Propulsion equipment: Difference between revisions

Afterburners (AB) and Microwarpdrives (MWD) are the most common propulsion modules, and are used on almost all ship fittings. These are active modules, which when activated consume capacitor energy to significantly increase a ship's top speed and acceleration, but also increase its mass making it less maneuverable. Afterburners increase a ship's maximum speed by around 130-200%, while Microwarpdrives increase it by around 500-700%. 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.

Afterburners and microwarpdrives each have 10 second cycle times, and cannot be deactivated prematurely. However, the cycle time of afterburners can be reduced to 7.5 seconds by their skill. Capital ship-sized afterburners and microwarpdrives in stead have 20 second cycle times. These modules do not have cooldowns, and can be left running continuously (provided capacitor energy is available).

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 effectively dodge 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.

[[Faction modules|Faction]] and Deadspace afterburners have improved speed bonuses. Faction and Deadspace microwarpdrives, however, offer only marginal speed increases over standard variants. In stead, faction microwarpdrives offer reduced capacitor and signature radius penalties, mitigating the module's issues with capacitor stability and evasion.

There are certain Tech 2 ships ([[Interceptors]], [[Interdictors]], [[Frigates#Assault Frigates|Assault Frigates]], [[Command Destroyer]]s, and Wake Limiter-fit [[Strategic Cruisers]]) which suffer less from microwarpdrive signature penalties. These ships are able to take advantage of microwarpdrive speeds, and use them to evade enemy fire. Additionally, ships designed by [[Sansha's Nation]] have a unique bonus to Afterburner speed, allowing them to achieve speeds comparable to those of microwarpdrives, but with none of the drive's penalties.