[Valrog]

I've seen some references that suggest that the ships you fly in FreeSpace 2 have different energy outputs.

Is this true? If so, where can I view the energy outputs? The Wiki pages seem to have all information about the different ships, except energy outputs.

[Lepanto]

If you want to know a ship's energy regen rate and max energy, you can check its table entry under ships.tbl in Root.vp.

[Valrog]

If you want to know a ship's energy regen rate and max energy, you can check its table entry under ships.tbl in Root.vp.

Thanks, Lepanto! This is very useful.

It seems to be the $Power Output values in the Root_fs2.vp file. E.g. 2.5 for Thoth.

[Spoon]

$Power output literally does nothing. It sit rights with the "stream" flag in the useless clutter box.

[Lepanto]

Retail ships seem to recharge weapon/shield/burner energy at a fixed percentage depending on ETS; the only difference between them power-wise is their max weapon/shield/burner energy.

I may or may not have any clue what I'm talking about.

[FIZ]

Worth noting that difficulty level effects the recharge rate as well.

[AdmiralRalwood]

$Power output literally does nothing. It sit rights with the "stream" flag in the useless clutter box.

It does something by being nonzero. If $Power Output: is 0, the ship can't regenerate shield or weapon energy. Given that "$Power Output:" is an optional string, and it defaults to 0, I'm actually a little surprised nobody ever asked why their ship couldn't regen.

[Valrog]

Hmm then what should we look at in the Root_fs2.vp file?

Here's a sample for the Thoth. If regeneration is constant and only maximum energy varies, where's the maximum energy defined?


$Name:                          GVF Thoth
$Short name:            VFight9
$Species:                       Vasudan
+Type:                          XSTR("Space Superiority", 3081)
+Maneuverability:       XSTR("Excellent", 3082)
+Armor:                         XSTR("Light", 3083)
+Manufacturer:          XSTR("Sahr Corporation", 3084)
+Description:         XSTR(" ", 3085)
$end_multi_text
+Tech Description:
XSTR(
"The GVF Thoth has been manufactured exclusively in the Sahr Corp.'s shipyards at Altair for over 40 years. During the heyday of the Hammer of Light, the HoL captured these yards and the Thoth became a primary fighter among HoL forces. When these shipyards were recaptured, the Thoth once again became an important component of the Vasudan navy. In the hands of a skilled pilot, the Thoth's maneuverability and small size make it a hard target to hit. A single missile bank means that a Thoth pilot relies on his primary weapons to make most kills.", 3086)
$end_multi_text
+Length:          17 Meters
+Gun Mounts:      4
+Missile Banks:   1
$POF file:                      fighter09.pof
$Detail distance:       (0, 70, 300, 700)
$Show damage:           YES
$Density:                       1
$Damp:                          0.2
$Rotdamp:                       0.4
$Max Velocity:          0.0, 0.0, 65.0
$Rotation time:         2.7, 2.7, 3.0
$Rear Velocity:         0.0
$Forward accel:         3.0
$Forward decel:         1.5
$Slide accel:           0.0
$Slide decel:           0.0
$Expl inner rad:        25.0
$Expl outer rad:        55.0
$Expl damage:           15.0
$Expl blast:            1000.0
$Expl Propagates:       NO                                                      ;; If set to Yes, then when the ship dies, the explosion propagates through it.
$Shockwave Speed:       0.0                                             ;; speed shockwave expands at, 0 means no shockwave
$Allowed PBanks:        ( "Mekhu HL-7" "Akheton SDG" "Morning Star" "Prometheus S" "Prometheus R" "Circe" "Lamprey")
$Allowed Dogfight PBanks:        ( "Mekhu HL-7D" "Prometheus D" )
$Default PBanks:        ( "Prometheus R"  )
$Allowed SBanks:        ( "Rockeye"  "Tempest" "Harpoon" "Hornet" "TAG-B" "Tornado" "Hornet#Weak" "EMP Adv." )
$Allowed Dogfight SBanks:        ( "Tempest D" "Hornet D" )
$Default SBanks:        ( "Harpoon" )
$SBank Capacity:        ( 80 )
$Shields:               200
$Shield Color:      100 255 100
$Power Output:          2.5
$Max Oclk Speed:        78.0
$Max Weapon Eng:        150.0
$Hitpoints:             200
$Flags:                 ( "player_ship" "fighter" "in tech database")
$AI Class:              Captain
$Afterburner:           YES
   +Aburn Max Vel:      0.0, 0.0, 130.0
   +Aburn For accel:   0.7
   +Aburn Fuel:        300.0
   +Aburn Burn Rate:   50.0
   +Aburn Rec Rate:    25.0
$Countermeasures:       20
$Scan time:             2000
$EngineSnd:            129                   ;; Engine sound of ship
$Closeup_pos:           0.0, 0.0, -27
$Closeup_zoom:          0.5
$Shield_icon:           shield-f09
$Ship_icon:            iconfighter09
$Ship_anim:            ssfighter09
$Ship_overhead:         loadfightV09
$Score:               10
$Trail:
   +Offset:         -6.2 .20 -2.18
   +Start Width:      0.25
   +End Width:         0.05
   +Start Alpha:      1.0
   +End Alpha:         0.0
   +Max Life:         1.0
   +Spew Time:         120
   +Bitmap:         Contrail01
$Trail:
   +Offset:         6.2 .20 -2.18
   +Start Width:      0.25
   +End Width:         0.05
   +Start Alpha:      1.0
   +End Alpha:         0.0
   +Max Life:         1.0
   +Spew Time:         120
   +Bitmap:         Contrail01
$Subsystem:                     weapons,                                15,0.0
$Subsystem:                     sensors,                                 5,0.0
$Subsystem:                     communications,  5,0.0
$Subsystem:                     navigation,                      5,0.0
$Subsystem:                     engine,                         35,0.0

