I get confused in reading the Info panel. How can we tell if we need an additional generator? What is the electrical consumption actually telling us? Or do we just power everything up and see if the generators blow? A tab similar to CPU Statistics would be nice for generators.
The main screen of the control panel will show you the power consumption when it's on. Yes, you'll have to simply add up the listed draw of each component if you want to know what it'll need before powering on. However, for small builds, this should be easy as there will only be a few devices you really need to pay attention to. If it's a base, it'll mostly be constructors, deconstructors, and furnaces. (Teleports too, but you don't want those on at all unless you're using them.) By the time you get to larger stuff, it's probably better to just go a bit overkill on it. A couple T1 generators will usually handle the average base, for example. Six of them can power just about anything, if I recall correctly. For HVs, SVs, and CVs, it's best to put on more than you need, then take it for a flight and see how it does. You can always take stuff off. For any vessel, power draw will increase drastically when... -you use thrust in multiple directions. (up, to the side, and forward, for example) -you use boost (on any vessel that has it) -you're in a high gravity environment -the shield is charging
Constructors also use massive amounts of power. Probably 90% of the time I've gotten generator damage has been when I was running constructor while underway.
