Capacitor

Capacitors are energy storage structures intended to sustain ship weapons, shields, and the powerful Johnson-Tanaka Drives that propel ships through the interstellar void. They also happen to be useful as a kind of Battery during normal operating conditions.

=Starship Capacitor= Unlike lower tech batteries, Star Ship Capacitors are immune to Solar Flares, but are not immune to overloaded circuits, and are prone to cause massive explosions when connected to power conduits.

Using a Ship Structural Beam to power devices attached to a power source and Ship Capacitor will totally overcome the risk of short circuits, though at a tremendous cost in components, steel, and plasteel. Running conduits off of the ship's Structural Beam spine will help control the risk of shorts, especially in combat when the Reactors are on overdrive.

=Drive Capacitor= The Johnson-Tanaka Drive works by transferring momentum to nearby stars along precisely-aligned “beams” of momentum waves instantiated in exotic virtual particles. This requires an enormous Capacitor Array to begin the buildup of reactionless mass, one so complex and expensive it is far beyond the production capabilities of most RimWorld civilizations.

Containing a staggering 100,000Wd of power, it is used to power the most devastating Spinal Weapons and interstellar propulsion.

Thankfully, the Drive Capacitor is fully immune to shorts and solar flares when connected to its own circuit.

Is is extremely ill advised to have a JT Drive Capacitor attached to a more primitive power grid containing flawed conduits and lower tech Ship Capacitors and Batteries. JT Drive Capacitors can take days to charge up when left alone on a dedicated reactor, and a single short circuit can cause a massive explosion, wrecking your ship and destroying vital utilities. It's especially dangerous on a ground based colony, where it may get wet or mixed in with other utilities which render its magnetic shielding moot, leaving it vulnerable to solar flares and impressively destructive shorts.

If a Capacitor Array is used to power systems other than the JTDrive, using Structural Beams is the only way to ensure shorts do not occur.