Reactors

In StarMade, nearly all functional Computers, Modules and Blocks require power. As of version 0.201.200, the StarMade Power System has been overhauled with a different model to generate and utilize ship or station power. The ‘Power 2.0’ system is primarily based on a commensalistic relationship between a series Reactor Power modules and an array of Reactor Stabilizer modules. The Reactor Power block produces power, but without the required Reactor Stabilizer modules, the reactor is limited. The Stabilizers however are independent, and do not require any other block for functioning or optimization.

Reactor Blocks and Overview

Reactor Stabilizer
Hit Points	100
Armor	0.5%
Volume	0.1
Mass	0.15
Luminosity	none
Data Value (ID)	1009

Reactor Power
Hit Points	100
Armor	0.5%
Mass	0.40
Luminosity	none
Data Value (ID)	1008

Reactor Stabilizer Stream Node
Hit Points	50
Armor	0.0%
Mass	0.10
Luminosity	none
Data Value (ID)	66

There are five possible components to reactors: Reactor Power blocks, Reactor Stabilizer blocks, Reactor Stabilizer Stream Node blocks, and Reactor Chambers and their connecting Reactor Conduits.

System Modules

The original info-card is used as a graphical depiction of the generic effects of the two block types working in harmony. As with the previous version of the power system, the sheer amount of raw power is dependent on number of placed reactor blocks within a group. However, group and dimension sizes no longer matter, and only the sheer number of power reactors are what determines the possible power output.

Reactor Chambers provide ship-wide buffs and special abilities, however add complexity to the reactor. Reactor Chambers are linked to the reactor with Conduits. The minimum size of the Reactor Chambers is correlated to Reactor size. This minimum size can be seen in the Reactor menu and when placing Chamber blocks. Each chamber will use a portion of Reactor Points, a virtual mechanic, that adds up to 100%. Making Chamber designs that go over 100% eventually deactivate all Chambers effecting the mother entity. This page will not discuss Reactor Chambers and Conduit usage in detail.

Finally, an optional block to add to and customize Reactor Systems is the Reactor Stabilizer Stream Node. The Reactor Stream, that is created from the center of the active Reactor group to the center of each Stabilizer Group, will be redirected through the nodes. Multiple nodes may be placed to for a multi-point form for the stream to reroute through. This allows for builders to route the stream through protected areas of the entity, protecting the stream from possible damage. Damage hitting the streams will temporarily reduce power output.

Developer Chart From Jan 20, 2018 News Update.

Power Distribution

The biggest change in power mechanic for the ship or station usage of the power system is that there is no longer a capacitance or battery power, but rather only a constant stream of limited recharging power. As such, every usage of the power system is now in terms of amount of energy per sec (e/sec) versus raw or instantaneous energy upon activation. The difference, between a resting or charging amount of energy needed is dependent on the system type and size. E.g, the basic factory will use 10 e/sec when not in use, but when activated, jumps to 50 e/sec (with no upgrades or modifiers).

The power distribution of the ship or station will depend on the individual entity, modified by the player. When power usage overtakes power production, certain systems will start to receive reduced or no power, as listed in a priority list set by the player. An entity may have more than one reactor group (a connected series of Reactor Power blocks), but only one reactor will be active, using that groups power production and size as the determining factor for active chambers, and power production available to systems on the entity. Therefore multiple reactors turn into redundant or modifying reactors to change the secondary effects of chambers to the ship. This page will not go into detail about this or other power routing systems as set in the game.

Legacy Reactors

Information on legacy power systems can be found here. However, it is strongly recommended that you no longer use legacy power. It currently remains in-game for compatibility reasons, However it is largely unsupported and will be fully deprecated in the future.

Power system and stabilizer placement

Overview

The current power model is simply a linear relationship between the number of Reactor Power blocks used and amount of power generated. Damage reduction and other effectiveness due to low stability will not be discussed in this page. All reactors above a certain size need stabilizing. Reactors can be stabilized by placing down Stabilizers at a distance from the reactor. The optimum distance is the distance at which a Stabilizer block provides maximum stability and its value increases exponentially with the number of Reactor Power blocks used by default. If Stabilizers are not placed at an optimum distance from the reactor, they provide a fraction of the maximum stability which decreases linearly. The game GUI indicated where stabilizers will be most effective. Reactors with lower stability take higher damage upon being hit and give a reduced power output below a certain stability.

