Posts: 310
Threads: 37
Joined: Apr 2013
BYOND Username: Mega Paco
Character Name: Geoff Goldman
Something that really annoys me when making hellburn engines is that the rooms around it can heat up to the point of cooking you alive and that I practically have no way of knowing what the current engine output is without having to bother the ai or risking my life. So it would be nice if we could have a program on the Chief Engineer's pda to tell you the current power output of the engine and allow you to adjust the Power Transmission Laser from a distance without having to risk your life going into a super heated hell hole.
Posts: 959
Threads: 27
Joined: Sep 2012
BYOND Username: BlackPhoenix0928
While I'm not a fan of being horribly burned by superhot air and/or fire to mess with laserbeams and whatnot, I believe this is meant to be part of the cost of a super engine.
Posts: 359
Threads: 9
Joined: Apr 2014
There are power monitoring computers away from engineering, and I think you can build your own if you want? The PTL shouldn't need constant adjusting, but if you really need to micromanage it, go recruit a borg to jump into the flames for you (or offer yourself to the roboticist), they handle the heat just fine. Part of being chief is delegating any actual important work to lackeys, after all.
Posts: 2,552
Threads: 33
Joined: Oct 2014
A firesuit, a spacesuit, some magboots, an extinguisher, and a topped off oxtank is my minimum kit for hellburning. Grabbing that firekit that always ashes is also good, but I always forget.
As for babysitting the PTL, it allows you to get the most income, but in the end it's counting pennies. Even sloppy or bad experimental burns go into the several hundred gw range. On that scale fussing over a few mw is silly. Similarly, if you put on yer best sunday burn and aim for maxing out the PTL, trying to input every gw gained isn't worth the effort.
Basically, I just do something like this:
I/O:500MW/15GW (for people who want to ash. I'm courteous)
I/O:10GW/1TW
I/O:500GW/5TW
I/O:1TW/10TW
I/O:10TW/100TW
I/O:100TW/999TW
I/O:333TW/999TW
I/O:500TW/999TW
I mean, don't get me wrong. I like your idea in a logical sense. I would still do all of this manually, though, because I like being in a raging inferno that seems to be actively trying to kill me.
All of that being said, I would really like for there to be an engine camera monitor by the pump controls that allows us to see the state of the engine. Particularly how much burn fuel it has left. I don't wanna bring up an idea in somebody else's thread, but paco's idea reminded me of something I've long wanted and I'll forget by the time I make a thread.
Goonhub
