Power consumption

[Gurduloo]

I know the following things consume energy:

• Building structures
  Building units
  Research

Are there any other things that use up energy? Does unit repair use up energy? What about radar towers? I ran out of energy in a skirmish game the other day, and I think it was because of all the research I was doing. But then I got to thinking maybe I'd built too many radar towers all over the map.

The only solution I could find was to take over more oil wells.

[JDW]

Hi Gurduloo

This guide to early-game strategy could help you play better
Early-game multiplayer strategy

[Gurduloo]

Yes, that guide is really well done and has helped me tremendously. But I couldn't find any specifics in it about things like radar towers and repair facilities using up energy. I've been assuming that they don't use any energy once they're built, but I'm not really sure.

[Dylan Hsu]

Currently, the list you provided are the only things that consume power.

[kringled]

When I've looked closely, repair facilities/turrets use power as well. It's hard to notice because they don't use very much, they only use it when repairing units, and it's easily masked if you have any derricks at all. (And it's rare to have a game where you have repair but no oil). I only noticed this on a map that has no available oil at all.

Keith

[KukY]

When I've looked closely, repair facilities/turrets use power as well. It's hard to notice because they don't use very much, they only use it when repairing units, and it's easily masked if you have any derricks at all. (And it's rare to have a game where you have repair but no oil). I only noticed this on a map that has no available oil at all.

Keith

[kringled]

If you don't believe me, you can look in the source - power.c is the relevant file. As I said, in my practical experience, the amount they use is pretty small and not really noticeable.

Keith

[Zarel]

Repairing in general use a negligible amount of power in 2.3.x, and we encourage users to ignore its power usage completely. They use no power at all in trunk.

Other than that, the only things that use power are the standard build/research/manufacture (and gifting power). Having recently rewritten the power system in trunk, I can guarantee that.

[kringled]

Yes, I was looking at 2.3 source, not trunk, since 2.3 is what I use to play.