Asteroids with ice

[elwoodps]

Jul 17, 2015 10:33:02 GMT -5 Chance said:

Jul 17, 2015 9:16:35 GMT -5 elwoodps said:

I think there's also a difference in how fast they refuel that favors heavier reactors too. 

Suppose you have three ships, one with a Fast Reactor 11, one with a Reactor 12, and one with a Heavy Reactor 15 all sitting in green space around one of your colonies.  Although all three of these are "Refuel 5/Turn" reactors, the Heavy Reactor 15 will generate significantly more water fuel per turn than the Reactor 12, which will generate significantly more water fuel per turn than the Fast Reactor 11.

I'm not exactly sure about the mechanics of this; I guess it's some kind of multiplier.  

Is the better refueling efficiency of the heavy reactor why Cory Trese suggested using them in the asteroid areas earlier?

I'm not sure.  It appeared that he was talking about lower maintenance costs (for Heavy Reactors), which I've heard mentioned other times in the past. 

But I just checked the stats in the ship builder for a few standard and heavy reactors with similar capabilities, (same AP, MP and Mass) the base maintenance costs appear to be the same.

Compare the the Reactor 9 to the Heavy Reactor 4 in these two shots:





I've heard that there are maintenance cost penalties when a ship isn't full of fuel or is damaged, so there's likely some indirect savings with the heavy reactor (faster refueling should mean less turns paying the penalty rate while waiting for the ship to finish refueling). 

Maybe the low-fuel and damage penalties are lower for the heavy reactor?  No telling, since the ship builder only shows the base rates.

Perhaps Cory Trese will shed some light on this.