Note that all distances are measured from the approximate shape of the reactor and in blocks.

Formulae

Below is a list of variables and their current settings as of 0.201.200, as listed in <gamefolder>\StarMade\data\config\blockBehaviorConfig.xml:

Power variables

Config file name	Meaning	Symbol	Default value
ReactorCalcStyle	Active Calculation Model: Linear, Logarithmic and Logarithmic_Leveled are possible		EXP
ReactorStabilizerDistanceExpMult	Exponential Multiplier	C1	10
ReactorStabilizerDistanceExp	Exponent	a	0.333
ReactorStabilizerStartingDistance	Offset Distance, Constant	s0	-7.5
ReactorStabilizerLinearFalloffOne	Optimal Distance Constant of Stabilizers	F1	1.0
ReactorStabilizerLinearFalloffZero	Minimum Distance Constant of Stabilizers	F0	0.0
ReactorStabilizerFreeMainReactorBlocks	Number of Reactors that are not affected by stability	Bf	10
ReactorStabilizerDistanceTotalMult	Final Multiplier	C0	2.0
ReactorStabilizationPowerEffectiveFull	Percent of stability required for Full Power Output	E	0.25
ReactorStabilizerGroupingProximity	Proximity of Stabilizer groups below which they get grouped	G0	3

The stability of a reactor is determined by summing up the stabilities added by each Stabilizer block. The stability added by a Stabilizer a model that is dependant on the number of reactor blocks used (B), the number of Stabilizer blocks used, the distances of each Stabilizer from the reactor (D_i) and the relative location of the Stabilizer group of which the Stabilizer is a part.

The optimum distance (D_opt) a Stabilizer block needs to be to contribute maximum stability is:

D_opt = F₁ · C₀ · [s₀ + (C₁ · (B - B_f)^a)]

The minimum distance a Stabilizer block needs to be to contribute to stability is:

D_min = F₀ · C₀ · [s₀ + (C₁ · (B - B_f)^a)]

As of 0.201.200, the value of F₀ (and hence D_min) is simply set to 0. This means that unless you place a Stabilizer directly beside the reactor, it will contribute to stability. The amount of stability (Y) added by each Stabilizer block at distance (Di) from the reactor is:

Y = min[1, [(D_i - D_min) / (D_opt - D_min)]] / B

Then the total stability (Y_net) for a given setup is determined by summing up the stabilities due to each Stabilizer module:

Y_net = min[1, [B_f + Σ_i min[1, [(D_i - D_min) / (D_opt - D_min)]] ] / B]

This value lies between 0 (0%) and 1 (100%) and is displayed in the Entity Sidebar in Build Mode. The Power (e/sec) generation follows a linear relation with the number of Reactor Power modules placed (B) as long as the stability of the reactor (Y_net) is greater than ReactorStabilizationPowerEffectiveFull (E) which is set to 25% as of 0.201.200. When stabilization falls below E, the power generation decreases linearly as:

Power = min[100 · B, 100 · B · (Y_net / E)]

Dimensional bonuses

To encourage building in multiple dimensions, post 0.200.332, dimensional bonuses were added to the stabilizers system. A reduction by a factor of dimensional bonus (J) is provided to the optimum distance (D_opt) of a Stabilizer if it is part of a group that . The stage of a reactor is the number of independent sides relative to the reactor axes that stabilizer groups are placed. Stage 1 is when all stabilizer groups are on the same side relative to the reactor axes, stage 2 is when two stabilizer groups are placed on two different sides relative to the reactor axes, stage 3 is when three stabilizer groups are placed on three different sides relative to the reactor axes, and so on.

The assumption made is that the stabilizer groups are equidistant (or at least optimum) from the reactor, and are all the same size. As soon as either distance or size of the stabilizer groups are changed, the contributions to the dimensional bonuses are reduced and modified. If there are more than one stabilizer group on a side of the reactor axes, then the largest stabilizer group is used for the purposes of the dimensional bonus.

