ATMOSFAR Cloud Cruiser power setup: nuclear cores and PU balance

The original nuclear cores were assembled by PACE long ago to power the Cruisers, and they are now rare. A Scout Wasp with a Geiger counter is the typical way to locate a core, and the heavy core — weighing hundreds of kilos — is moved into the Cruiser using a Cargo Wasp and loaded through the Cruiser's cargo lift.

A single installed nuclear reactor produces about 25 PU per second, and a Hydrogen Refinery consumes 1 PU, which works out to roughly one reactor being able to sustain 25 refineries. Multiple cores can be combined — two reactors yield roughly 50 PU — at the cost of more cores and more building materials.

Every installed system on the Cruiser except the thrust system draws PU, so balancing production against consumption is a core operating concern. If PU ever drops to zero, the cooling system can fail and stored liquid hydrogen fuel can evaporate, which is why load-out changes have to be planned around the budget rather than patched in afterwards.

For where the cores go and how the cooling system ties into fuel storage, see the Cloud Cruiser fuel and hydrogen page. For the helm and autopilot behavior that depends on this power grid, see the Cloud Cruiser piloting page. For armor and turrets that draw from the same pool, see the Cloud Cruiser defense page.