Patch 0.4.53(work in progress) - Power rework
Some interesting changes coming for power modules for habs.
\- Doubled power output and increased mass of fission/fusion plants. \- Increased power consumption of antimatter-manufacturing modules, information and energy labs, and ship-construction facilities.
\- Complexificated solar production based on several factors:
\-All solar modules have roughly 2x baseline production as current.
\-Modules orbiting space bodies receive a penalty based on how much of their orbit they are in the planet's shadow. For Earth LEO, it's about a 25% penalty. So an LEO T1 solar is going to be 15 power sted the old 10.
\-Power plants on planetary surfaces receive 50% power because of night. Asteroids receive 60%, which is a simple way of portraying you can build solar panels high enough on small, low-gravity bodies that they'll catch rays that would be beyond the horizon for larger bodies. Power plants very close Mercury's poles also get extra solar. We might do the more complex version of the bonuses in the future. This puts lunar and Mars surface solar back where they started, at 10 for a T1 solar at Luna.
\-Power plants still receive reduced production in atmosphere (which really only matters on Mars.)
\-L-1, L-3, L-4 and L-5 points get full solar. L-2 varies whether the orbit around the point is in the planetary shadow, but Mercury, Venus and Earth L-2s all receive full solar.
\-Modules on or above moons receive an additional penalty for how often the moon is inside the planet's shadow. Until I can figure out more complex versions of this, it only affects planets + moon combos with very low inclination relative to the Sun. Ultimately I think this only hits gas giant moons where solar isn't particularly tenable anyways, so I don't think this is terribly relevant, but it's there for completeness.
Hard to evaluate the increased power consumption without knowing the magnitude, but 2x power output for fission/fusion and most solar will help out support habs focused on just Ops/Research/Skunkworks. I always have lots of LEO stations for the country bonuses.
And for T1 outpost stations, it was always a pain not being able to power a Spacedock + PDA + Construction Module off one Fusion Pile. Now we might be able to, if Space Docks don't take that much more power.