IPC Rework Feedback Thread

[MattAtlas]

Hello,

Please comment your feedback or thoughts on the IPC rework here if you have any. This is not a thread for bugs. Report those bugs to the GitHub. This thread is strictly for balance and feel concerns.

[FearTheBlackout]

I don't think this counts as a bug, so: It feels as though battery charge runs out faster than it did before, which feels less optimal when you have to interrupt your roleplay to recharge more often. It also feels like the solar reactor doesn't output nearly enough charge to be worth taking over the electric reactor, and I can't speak for the biological one as I haven't tried it yet. I haven't used the solar reactor since a few bugfixes were made to the PR, so forgive me if my concern was already attended to without me realizing.

[Powder Miner]

Power consumption can be pretty brutal. I found myself recharging every 20 to 30 minutes with my G1 in the round I've played so far, even with draining nearby APCs to extend my time. However, that was with a distinctly faster run usually enabled - so it might be something of a matter of management and I might just find that balance a little more later on.

[MattAtlas]

1 hour ago, Powder Miner said:

Power consumption can be pretty brutal. I found myself recharging every 20 to 30 minutes with my G1 in the round I've played so far, even with draining nearby APCs to extend my time. However, that was with a distinctly faster run usually enabled - so it might be something of a matter of management and I might just find that balance a little more later on.

 

2 hours ago, FearTheBlackout said:

I don't think this counts as a bug, so: It feels as though battery charge runs out faster than it did before, which feels less optimal when you have to interrupt your roleplay to recharge more often. It also feels like the solar reactor doesn't output nearly enough charge to be worth taking over the electric reactor, and I can't speak for the biological one as I haven't tried it yet. I haven't used the solar reactor since a few bugfixes were made to the PR, so forgive me if my concern was already attended to without me realizing.

Power consumption should be better now, please try it out and tell me if that's the case.

[OffRoad99]

Hello. I decided to help out and want to provide some feedback.

I decided to bring out my Xion Industrial IPC to a mining run. Internal components were: Electric Reactor and Air Cooling (so pretty standard, I guess).
I spawned at the Residential elevators and walked to the Supply wing. I spent a few minutes (no more than 5) talking with some co-workers before I grabbed my standard-issue gear. By the time I was ready I spent roughly 30% of my power cell, thus bringing me at 70%.
We walked in the mining pod (don't recall the name now) and spent an extra few minutes flying (no less than 10), which knocked my power cell down to 60%. I drained the local APC and then moved outside.
Now, the planet's atmosphere was pretty hot: the portable air scanner said it was around 41 degrees Celcius, which raised my IPC temperature between 70~75 degrees.
I turned my thermostat down (from 20% to 0%) and the power consumption didn't change one bit. Then I tried to raise it, but given the extreme temperature it would have likely burned me alive? Hard to tell.

I even brought a suit cooler with me to wear on my backpack slot (no mining voidsuit, just the cooler) to sort-of compensate and maybe save my internal battery a bit. That didn't work.
I was close to drain the entire APC battery, until my internal energy reserve was completely drained. Know that by the time everyone landed, all I was able to do was to call a drill (very close to the pod), set it up and get it up and running. Then I passed out.


All this is to say that I like the rework, but the energy consumption is nothing short of BRUTAL and would need to be tweaked.
EDIT: As an addendum, given the quickness of the battery depletion and the lack of reliable methods to charge yourself whilst mining, right now mining is simply unfeasible with a IPC.

Edited Thursday at 00:09 by OffRoad99

[UltraNumeron]

Is solar power meant to be purely supplementary to APC recharging? Ive used it and even in bright lighting without moving it still drains my power very fast.

(This is prior to the just announced power drain changes, so unknown if its still the case.)

Edited Wednesday at 23:09 by UltraNumeron

[Lordnesh]

TL:DR nerf power draw please.

On my ZH Mobility frame, idling with temp set to 50, and liquid cooling, I use up half my charge in about 15 minutes. Moving only changes it to about 13 minutes.

Sprinting, with temp set to 20, took me about 3 minutes to drain half my charge.

Or, to put it another way, it would take me about 26-30 minutes to drain my battery from full to zero at my most conservative activity (ie no running around). Sprinting will basically drain my battery in minutes.

Additionally, the cooling system can't keep up with the suit cooler in the rescue suit. Either the suit cooler itself is just not powerful enough, because the void suit worked fine, or the internal cooling can't compensate for the increased temperature rate of increase.

