High-Tier Engines on the Starter Ship?

[Ryan]

Is it worth it? If I bought the most expensive engine and put it on my starter ship? Or am I gonna be bleeding myself dry to pay for fuel?

Is speed matched 1:1 with fuel use? That is, if I get an engine that goes twice as fast, does it also use twice as much fuel? Or, for example, does it go twice as fast but use THREE times more fuel?

[Elitewrecker PT]

There are some in depth threads about it. But it's not linear.

[Tystefy]

All I know for sure is that using "Full Power" speeds you up by 1.5x but uses 3x fuel.

[Wlerin]

Originally posted by torchwood202:

All I know for sure is that using "Full Power" speeds you up by 1.5x but uses 3x fuel.

*speeds you up by 1.75x but uses 2x fuel

Fuel consumption increases linearly with power, at the rate of 1% of a barrel per second, per 1000 power, on second gear.

Speed increases at a slower, nonlinear rate (probably something like a logarithmic function)

[Skinny Pete]

Originally posted by torchwood202:

All I know for sure is that using "Full Power" speeds you up by 1.5x but uses 3x fuel.

Don't forget that it also increases the burn rate from the light. I don't know the exact numbers on this.

This can be also used to speed up how quickly it goes out of Full Steam mode, if you're away from whatever you were trying to escape and want to lessen the chance of the engine exploding, since I think that's time-based.

[Ryan]

Originally posted by Skinny Pete:

Originally posted by torchwood202:

All I know for sure is that using "Full Power" speeds you up by 1.5x but uses 3x fuel.

Don't forget that it also increases the burn rate from the light. I don't know the exact numbers on this.

This can be also used to speed up how quickly it goes out of Full Steam mode, if you're away from whatever you were trying to escape and want to lessen the chance of the engine exploding, since I think that's time-based.

Are you sure? Every single thing I've read suggests that the lamp burns fuel at the same rate no matter what.

[Elitewrecker PT]

It shouldn't, why would it.

[Skinny Pete]

Originally posted by Ryan:

Originally posted by Skinny Pete:

Don't forget that it also increases the burn rate from the light. I don't know the exact numbers on this.

This can be also used to speed up how quickly it goes out of Full Steam mode, if you're away from whatever you were trying to escape and want to lessen the chance of the engine exploding, since I think that's time-based.

Are you sure? Every single thing I've read suggests that the lamp burns fuel at the same rate no matter what.

I'm not sure that full power actually makes the lamp burn fuel faster than it normally does, but I know you can speed up the consumption of fuel by turning on the lamp in general, and end the full power cycle.

If this Fuel article is right, though, it merely burns 1% of fuel every second.

In normal cruise, the equation for fuel consumption is as follows: (((Engine Power*0.0005)*(1-Fuel Efficiency))*Gear Speed)+Light = Fuel drain/s(in %)

Where:

Gear Speed is 1 for half speed and 2 for full speed
Light is 0 if off, 1 if on. (this means that the ship's light use 1% of fuel every second, regardless of your speed)

That equation seems to put fuel consumption for the light as a constant outside of the gear speed multiplier. It's also for normal engine speed, not full power. There's also an article on Full Power! But it doesn't say how it actually affects that equation, just:

Engine temperature will both rise and return to normal in a gradual manner after the current barrel of Fuel is fully consumed, as if the captain had ordered crew to stoke the boiler, rather than toggling between two discrete binary states.

So while the engine is at full power, it has the category of "Peculiar Noises" and that continues until the current barrel of fuel is consumed, and the engine exploding is an event triggered by the presence of that condition, and whether events happen are checked on a time basis.

So if I'm reading all this crap correctly, the Full Power (that you trigger by hitting F) does NOT cause the light to consume more fuel, and I was wrong about that, but I think, if these are correct, that using the light DOES cause the "Peculiar Noises" to go away faster because of consuming more fuel (just at its usual rate) so you can somewhat lessen the chance of explosion by turning the light on whenever you want to end Full Power sooner.

