A version of the Orthin Busbar subsystem is now active on the internal test system and on the Steam beta branch (the opt-in code is "alphatesting"). Any feedback and testing that you folks are willing to put into it over the weekend are very welcome and will be greatly appreciated.

Orthin military hulls of cruiser size and larger now have a special "Busbar" hardpoint (this was previously called "Capacitor" and was non-functional). This represents the superior Orthin power transmission capability. The Busbar hardpoint can mount four different components, two of which are new:

Blast Doors (Titanium Construction): increases armor
Shield Regenerator (Deflector Screens): increase shield regeneration rate
Shield Capacitor (Shield Capacitors): stores a portion of damage absorbed by shields for later offensive or defensive use
Power Converter (Zero-Point Energy): provides additional power

The Shield Capacitor is the primary target for the busbar slot, and it provides additional tactical actions. Whenever a ship equipped with a Shield Capacitor takes shield damage, a portion of the energy is stored in the capacitor. This energy can be released at any time and used either to boost shields or overcharge weapons.

The "SHIELD BOOST" and "OVERCHARGE" buttons in the tactical UI show the current charge of the capacitor. Clicking on either action will spend the current stored energy on the appropriate function. Once the capacitor is fully charged, any extra energy absorbed is lost until the capacitor is discharged.

SHIELD BOOST: applies the stored energy to reinforce shields. Reinforcement over the normal maximum shield strength lasts until the next turn.
OVERCHARGE: diverts stored energy to the main weapons. Only affects the direct fire weapon in the retractable hull slots and any siege hardpoints; does not affect missiles, fighters or point-defense weapons. The available energy is divided amongst the eligible weapon mounts.

Tested Shield Capacitator on Cruiser so far: no issues
Both shield boost and Overcharge worked. Overcharge gave the Cruiser 10X as much damage for 3 heavy lasers on long range

The blinking lights seem to represent the level of charge - though so far I could not differentiate between the various levels of charge based on hteir speed: seems there are only two speed levels for now: no charge and some charge

When equipping Shield Capacitor and Shield Regen Module on the same hull: Error when saving the design
Clicking on the galaxy map returns the screen-error stays

See error below

zolobolo wrote:When equipping Shield Capacitor and Shield Regen Module on the same hull: Error when saving the design
Clicking on the galaxy map returns the screen-error stays

Thanks for finding this one. It should be fixed as of r22089.

Tried testing the new modules with the AI so started game with 3 Orthin AI, hardest difficulty, normal speed

Ir is turn 172, one of the AIs has produced 3 Dreadnought already but none of the AI controlled ships from the three empires has shield capacitor -Doesn't seem like the AI recognizes the tech, or equips the module when researched

Shield Capacitor: Shields improve along with weapons, but as time goes by there are (usually) also more ships involved in each battle, which will be focusing all their weapons in the weakest/closest target. Eventually, there is a very small margin between getting shot enough to charge it but not enough to die (unless is a rather small, balanced forces battle), especially against bombers/missile/torpedoes fleets* where ALL the ships can focus fire on the same target**. So I guess my suggestion is to reduce damage taken to activate (and reduce effectiveness along)

Power Converter: Basically, remove the Quantum generator and add another Force Field on medium ships. On bigger ships, sometimes you have to sacrifice some weapon's mods, sometimes you only have enough energy left for a Battle Shield. On your Dreadnought, you can have Stellar Surge AND all of the other usual weaponry. But... Precisely the Gunship doesn't have a busbar slot???

Not being able to use unique race equipment on Super-Dreadnoughts & Dread Stars makes me

*Against Tinkers I just ended switching my usual shield regenerator for more PD. There is no second chance against those missile waves.

**Either give some penalty for shooting missiles/torpedos from far away (the longer they fly, the more time to lock/aim on them you have) or give advanced PD weapons (Defense primaries) more range. Ships get bigger, but their defense range doesn't increase. Adding small ships in between doesn't help when they just get vaporized in a single shot because they have to be touching the front line.

Danath wrote:Shield Capacitor: Shields improve along with weapons, but as time goes by there are (usually) also more ships involved in each battle, which will be focusing all their weapons in the weakest/closest target. Eventually, there is a very small margin between getting shot enough to charge it but not enough to die (unless is a rather small, balanced forces battle), especially against bombers/missile/torpedoes fleets* where ALL the ships can focus fire on the same target**. So I guess my suggestion is to reduce damage taken to activate (and reduce effectiveness along)

The capacitor doesn't have to be fully charged to use. You can activate it with a partial charge.