The default power draw seems a too high for me, and the cooling system might not be strong enough.

[MattAtlas]

3 hours ago, Lordnesh said:

TL:DR nerf power draw please.

On my ZH Mobility frame, idling with temp set to 50, and liquid cooling, I use up half my charge in about 15 minutes. Moving only changes it to about 13 minutes.

Sprinting, with temp set to 20, took me about 3 minutes to drain half my charge.

Or, to put it another way, it would take me about 26-30 minutes to drain my battery from full to zero at my most conservative activity (ie no running around). Sprinting will basically drain my battery in minutes.

Additionally, the cooling system can't keep up with the suit cooler in the rescue suit. Either the suit cooler itself is just not powerful enough, because the void suit worked fine, or the internal cooling can't compensate for the increased temperature rate of increase.

The default power draw seems a too high for me, and the cooling system might not be strong enough.

When did you last try the suit? I saw your github report and fixed all of the no pressure/suit cooling problems yesterday, but the fix was only going to be on the server on the round after the one following your report.

[Lordnesh]

2 hours ago, MattAtlas said:

When did you last try the suit? I saw your github report and fixed all of the no pressure/suit cooling problems yesterday, but the fix was only going to be on the server on the round after the one following your report.

Last night. Either round [Game ID: cA5-b6uF] or [Game ID: cA5-cFIy]. I no longer had the issue where stepping into space immediately jumped my internal temperature by 200 degrees. Instead, it seemed more like the rescue suit could not keep up with the temperature increase. It worked, it just didn't work well enough. The regular void suit with suit cooler worked. It was specifically the rescue suit that couldn't keep up.

[Sniblet]

Spent a lot of yesterday playing a bartender shell, solar reactor, passive cooling. I'd say the lifespan was fine - much shorter than it used to be despite using the most-efficient setup, but altogether playable. I didn't notice movement having any effect on power consumption, and no matter how close I was to a light source, I never perceived the solar reactor making any difference. Charge times were boring, though little different from how they've always been. Good opportunity to tab out for a minute.

Again, passive cooling - temperature management was never an issue. I had to do one quick sprint to get a red nightshade berserker off my screen, and stayed within safe temperature bounds. I took maybe 10-20 seconds (wasn't counting) to go back to my idling temp of 64-65C. Compared to previously, it seems like getting down to equilibrium temp is slower, but that equilibrium is cooler. I didn't have a temperature warning for the entire round, like shells used to, which felt nice.

Adjusting the thermostat seemed to be useless, because the selectable range was colder than I ever got. I didn't notice a power change depending on where I set it.

Diagnostics seem to be less "sensitive" than they were? I got smacked with a bottle of liquor by the Booze-O-Mat, and while my health doll stopped showing 100, diagnostics were all-green. I wouldn't have known I was hit at all without the doll, the attack log, or, I assume, stripping and examining myself. Seems appropriate for an IPC.

More on the weird side of damage, I also had the dubious privilege of getting bludgeoned several times by the aforementioned red nightshade berseker. The health doll and my clothed sprite made it clear that my chest had been caved in, but diagnostics only had to say that my plating damage was massive, without a specific location.

I took no internal damage from this, so I was able to continue my day as normal despite no machinists ondeck, in classic IPC fashion. I assume that if I had been destabilized, I'd have had to make someone sprint me to residential, which might have been impossible if I played an industrial. Especially an issue for antags, but then again, organic antags are done when they go into crit too.

Electrical storms were neat. It was unclear whether I was supposed to roleplay anything other than the visual distortion.

Edited Thursday at 22:39 by Sniblet

[Powder Miner]

On 13/08/2025 at 15:33, MattAtlas said:

Power consumption should be better now, please try it out and tell me if that's the case.

I played a couple of rounds and power consumption worked at a MUCH better rate - it worked out to being maybe a little shorter than previously but very tolerably so for my frame considering the G1 frame now effectively moves a lot faster than before. I only had to charge after about every forty minutes to hour or so.

Edited Friday at 02:50 by Powder Miner

[MattAtlas]

New update going live next round:

• Cooling unit power draw calculations should finally be completely fixed. Going to a low thermostat should have a much higher impact on both temperature and power usage.
• There is now a machinist surgery to remove the extraneous reagents in the bio-reactor. Performed with a reagent container on the chest, which must be fully open. It extracts said reagents to the reagent container you're holding.
• Solar power should be fixed now. Keep in mind that it makes power depending on the light value of the turf you're on, so turfs that have more light will make more power!

