1 vs 2 reactors on ships

jpwrunyan · Post by **jpwrunyan** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 1:47 am

What are the pros and cons of having 1 reactor vs 2 on your ships? Which do you prefer?

I put 2 on everything beacuse it boosts hyperspace speed. And there is not a single ship civilian or military that doesnt need more speed. I also paint them red because that also makes them go faster.

Gray Death · Post by **Gray Death** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 1:52 am

as your tech increase the better versions of the fission reactor got enough power for max hyper speed. But the number of reactors depends for me on max. energy usage of the shipdesign. My Capital Ship has 3 or 4 reactors.

jpwrunyan · Post by **jpwrunyan** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:15 am

Of course. I should emphasize this is in regards to early game strategy. Although I would be interested to know more about getting max hyerspace speed out of one reactor. I have yet to do it.

Gray Death · Post by **Gray Death** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:21 am

For private ships it is not a wise idea to put 2 reactors on them, because of the fuel consumption. I would strongly suggest to research the first fission upgrade, it doesn´t cost much and it will be immedeatly applied to all existing ships.

jpwrunyan · Post by **jpwrunyan** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:35 am

Thanks. That is the kind of advice I am looking for. If the two-reactor design were such a no-brainer then why wouldnt the default designs start with them? That is what I am thinking. But what about explorers? Colony ships? Faster is better right?

Gelatinous Cube · Post by **Gelatinous Cube** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:42 am

I designed my first honest-to-god ship that I intended to use in Combat, today.. after having played DW for over a year, and never really jumping into ship design.

I never got to use it for its intended purpose, so I never got to see if it was any good.. but I did put two reactors on it!

2ndACR · Post by **2ndACR** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:31 am

My DD's have 2 of the first reactors and then get 3 once they can go to size 300. They all start with 6 thrust, then go to 8-10 as size allows. Once I get the Quantum reactor and accerleros engines, my DD's run along at about 8.7 speed. My escorts are speed 13 and frigates at around 10. Set to stand off, with some missle weapons they are awesome ships.

My cruisers get 4-5 reactors, and sometimes more.

GC, that ships looks like a Silvermist killer. I never have more than 2-3 vectors, but I like that turn rate. Might have to check that out.

Warspite3 · Post by **Warspite3** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:42 am

This is great because I never even realized that adding reactors increases hyper speed. I thought that hyper speed was only increased through research so all of my designs had only 1 reactor. I just built two reactors on a troop transport design and it nearly doubled it's hyper speed!

Gelatinous Cube · Post by **Gelatinous Cube** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:51 am

ORIGINAL: Warspite3

This is great because I never even realized that adding reactors increases hyper speed. I thought that hyper speed was only increased through research so all of my designs had only 1 reactor. I just built two reactors on a troop transport design and it nearly doubled it's hyper speed!

It doesn't, actually. Just that the default designs (at least at the beginning of the game.. AI Designs improve somewhat with tech) don't have enough reactors to fully exploit the hyperdrive--meaning you run around at like 7k Speed instead of closer to 12k.

Gray Death · Post by **Gray Death** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:53 am

Here is my silvermist destroyer design from the year 2785

As you can see, i looked energy wise for a coverage of sprint energy use + weapon energy use, but it was too much.[:D]
But 8 of them + a 683 size carrier did the trick.

Gelatinous Cube · Post by **Gelatinous Cube** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:56 am

Why do you have shields on a Silvermist killer? Just because you can spare the goods, and might get attacked by someone else on the way?

Also, why does your energy curve turn down at Hyperdrive, where mine stays flat?

I must know! I'll likely always use auto designs for most of my fleet, but having the freedom to build a few custom fleets for what I want would be nice.

Gray Death · Post by **Gray Death** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:04 am

The silvermister is an extreme design, i post a destroyer to compare.

Also, the curve scales to energy usage, so at sprint it tooks 352 energy, at hyperspeed 64, so it turns down.

And with shields, yeah, thats also the reason why it has one phaser cannon. I had some trouble with silvermist ships if pirates show up in the system. Ive got around 30 colonies and so much is happening that i cant babysit those silvermist fighters.

Here is my destroyer:

Texashawk · Post by **Texashawk** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:10 am

Wow. You learn something new every day. Played for a year and never knew adding more reactors increased hyperspace speed. Counterintuitive, but helpful!

Gray Death · Post by **Gray Death** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:13 am

It only increase the hyperspeed if one reactor hasn´t enough power for maximum hyperspeed, the max speed of the hyper tech is untouched.

Gelatinous Cube · Post by **Gelatinous Cube** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:14 am

That's pretty rockin', man. I think I'm getting the hang of this ship design thing. Now if only I had a good way to implement custom designs on a small scale, with a mostly automated fleet. Currently feasible (and I'm overlooking something?) or not quite possible without lots of wonkyness?

Gray Death · Post by **Gray Death** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:22 am

I don´t see what is hindering you to use custom designs in automated fleets...?

Gelatinous Cube · Post by **Gelatinous Cube** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:26 am

ORIGINAL: Gray Carlyle

I don´t see what is hindering you to use custom designs in automated fleets...?

Mostly a lack of understanding on how the AI deals with ship design and retrofitting. I know it works--because my silvermist destroyers never got redesigned or retrofitted--but I'm not sure why. Was it purely because I never put them on auto?

Gray Death · Post by **Gray Death** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:35 am

Ah, ok. I control retrofit the ships myself, because I have bad memories about the ai letting do this on the smallest spaceport it can find

Gelatinous Cube · Post by **Gelatinous Cube** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:25 am

ORIGINAL: Gray Carlyle

Ah, ok. I control retrofit the ships myself, because I have bad memories about the ai letting do this on the smallest spaceport it can find

Its much better in legends. If you put a small spaceport at every world, and pepper bigger ones at good intervals (near where your fleets are massed, obviously) then it will retrofit intelligently. It still takes time, but so does everything else.

Warspite3 · Post by **Warspite3** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:51 am

The speed is insane on that Silvermist Destroyer, everything across the board except impulse! I also see weapons and components on that ship which I never even seen before since I end up losing the game before I ever get that advanced. If I had a fleet of those, I could quickly hop to any world which is under attack unlike my slow ships now where by the time I get there, the colony has already been destroyed and even the enemy fleet is long gone [X(] I am finding out at least one good fast fleet is important to quickly defend certain areas for this very reason and to keep from having to put strong fleets at every important colony.

1 vs 2 reactors on ships

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