Propulsion equipment: Difference between revisions

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==Afterburners and microwarpdrives==

Afterburners (AB) and Microwarpdrives (MWD) are the most commonly used propulsion modules. Afterburners increase the ship's maximum speed by around 150%, while Microwarpdrives increase it by around 500%. Compared with Afterburners, Microwarpdrives use more capacitor energy, reduce the ship's total capacitor capacity, are shut down by [[scram|warp scramblers]], and are generally harder to fit.

Afterburners (AB) and Microwarpdrives (MWD) are the most commonly used propulsion modules. Afterburners increase the ship's maximum speed by around 150%, while Microwarpdrives increase it by around 500%. Compared with Afterburners, Microwarpdrives use more capacitor energy, reduce the ship's total capacitor capacity, increase the ship's signature radius when active, are shut down by [[scram|warp scramblers]], and are generally harder to fit.

The 500% signature radius penalty of a microwarpdrive means that a ship using one will need to fly 500% faster than normal in order to consider dodging enemy weapons fire. While the microwarpdrive's 500% speed increase may look like it cancels this out, this is deceptive. As a result of acceleration, turning, and orbiting, a ship with a microwarpdrive will very rarely be flying at speeds approaching the 500% bonus the drive gives, while they will be suffering the 500% signature penalty regardless of their speed. Consequently, while microwarpdrives are very good at allowing ships to control their engagement range (and either increase or decrease the distance between themselves and their enemies), they are not very effective at helping evade enemy weapons damage. Meanwhile, while afterburners are less effective at range control, their straight speed increase makes them very effective at helping evade damage.

There are different sizes of propulsion modules based on basic ship hull size. Using an undersized afterburner on a larger ship will cause the speed boost to become much smaller.

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It is possible to fit ships with oversized afterburners: 10MN on frigate/destroyer or 100MN on cruiser/battlecruiser. The high fitting requirement of larger afterburner usually makes this harder to do. In this case the full maximum velocity formula needs to be used.

Generally the resulting maximum velocity is close to normal sized microwarpdrive but the added bonus is that the oversized afterburner is not shut down by scramblers. The drawback is greatly increased ship mass which makes maneuvering harder.

Generally the resulting maximum velocity is close to normal sized microwarpdrive but the added bonus is that the oversized afterburner is not shut down by scramblers. The drawback is greatly increased ship mass which makes maneuvering harder, in many cases making ships with oversized afterburners take up to 30 seconds of flying straight to reach 3/4 of their listed full speed.

===Related skills===

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 ==Afterburners and microwarpdrives==
-Afterburners (AB) and Microwarpdrives (MWD) are the most commonly used propulsion modules. Afterburners increase the ship's maximum speed by around 150%, while Microwarpdrives increase it by around 500%. Compared with Afterburners, Microwarpdrives use more capacitor energy, reduce the ship's total capacitor capacity, are shut down by [[scram|warp scramblers]], and are generally harder to fit.
+Afterburners (AB) and Microwarpdrives (MWD) are the most commonly used propulsion modules. Afterburners increase the ship's maximum speed by around 150%, while Microwarpdrives increase it by around 500%. Compared with Afterburners, Microwarpdrives use more capacitor energy, reduce the ship's total capacitor capacity, increase the ship's signature radius when active, are shut down by [[scram|warp scramblers]], and are generally harder to fit.
+The 500% signature radius penalty of a microwarpdrive means that a ship using one will need to fly 500% faster than normal in order to consider dodging enemy weapons fire. While the microwarpdrive's 500% speed increase may look like it cancels this out, this is deceptive. As a result of acceleration, turning, and orbiting, a ship with a microwarpdrive will very rarely be flying at speeds approaching the 500% bonus the drive gives, while they will be suffering the 500% signature penalty regardless of their speed. Consequently, while microwarpdrives are very good at allowing ships to control their engagement range (and either increase or decrease the distance between themselves and their enemies), they are not very effective at helping evade enemy weapons damage. Meanwhile, while afterburners are less effective at range control, their straight speed increase makes them very effective at helping evade damage.
 There are different sizes of propulsion modules based on basic ship hull size. Using an undersized afterburner on a larger ship will cause the speed boost to become much smaller.
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 It is possible to fit ships with oversized afterburners: 10MN on frigate/destroyer or 100MN on cruiser/battlecruiser. The high fitting requirement of larger afterburner usually makes this harder to do. In this case the full maximum velocity formula needs to be used.
-Generally the resulting maximum velocity is close to normal sized microwarpdrive but the added bonus is that the oversized afterburner is not shut down by scramblers. The drawback is greatly increased ship mass which makes maneuvering harder.
+Generally the resulting maximum velocity is close to normal sized microwarpdrive but the added bonus is that the oversized afterburner is not shut down by scramblers. The drawback is greatly increased ship mass which makes maneuvering harder, in many cases making ships with oversized afterburners take up to 30 seconds of flying straight to reach 3/4 of their listed full speed.
 ===Related skills===