Stabilizer groups within a distance (G₀) of each other are grouped as one while calculating dimensional bonuses and a single power stream runs to them. This distance (G₀) is set to 3 as of 0.201.200.

The additional bonuses for each stage are listed in the games configs and the dimensional bonus (J) can be found by summing up all the stage bonuses upto the present stage. Below is a list of the additional stage bonuses as of 0.201.200, as listed in <gamefolder>\StarMade\data\config\blockBehaviorConfig.xml:

Dimensional bonus variables

Config file name	Meaning	Default Value	J (dimensional bonus)
	Stage 1	1	1
ReactorStablizationBonus2	Additional bonus for Stage 2	1	1 + 1 = 2
ReactorStablizationBonus3	Additional bonus for Stage 3	1	1 + 1 + 1 = 3
ReactorStablizationBonus4	Additional bonus for Stage 4	0.8	1 + 1 + 1 + 0.8 = 3.8
ReactorStablizationBonus5	Additional bonus for Stage 5	0.6	1 + 1 + 1 + 0.8 + 0.6 = 4.4
ReactorStablizationBonus6	Additional bonus for Stage 6	0.5	1 + 1 + 1 + 0.8 + 0.6 + 0.5 = 4.9

The optimum distance (D_opt) for each stabilizer then decreases by a factor of (J) for each Stabilizer which is part of the groups contributing to the dimensional bonus, meaning the optimum distance (D_opt) decreases by a factor of 2, 3, 3.8, 4.4, 4.9 for a Stage 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 reactor respectively.

Finally, using the default values as of 0.201.200 in the above formulae, we see that:

• A reactor with lesser than 10 Reactor Power blocks will need 0 Stabilizers to achieve 100% stability.
• All reactor larger than 10 Reactor Power blocks and with 0 Stabilizers will have a power generation of 4000 e/sec.
• Reactors will achieve full power generation at 25% stability.
• For a reactor larger than 10 Reactor Power blocks to attain 25% stability, the number of Stabilizer blocks that should be placed at optimum distance or more is given by (B / 4) - 10.
• For a reactor larger than 10 Reactor Power blocks to attain 100% stability, the number of Stabilizer blocks that should be placed at optimum distance or more is given by B - 10.
• Stabilizers placed at less than optimum distance linearly contribute lesser to stability. One block at optimum distance contributes equally to 2 two blocks placed to half the optimal distance.
• When equally sized stabilizer groups are placed on two, three, four, five or six sides of the reactor axes, the optimal distance decreases by a factor of 2, 3, 3.8, 4.4 and 4.9 respectively.

To point the system into an example, for a ship that has a cubic reactor made up by a 343 Reactor Power blocks, the optimum distance for effective stabilizers is 123.4, therefore 124 blocks away. We would need 343 - 10 Stabilizer blocks to be placed at 124 blocks or more away to achieve 100% stability. Placing Stabilizer blocks in two groups on two different sides of the reactor, we would need 167 (166.5) blocks placed on each of the two sides, each group at a distance of 62 blocks. Placing Stabilizer blocks in three groups on three different sides of the reactor, we would need 111 blocks placed on each of the three sides, each group at a distance of 42 (41,13) blocks.

Optimization

Based on the exponential distance model when a = 0.333, there is no loss or change of Reactor Power per block. While there is code in the config files for a ‘soft cap’ of power, tests do not indicate a loss of power per block (i.e. 100 e/sec/block) above the indicated level (150000) of blocks or power, therefore, the system is theoretically infinitely scalable (not playtime tested yet) providing an immense and very large power generation for a very large number of draining blocks.

Therefore there is not a definitive “optimum” power structure like the legacy model, which capped out at a certain size per independent group, caused by the capping or ‘soft cap’ built into the power system. Comparing number of reactor blocks to various metrics, there is not a optimum, but rather a fractional exponential relationship, similar in nature to the relationship between optimum distance and # reactor blocks. Tests of many different metrics have been conducted with no indication of a local optimum between 1 and 10^6 reactor blocks comparing the equations and in game determination.