Quantum armor energy usage.

douglasg14b · Dec 8th 2013

One thing I have noticed while playing is the quantum armor energy usage, it does not take very long to completely drain the armor from 10mill to 0 EU. When fighting server made customNPC bosses, or galacticraft bosses it's sometimes as bad as losing 500,000-700,000EU per hit. This really leaves you no option to fight in quantum against most non-vanilla mobs or npc's. And even killing endermen in the end can drain you within 2 or 3 minutes. It ends up being that mekanisms obsidian or Bimes o Plenty Amethyst armor is "better" since you can stay in the fight for a decent and productive amount of time, even if you have to replace the armor completely afterwards. The high energy usage can also be seen on the boots, a fall of 100 blocks will consume 1,740,000 EU. While not as much of a concern as the energy usage while fighting, it is just another example of the higher energy usage.

A fix or change for this would either be an adjustment to it's power usage, or a config that can be used to adjust it's usage. Another option are upgrades that can be applied to the armor to greatly (10x+) increase it's capacity, or the ability to pull from an in-inventory power source.

What are your thoughts? Suggestions?

SpwnX · Dec 8th 2013

I'd rather have upgrades that increases storage, while slightly slowing you down.

KingofGamesYami · Dec 9th 2013

I think I would rather have the armor charge from items in the inventory. This could also be applied to many other things in IC2, such as the mining drill.

JaxFirehart · Dec 9th 2013

I don't know, that would really defeat the trade-off between wearing armor and wearing a batpack.

PERSONALLY, I would love to see an upgrade mechanic for IC2 weapons and armor, sort of an alternative to enchanting, but I'm fairly sure that has been suggested before.

It would just be awesome to be able to pop some tier upgrades in my Drill and be able to charge it using Lapotron Crystals. Or add a bunch of storage upgrades to give it more battery power. Or overclocker upgrades to boost mining speed (and/or damage, for chainsaws).

Omicron · Dec 9th 2013

For what it's worth, the Gravitation Suite addon introduces further upgrades to the top-tier energy backpack that do work as an in-inventory power source.

While that is arguably not everyone's cup of tea in terms of balance (I personally do not use it), I recommend installing GraviSuite anyway. It fills several holes in IC2's current lineup that leave it lacking in comparison to other mods, such as a manual mining tool capable of digging a 3x3 block area. It also provides the name-giving flight upgrade to the quantum suit, and adds an intermediate tier around the nano suit that holds up very well by itself without having the "total invincibility" factor of the quantum armor.

In addition, it introduces much-needed usability improvements, which is another aspect IC2 isn't the best at. Simply the ability to toggle your jetpack engines on and off without unequipping the jetpack is just so good. Things like the boost key, which doubles (or triples) your flight speed for 10x the energy draw, add meaningful options where the user can decide to trade convenience for efficiency. And the GraviTool is something similar to an Omniwrench.

As far as the topic goes, I haven't used the quantum suit yet in IC2 Experimental (largely because of the amount of hoops I would have to jump through to get one). But if you really lose six digit figures of energy from single hits, then I probably won't bother with it at all. It's not so much about refilling the energy - if you can afford that much iridium, you can also afford one of modded Minecraft's many infinite fuel loops that sets the effective cost of a few million EU to zero. But you really should last a bit longer than a fight or two. I don't have to repair my vanilla armor in between bosses - why should I have to do so with the insanely expensive quantum suit? (This is what I mean with lacking usability)

*ponders reconsidering personal stance on GraviSuite's in-inventory energy storage*

Epic Lulz · Dec 9th 2013

Quote from Omicron

For what it's worth, the Gravitation Suite addon introduces further upgrades to the top-tier energy backpack that do work as an in-inventory power source.

While that is arguably not everyone's cup of tea in terms of balance (I personally do not use it), I recommend installing GraviSuite anyway. It fills several holes in IC2's current lineup that leave it lacking in comparison to other mods, such as a manual mining tool capable of digging a 3x3 block area. It also provides the name-giving flight upgrade to the quantum suit, and adds an intermediate tier around the nano suit that holds up very well by itself without having the "total invincibility" factor of the quantum armor.

In addition, it introduces much-needed usability improvements, which is another aspect IC2 isn't the best at. Simply the ability to toggle your jetpack engines on and off without unequipping the jetpack is just so good. Things like the boost key, which doubles (or triples) your flight speed for 10x the energy draw, add meaningful options where the user can decide to trade convenience for efficiency. And the GraviTool is something similar to an Omniwrench.

As far as the topic goes, I haven't used the quantum suit yet in IC2 Experimental (largely because of the amount of hoops I would have to jump through to get one). But if you really lose six digit figures of energy from single hits, then I probably won't bother with it at all. It's not so much about refilling the energy - if you can afford that much iridium, you can also afford one of modded Minecraft's many infinite fuel loops that sets the effective cost of a few million EU to zero. But you really should last a bit longer than a fight or two. I don't have to repair my vanilla armor in between bosses - why should I have to do so with the insanely expensive quantum suit? (This is what I mean with lacking usability)

*ponders reconsidering personal stance on GraviSuite's in-inventory energy storage*

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From my limited usage of QuantumSuit Boots, they use up quite a lot of energy for ~20-block falls. Quite more than what I was used to pre-experimental.

Omicron · Dec 9th 2013

Yeah, the nanosuit power usage also went up by far more than the energy storage did. It's fairly annoying, it doesn't even last as long as leather armor in a fight. Much better protection, obviously, but less "durability". Thankfully the advanced nano chestplate comes with tripled inbuilt storage so it isn't quite as bad anymore.

JohnB · Dec 10th 2013

The big issue here is different servers with different play styles and mods and that's why we really need the exposure of settings via the config.

I've honestly spent days balancing our server for how we want to play. The Q-Suit actually got blacklisted a while back because of it's overpoweredness for our play style and we currently only use a modified version of the nano suite. What I hated most about the q-suit on our server was the fact that there was no danger as it's a non-pvp server... it was boring. You'll hear a creeper, ah, whatever.. Oh why not just jump out of the 250y level 'green house', no problem, stuff like that. In contrast the poster has an almost opposite issue with the q-suit.

We play pretty 'hard' mode and you'll die really quick if you're not careful and that's how we like to play. If someone want's to play in creative mode we don't judge. Bottom line is different people use IC2 on different servers with different mod on different difficulties and that's why 'fixing' so many settings in IC2 causes pain.

douglasg14b · Dec 11th 2013

Good replies.

I feel that the energy usage could have a slight adjustment when it comes to incoming damage. But as was said sweeping changes affect different servers in different ways. Upgrades or the ability to draw from in-inventory items for power would be a "fix" that would keep you in the fight but not affect servers that don't want to use those items or upgrades.

I enjoy the gravchest, but sadly the quantum legs are where I am pulling my above numbers from. The chest would use even more energy, and I would not be surprised to see 7 digit energy drains per hit. We have MPS running, but it appears that it was recently changed and no longer provides the protection it used to. No one seems to be using it on the server any more.

But back to quantum. I agree with adding upgrades or the ability to draw power from in-inventory items. Upgrades would be preferable, since holding an inventory item in the middle of a fight would not be very useful, especially if you are losing nearly a million total EU per hit. The drawbacks could start past a certain point, but not with the first "tier" of upgrades.

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