dark beam running out of steam

[bweenie]

I am unsure of why my dark beams are running out of steam and can't hold a steady beam. As you can see, I have about eight beams going at once, and appear to have surplus energy production as well as a full store of energy, but the LS can't pump energy to the beams fast enough to keep the beams on. However, on maps where I've only had one beam at a time, there hasn't been this problem.

[UpperKEES]

Without crystal energy the maximum output of the LS is 60 packets per second (2 per frame), see here.

[bweenie]

Thanks for the answer. That explains what was going on. '

I'm gonna retry this map now that I understand how to maintain all my dark beams at the same time.

After scanning that thread you linked to, I have to say (without trying to beat a dead horse), that I kind of agree that the "1 crystal" trick seems a little silly. If there's a cap to the energy output, there should be a cap. If there isn't a cap, you shouldn't have to do a silly trick to get around the cap. Just my two cents. (btw, setting up eight dark beams to take out the nexus where there were no conversion bombs was how I got way over 60 pps on this map).

Thanks a lot for your help UpperKEES

[UpperKEES]

I kind of agree that the "1 crystal" trick seems a little silly. If there's a cap to the energy output, there should be a cap. If there isn't a cap, you shouldn't have to do a silly trick to get around the cap. Just my two cents.

Yep, I agree it's a bit arbitrary, but once you know about it you could even start to enjoy using this feature, because it takes some skill to prevent running out of crystal energy.

I think the choice for a cap was a performance issue; otherwise slower and older computers would almost stall when 100+ packet routes have to be determined each second. Probably less than 1% of all maps requires this amount of energy, so you won't be forced to use crystal energy a lot.

Thanks a lot for your help UpperKEES

You're welcome. :)