[Optimate]

Originally posted by Ryan:

Is it worth it? If I bought the most expensive engine and put it on my starter ship? Or am I gonna be bleeding myself dry to pay for fuel?

It can get expensive in terms of fuel alone but just as important is the effect it will have on your cargo capacity. There'll be some saving in space because you won't need to load up as much in the way of supplies but it won't compensate for all the extra fuel you'll be needing. Whilst that trade off saves you echoes (because fuel is cheaper) it robs you of the opportunity for profit carrying cargo around. With the steamer I found the Illyrian gave enough of a speed boost to be useful but still gave reasonable fuel consumption.

[Skinny Pete]

I wouldn't bother getting anything more than the Illyrian or Boadicea at most. If possible, just prioritize getting the Serpentine and skip them, though. The Serpentine should be good enough to hold you over until you get the Impeller.

Still, the Magician just doesn't always show up really quickly, and trying to run any ship but that floating rubber bath duck you start out with on the Ancient Steeple-Engine is an exercise in frustration.

Oh, and it is impossible to overemphasize what absolute trash the Caminus Yards Compulsion engine is. I am generally pretty cavalier about fuel and spam the Avid Suppressor with or without lights on with pretty much any engine I have, although getting the Impeller is usually something I do as quickly as possible. However, this engine and to a lesser extent the Manticore No. 4 are like fueling your engine with $100 bills. They're ridiculous and the impact on speed marginal at best except with the biggest ships. And with those, watching the fuel burn bar is appalling.

(I usually go with the Boadicea as my first upgrade if I can't get the Serpentine quickly, although I have a feeling the Illyrian is probably the best balance between cost and "feel" of speed. Either of them in a large ship like the Merchant with Avid Suppressor is at least tolerable.)

[Axz]

I wouldn't buy the best engine for a starter ship, you'll move real quick but your fuel will deplete so fast you'll need at least 30 fuel to go across the map. You can reduce that by not running the lights and just dealing with the terror, but you'll soon have lots of nightmares and your menaces will stack up.

Don't buy the best engine until you have a ship that can hold a LOT of fuel and then the supplies and other things you'll need (by best engine I mean the +5000 engine power one). Go for the Fulgent Impeller when you get the chance, once you've learnt the quest line it'll probably be the first thing you do on every new captain.

[Skinny Pete]

Originally posted by Axz:

I wouldn't buy the best engine for a starter ship, you'll move real quick but your fuel will deplete so fast you'll need at least 30 fuel to go across the map. You can reduce that by not running the lights and just dealing with the terror, but you'll soon have lots of nightmares and your menaces will stack up.

Don't buy the best engine until you have a ship that can hold a LOT of fuel and then the supplies and other things you'll need (by best engine I mean the +5000 engine power one). Go for the Fulgent Impeller when you get the chance, once you've learnt the quest line it'll probably be the first thing you do on every new captain.

That's funny because I'd call that the ABSOLUTE WORST ENGINE in the game, period. NEVER BUY THE CAMINUS YARDS COMPULSION. It is absolute garbage and there's a reason you can sell it back for 0 Echoes, because that's what it's worth. If you made the mistake of buying it, just dump it in the zee.

[Whochin-Uang]

Just spam full power on the base engine, store engines gives you nothing but burns your fuel at a faster rate.

[Wlerin]

Originally posted by Axz:

Don't buy the best engine until you have a ship that can hold a LOT of fuel and then the supplies and other things you'll need (by best engine I mean the +5000 engine power one). Go for the Fulgent Impeller when you get the chance, once you've learnt the quest line it'll probably be the first thing you do on every new captain.

Originally posted by Skinny Pete:

That's funny because I'd call that the ABSOLUTE WORST ENGINE in the game, period. NEVER BUY THE CAMINUS YARDS COMPULSION. It is absolute garbage and there's a reason you can sell it back for 0 Echoes, because that's what it's worth. If you made the mistake of buying it, just dump it in the zee.

The Caminus Yards engine costs 5000 echoes but is only 3500 Power. And yeah, you should never buy it. The best engine, on the other hand, *is* +5000 power, but it can't be bought.