[niffiwan]

I believe these are the relevant energy maximum values:

Code: [Select]

$Shields:               200
...
$Max Weapon Eng:        150.0
...
   +Aburn Fuel:        300.0


[Thisisaverylongusername]

$Power output literally does nothing. It sit rights with the "stream" flag in the useless clutter box.

I can prove that it does something. The Ares, with all of its ETS energy in weapons, can fire quad-maxims continuously. However, the Erinyes, with all of its ETS energy in weapons, can't.

[General Battuta]

Look at the post above yours, tho

[Spoon]

$Power output literally does nothing. It sit rights with the "stream" flag in the useless clutter box.

It does something by being nonzero. If $Power Output: is 0, the ship can't regenerate shield or weapon energy. Given that "$Power Output:" is an optional string, and it defaults to 0, I'm actually a little surprised nobody ever asked why their ship couldn't regen.

Okay, so it does literally almost nothing! 

I can prove that it does something. The Ares, with all of its ETS energy in weapons, can fire quad-maxims continuously. However, the Erinyes, with all of its ETS energy in weapons, can't.

That's not power output doing anything, that's the difference in max weapon energy. The Ares has 180, the Eryines 150. With the default regen rate of 4% (assuming no increase because of difficulty) an Ares regens 7.2 points of energy wheras the Eryiness regens 6. None of these ships should be able to continuously fire a quad bank of maxims on a difficulty above easy. A maxim consumes a wooping 6.6 energy per second, if you fire four of them they eat 26.4 points of energy per second. On easy the player gets 4 times the weapon energy regeneration rate. Which would be 28.8 points of regen for the Ares and 24 for the Eryines.

I hope that explains it for you 

[Valrog]

Thanks, guys!

[Cyborg17]

This is really helpful.  That part of modding is a little obtuse.

[karajorma]

Okay, so it does literally almost nothing! 

Or it does something if it is nothing, and nothing if it is something.

[Spoon]

Hah, true