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[Sinistar]

I've been playing for an hour I think around noon, also later in the afternoon, but then the game got really unresponsive for whatever reason...Then again, I'm not complaining since I'm playing for free on a server someone put up as a token of their good will.

And yeah, generally the server is more or less dead until what is evening and then night here for me. It's more America-centric, sadly, but of course there are also other servers.

Question about starting up singularity engine: how do you know when the singularity is the right size?
Today, I successfully finished the whole process and I thought everything was ok...but I came back later only to see the singularity set loose.
I did turn particle accelerator to 0 after I concluded singularity is roughly 3x3 as suggested by wiki...but it wasn't really pinkish color and it was moving already by the time I did that.

So is the window of getting singularity to be the right size really small or (most probably) I'm just doing something wrong by default?
And how am I even supposed to see if it's the right size without it moving or me going outside during the process, that "singularity holding device" seems just too far away...

edit:
So what's so horrible about changeling mode?

[Hanslanda]

I've been playing for an hour I think around noon, also later in the afternoon, but then the game got really unresponsive for whatever reason...Then again, I'm not complaining since I'm playing for free on a server someone put up as a token of their good will.

And yeah, generally the server is more or less dead until what is evening and then night here for me. It's more America-centric, sadly, but of course there are also other servers.

Question about starting up singularity engine: how do you know, when the singularity is the right size?
Today, I successfully finished the whole process and I thought everything was ok...but I came back later only to see the singularity set loose.
I did turn particle accelerator to 0 after I concluded singularity is roughly 3x3 as suggested by wiki...but it wasn't really pinkish color and it was moving already by the time I did that.

So is the window of getting singularity to be the right size really small or (most probably) I'm just doing something wrong by default?
And how am I even supposed to see if it's the right size without it moving or me going outside during the process, that "singularity holding device" seems just too far away...

What it really should say is the 'third size' because it's 5x5, not 3x3. I mean, some people make 3x3, but 5x5 works perfectly from what I've seen. Then you have to set the PA strength to 0 and leave the power on, and check on it every half hour to hour to make sure it isn't shrinking.

[Jacob/Lee]

If you fill all the plasma tanks to the max, 3x3 can power all three SMES cells at max input. A smaller singularity gives you a better chance when shit goes wrong and the singularity escapes, as smaller ones have a weaker pull and less tiles to destroy things with. Max plasma tanks also lets the engine run longer, giving you a good three or four hours before it fails.

[BigD145]

I go to pink, its third size, and then wait about 20 seconds before turning power down to 0. Then I ignore it. Someone will release it and it'll do plenty of damage forcing a shuttle call. This will be hours later, so no biggie.

[miauw62]

edit:
So what's so horrible about changeling mode?

it doesn't start with less than 15 players

[Hanslanda]

Real men make the singularity 7x7 and get drunk BEFORE they turn the PA down.

[BigD145]

I don't touch the SMES until the singulo is up and ready OR I fiddle with them while the singulo grows, unwatched. I should probably insert *get drunk* while the singulo grows. If CE, *go to room on other side of station to retrieve liquor* while singulo grows. Make sure to tell the station exactly what you are doing.

Pst. Traitors. This is your chance....

CE. Steal magboots.
Escape on shuttle.

[Glloyd]

What I did back when I played engineer often was fill the tanks to full, set up the emitters and gens, start the PA, then while the PA was firing I'd go set up the SMES's. Come back, and you'll have a 5x5 singulo. Boom. If it was a slow round though, I'd spend my time maintaining a 7x7 singulo as well as optimizing atmos to fill an airless room in a very short time.

The trick for 7x7's is to not leave the PA on. Leaving it at 0 still powers the singulo, so you need to leave it off. But if you do it right, and take the time to maintain it, you can blast the SMES's at full power no problem. Nobody ever does this though, because a. It's just to show off, there's no need to, and b. everyone is scared of over a 5x5 singulo. There has been way too many times that the AI or a dumb captain or other engineers have a. attacked me b. shut off my beautiful singulo c. berated me for making the singulo too large or d. called me a tator.

[Sinistar]

Yeah, it's strange because I wasn't away from generator all that long. Just fixed up both solars on the left side and I'd say I'm not that horribly slow when doing that now.

Damn thing was moving around the box from the beginning, but I thought that was normal...then I came back and it was all gone.

I guess I'll just jump in the game and learn some more. Also thanks for all the replies.

[Nick K]

Well, last time I was on a round where someone tried to get "Maximum Power" out of the singulo, it was loose like 20 seconds later

Sinistar - were the SMES running low on power? If they run out before the singulo starts powering them properly then the field generators will shut off. There's only a small window where that can happen after the PA has been started, but I did get it last week - luckily my uncontained singulo was 1x1 and apparently they don't move

[Sinistar]

@Nick K - huh, that is very much possible. To be honest, I'm still not sure how to set SMES properly.
What powers field generators in the first place? The kept shutting down for me for two rounds until I did the whole process at the very start of a new round so I guessed they are somehow connected to main power of the station (which is slowly falling at the start, yes?) Even though there are no visible connections to the main power??
Also, emitters ARE connected to SMES, right? I checked the cables and all, but the field gen thing baffles me a bit.

So, should I connect P.A.C.M.A.N. to the SMES power line just to be sure?

edit: wait wait wait...now that I think about it, I didn't check SMES AFTER setting up the singularity...it's entirely possible I didn't set them right. I do remember I set them to auto charge, but it's quite possible I didn't set them to actually distribute power.
Or I just shut them down, now I remember I panicked a little when I saw their charge rapidly draining before singularity was up.

Yep, that'll be it.

[Hanslanda]

I'm going to be just an engineer later tonight. I used to actually have a good deal of fun as an engineer.

[miauw62]

Field gens are powered by the lasers from the emitters.

[Nick K]

Yes, and the emitters are powered directly from the engineering SMES - they don't seem to take power from the APC. If the SMES turned off or run out of power the emitters stop shooting and that makes the field gens shut off.

Once the singulo's set up the SMES should be something like in: 200,000 (auto) out: 140,000 (online). Doing that first will drain power very fast though so don't increase the output value until the singulo's providing charge.

I needed extensive help from Magnetite last time I had to use the PACMAN so I'm probably not the best one to go over how to use it. Basically the PACMAN is used to power the emitters directly - not the SMES. There's a wire under the floor tile in front of the airlock door that leads to the emitters. Crowbar that up, sort out the wiring, turn it on and you should have a decent amount of time to start the singulo even if the SMES are completely dead. The wiring is the bit I needed just so much help with. The PACMAN needs to be over a knot in the wire and then the wire needs to connect up to the one going outside... I can't explain it very well.

[Karlito]

The PACMAN just needs to be hooked up to the SMES output i.e. the main power grid.

Any of the green wires in this image will work; the pink ones are the SMES inputs.

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