Engineer Station

The engineer station controls the power plant, the gravity drive, and the wormhole drive of the spacecraft. When a spacecraft has no wormhole drive, the wormhole drive controls are inoperative.

The engineer station is divided into three sections by red lines. The bottom left section contains power plant controls. The top left section contains gravity drive controls. The right section contains wormhole drive controls.



Controls are activated by clicking on the console using the hand cursor. Controls also have corresponding keyboard equivalents. Help about using the hand cursor and a table showing the key commands for this station can be found on the Keyboard and Mouse Controls page.

Power Plant
The power plant of a spacecraft converts hydrogen fuel into electrical power. Electricity accumulates in the capacitor for ready use by the systems of the spacecraft. The amount of electricity that can be stored in the capacitor is determined by the number of power plant units in the ship's design. The various systems of a spacecraft use electrical power from the capacitor to operate.

The hydrogen fuel level is shown at the upper left of the power plant section as a bright blue bar. The color of the bar changes to yellow or red at low fuel levels.

The electricity level in the capacitor is shown as a horizontal bar at the upper right of the power plant section. The bar is colored bright green when the capacitor is charging. The bar is colored red when the capacitor is discharging. The bar is colored amber when the capacitor is neither charging nor discharging.

A spacecraft equipped with a wormhole drive shows a purple bar under the capacitor level bar. The purple bar shows the amount of capacitor power consumed when the wormhole drive is activated.

The power switch to turn the power plant on and off is at the right of the power plant section. An indicator light above the switch shows green when the power plant is turned on. While the power plant is on, hydrogen fuel is converted to electricity as needed to keep the capacitor full. Fuel is burned as needed; fuel is only burned to restore power that is used from the capacitor.

A large graph fills the lower left of the power plant section. This graph indicates fuel burn efficiency. Fuel produces the most electricity per unit when the red line is closer to the blue center line. The position of the red line wanders when left unattended. The blue up and down arrows control the position of the graph line. A character's engineering skill level determines the amount of time before the setting begins to wander. When adjusted by a highly skilled engineer, the adjustment holds its setting for a longer period of time.

Fuel burn efficiency is also affected by fuel quality. Higher quality fuel produces more electricity per unit of fuel burned.

Gravity Drive
The gravity drive provides the propulsion necessary to maneuver spacecraft through space. The gravity drive enables a spacecraft to negate the effects of gravity. The gravity drive also provides an artificial gravity environment inside a spacecraft.

The gravity drive can be turned on and off using the power switch at the right of the gravity drive section. When off, the ship will be drawn toward large gravitation bodies, like planets and stars. The interior gravity of the spacecraft is off when the gravity drive is off.

A circular gauge at the left of the gravity drive section indicates maneuver pitch and yaw performance. The spacecraft controls become more sluggish as the yellow dot moves farther from the center. At the center, the spacecraft provides the best response to pitch and yaw controls. The diagonal blue arrows control the position of the maneuver performance indicator. A character's engineering skill level determines the amount of time before the setting begins to wander. When adjusted by a highly skilled engineer, the adjustment holds its setting for a longer period of time.

At the center of the gravity drive section is a graph indicating acceleration performance. The vertical green trace shows the acceleration performance of the gravity drive. When the green line is closer to the vertical center line, the gravity drive produces its best acceleration and deceleration. When the green line wanders close to the edges, acceleration and deceleration performance are severely degraded. The blue left and right arrows control the position of the green trace. A character's engineering skill level determines the amount of time before the setting begins to wander. When adjusted by a highly skilled engineer, the adjustment holds its setting for a longer period of time.

Wormhole Drive
A wormhole drive enables a spacecraft to travel between stars nearly instantaneously. A spacecraft activates its wormhole drive, enters a wormhole, and emerges from a corresponding wormhole in another solar system.

Wormholes always exist in pairs, a positive wormhole and a negative wormhole. A positive wormhole is recognized by its blue and purple colors. A negative wormhole is slightly smaller than a positive wormhole and appears in red and yellow colors.

The wormhole drive can be turned on and off using the power switch at the top right of the wormhole drive section. The wormhole drive power light glows yellow while the wormhole drive is warming. The wormhole drive power light glows green when the wormhole drive is ready. The wormhole drive settings cannot be changed when the wormhole drive is off or warming.

The button at the top left of the wormhole drive setting depicts an image of a wormhole. The switch toggles the polarity of the wormhole drive from positive to negative. The wormhole drive polarity must match that of the wormhole entered.

WARNING!
The spacecraft will disintegrate upon entry into a wormhole if the drive polarity is set incorrectly.

At the bottom left of the wormhole drive section is a button that lights when the wormhole drive is ready to be activated and the capacitor has adequate power. Press this button when it is lit to activate the wormhole drive. The wormhole drive will charge up for a few seconds before being ready for entry into a wormhole. When ready, an indicator lights on the helm notifying the pilot of the ready state of the wormhole drive and its polarity.

The ship must be maneuvered into the wormhole while the wormhole drive is active. The wormhole drive remains active for about thirty seconds, or until a wormhole is entered. Then the drive cycles through a discharge sequence. The image above shows the wormhole drive in its active positive charged state.

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