[OffRoad99]

Hello, another feedback round.

G2 Industrial unit in Security. Standard reactor. Air cooler.

The standard-issue body armor puts a MASSIVE penalty to the cooling efficiency. Keeping the thermostat anywhere between 10-50 and walking keeps the temperature at around 100 degrees Celcius. Standing still does not decrease it. This means that for anything that requires the slightest degree of action (like a chase) will require you to bring the thermostat to zero and NUKE your battery. This lowers it to 60-72 Celcius.

It is worth nothing that another G2 with identical components was also present in the round, wearing an Idris armored coat. He wasn't having this issue. This means that wearing the Idris coat gives you a free, MASSIVE bonus to your temperature.

Edited Saturday at 01:22 by OffRoad99

[OffRoad99]

2nd test done with a Xion IPC. Same components: standard reactor, air cooler.

I returned EVA, this time on a regular asteroid, and the temperature climbs up to well above 200 Celsius, with the thermostat set anywhere between 5-50. Setting it to 0 is the only way to keep it stable, but the temperature won't come down. The Xion cooler already has a higher consumption rate when compared with the G2, and setting the thermostat to 0 while you're in EVA to just keep the temperature from climbing up, is enough to very very rapidly drain your battery and potentially leave you stranded for the entire round.

EDIT: last night I afk'ed for roughly three minutes while (I didn't know this) the Spark got somehow depressurized while in the Horizon. I burned up and died. It seems the Xion is not as EVA-proof as advertised!

Edited Saturday at 13:15 by OffRoad99

[Fyni]

15 hours ago, OffRoad99 said:

-snip-

It is worth nothing that another G2 with identical components was also present in the round, wearing an Idris armored coat. He wasn't having this issue. This means that wearing the Idris coat gives you a free, MASSIVE bonus to your temperature.

G2s remain, even after a few IPC weaknesses like burst damage, extremely strong in security. Them been able to move at a decent speed to "chase" antags been a massive drain on battery and a danger to heat should remain as is, as it is their main weakness in that role. When an antag is corners with very little places to run, the G2 remain fearsome.

Additionally, this would be better resolved by nerfing the Idris coat, rather than buffing the plate carrier.

[hollyhock]

The 'neural coherence' didn't seem to change at all when my brain was damaged in a recent round, just staying at "synchronised". I'm not sure if it's supposed to show fragmentation, but there should probably be some way to show brain damage or fragmentation if there isnt already?
Also, I wasn't able to send or receive messages with my access cable. Nothing showed up when sending the message, for either me or the recipitent. My firewall was on but virtual communication was enabled, so I'm not sure what went wrong? I might need to test it again too

[Lordnesh]

Does the Idris coat provide any protection?

[UltraNumeron]

4 hours ago, Fyni said:

G2s remain, even after a few IPC weaknesses like burst damage, extremely strong in security. Them been able to move at a decent speed to "chase" antags been a massive drain on battery and a danger to heat should remain as is, as it is their main weakness in that role. When an antag is corners with very little places to run, the G2 remain fearsome.

Additionally, this would be better resolved by nerfing the Idris coat, rather than buffing the plate carrier.

Been using a G2 with liquid cooling (non security) and you can run very fast for damn long. So the power drain and cooling isnt really much of an issue in the length of a chase. Which may make sec G2s a bit busted, since them nabbing you with the big grab mod is now a real possibility.

[Fyni]

2 hours ago, Lordnesh said:

Does the Idris coat provide any protection?

Yes. Not as good as a plate carrier, but yes.

[UltraNumeron]

Some feedback from last round:

IPC offships are a bit buggy, spawned in as IPC loner due to being readied up as one, and had no psionics having to ahelp for em. And afterwards my unarmed attacks were still labeled and sounded like the G2 pulverize, despite having changed species.

With IPCs still being very tanky. After a shell took the following damage in the fight these were their only internal wounds, mechanically overall walking around fine as if uninjured with this damage. With no adverse affects even after several minutes without treatment. During the fight the only sign of them being stopped by wounds was them momentarily getting stunned for a few seconds after the first few attacks.