I'm trying to determine if there are any efficiencs of scale for powerplants.
From limited expirimentation
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 AR-0 S-2
Power Output: 12 Internal Armour: 0 Explosion Chance: 5
Reactor Size: 2 HS Reactor HTK: 2
Cost: 36 Crew: 10
Materials Required: 9x Duranium 0x Neutronium 27x Boronide
Development Cost for Project: 360RP
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Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 AR-0 S-4
Power Output: 24 Internal Armour: 0 Explosion Chance: 5
Reactor Size: 4 HS Reactor HTK: 3
Cost: 72 Crew: 20
Materials Required: 18x Duranium 0x Neutronium 54x Boronide
Development Cost for Project: 720RP
The cost, crew, power and materials for the 2nd are exactly twice the first.
This means I could use 2 of the -2's instead of a single -4 and get the same power output for the same cost.
Here are the only differences I can see
2 -2's givs 4 HTK, but I would loose 1/2 of the power after 2 hits vs all the power from the -4 after 3 hits.
All other things being equal i think this woul cause the powerplants to have a slightly greater chance of being hit within the hull i.e. 4 HTK vs 3 or is the chance based on size (or number of instalations)?
As a bonus the RP cost of the -2 is only 1/2 of the -4.
Unless there are other considerations why whould one want to use a -4 (or even the -2) just use a bunch of -1's or even .5's (if you can use them on ships).
Should there be some type of economy of scale to make larger plants more efficient space, power or mineral wise? At least then there would be a tradeoff between redundancy and power or cost.
I have looked yet, but is the same true of engines?
Thanks
Mike