lines of the Artemis structure.
    • DamCon teams automatically move to the location of a damaged system node and begin repairs, but can be given superseding orders by clicking them to select and then clicking the node they should concentrate on. (It's not currently known whether multiple teams results 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 will be injured or killed, resulting in decreased damage control effectiveness until the Artemis can dock at a space station and take on additional crew.
    • Turning off the Autonomous control will cause DamCon teams to stop moving automatically to repair damaged nodes. They must be directed manually. This can be useful to prevent teams from being injured when the ship is under fire, or if a system has intentionally been set to overheat.  

 

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:   

 

System Function when powered  No Power  Energy Drain Factor 
Primary Beam  Affects beam cooldown rate.  Beams will not fire.  x3 
Torpedo  Affects tube reload speed.  Tubes cannot be loaded, fired, or unloaded.  x1 
Sensors  Affects science scanning speed.  Long Range Sensors screens are unavailable.  x1 
Maneuver  Affects turning rate.  Ship cannot turn.  x2 
Impulse  Affects impulse speed.  Ship cannot use impulse.  x4 
Warp  Affects warp speed.  Ship cannot use warp.  x6 
Jump Drive 

Affects jump warm-up and system recovery time.

Ximni only: Affects Combat Jump recharge

A jump requires 30 seconds to warm up.  x6 
Front Shield Affects shield effectiveness and recharge rate. Front shield cannot be raised. x5
Rear Shield Affects shield effectiveness and recharge rate. Rear shield cannot be raised. x5

 

 

    • 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.
    • 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.
    • For more tips on presets see posting http://z13.invisionfree.com/Negativezone/index.php?showtopic=192  
  • 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. 
  • 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. 
  • Getting obsessive with performance -  In practice, you dont 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.
      • Jump Drive energy settings matters 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)
    • 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)
    • With the 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. 

 

 

Official Help Text: This is a transcription of the official helptext from the game, brought up by pressing F1. 

The engineering stations lets an officer control the energy allocation and the DamCon. On the middle right you see the ship, lines representing corridors, dots representing systems, and diamonds representing Damage Control Teams. You can click and drag to rotate the ship. You can click on a DamCon team to select it. You can also click on a spot on the ship to direct the DamCon team to that location. Red dots indicate internal ship damage. Direct your DamCon teams to fix the damage.

 

DamCon teams can suffer casualties, if they are close to a point of the ship that is damaged by enemy fire or overloads. Replenish your DamCon teams by docking with a space station.

 

The eight controls on the bottom of the screen adjust how much of the ships energy goes to each system. Pumping more energy into a system will make it perform better but heat up. If a system gets too hot it will overload and burn out one of the ship's systems. Control the heat of a system by adding up to eight dots of coolant. Coolant helps keep overcharged systems cool. You only have a limited amount of coolant to share between all systems.

 

The number keys on the keyboard can be used to save and restore entire sets of power settings. To store the current energy settings, hold SHIFT and press a number key. To retrieve the setting, just press the number key. 

 

Hot Keys

  • F1: Help

  • F9: Prev Console

  • F10: Next Console

  • Shift+(1-0): Save Energy and Coolant Presets

  • 1-0: Recall Energy and Coolant Presets

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

  • Enter: Reset Coolant Levels

  • W: Power Up

  • S: Power Down

  • A: Prev System

  • D: Next System

  • E: Coolant Up

  • C: Coolant Down

 

 

Related pages

Energy | Damage

 

Comments (2)

Longbowman said

at 4:03 pm on Jun 25, 2013

Is there any information on what node affect what systems when damaged?

Xavier Wise said

at 3:34 pm on Jun 27, 2013

This information is not posted on here. On the Engineering console, you can hover over each node and it will indicate which system it belongs to. Different vessels have a different arrnagements for nodes, and I think some have a different number (I think).

It would be useful information which could easily be added though.

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