5

I've started playing Space Pirates and Zombies, and while I am enjoying it immensely, I've come across an issue that I am sure someone here would be able to shed some light on.

I have found that with one of my ships, once I fire my weapons, I do lose energy for the shot itself, which makes perfect sense, but then I lose even more energy after I've fired my weapons. Here is a video clip demonstrating the issue:

And here is the configuration of the ship in question:

Layout

The ship is equipped with a pair of small overload emitters:

emitters

I originally thought firing the weapons removes my cloak, so that the additional power draw is for reestablishing it, but after swapping it out for a shield the situation did not change.

So, what's up with this mysterious power draw?

Improve this question
2
  • Does this still happen if you use a regular shield instead of cloak?
    – l I
    Commented Feb 2, 2012 at 20:36
  • @yx. It does still happen. The plot thickens.
    – Aubergine
    Commented Feb 2, 2012 at 20:43

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5

I tested this with shields instead of cloak, and I had the same result - my energy continued to drain after the emitters were finished firing. At first I thought that it was perhaps a bug, as switching to other weapon types doesn't yield this behavior.

Then I noticed that the small orange "glow" around the emitters was running in reverse when the second power drain occurred. This leads me to believe that perhaps the emitters take some energy to fire, and then some energy to recharge for the next shot.

Improve this answer
3
  • 3
    Yup, I noticed this while playing the game as well. There's no background information to support it, but here's my theory: emitters in SPAZ are analogous to real systems like a camera flash or a railgun, where you need to drop a ton of energy all at once. Normally, your battery or household power won't support something like that, so what you do is you slowly charge up some capacitors, and then let them release the violent burst of energy. If SPAZ emitters used something like that in the fluff, it would be consistent with their reactor usage cycles.
    – Tacroy
    Commented Feb 2, 2012 at 22:05
  • Yes, I guess this is just how beam weapons act (thanks for the real-world perspective on this, @Tacroy). This is strengthened by the beam booster module's description, which talks about recharge and recycle times.
    – Aubergine
    Commented Feb 2, 2012 at 23:29
  • @Tacroy, this is pretty much exactly what I had in mind.
    – agent86
    Commented Feb 2, 2012 at 23:31

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.