The purview of this mod is energy storage systems, recharging of these systems, alternate options for recharging or building power cells, and related improvements. Some mods that will likely be studied and integrated include Generators Recharge Cells (recharge your drained cells from any generator) and Energy Cells Recharged (adds 'empty' state, options to build new cells and bleed power from existing cells, drain fission batteries, etc.)

Energy cells have the following potential states:

Ruined: The cell is no longer capable of holding a charge, though it might still be scrappable for useful sub-components.

Empty: The cell is completely devoid of power, but can be recharged.

Drained: The cell technically has a minute trace of power in it, but for purposes of running anything is effectively dead.

Normal: A normal power cell of the chosen type, fully charged.

There are also ammunition types that basically represent the quality of the cell in question:

Junk: This is a homemade power cell and is not manufactured to the rigorous standards of third-world manufacturers. As such, it performs less effectively than even a bulk cell and is likely to fail (gain 'ruined' state).

Bulk: This is a low-quality power cell for those who didn't have the money to spend on a full-strength cell; it tends to under-deliver, but is functional enough.

Standard: A standard quality power cell; manufacturers take it into account when determining the power lifespan of a product.

Homebrew: This is a homemade power cell that has been made with the expectation of actually being used in something more powerful than a toaster. Homebrew cells effectively perform as if they were Standard cells, though the chance of them becoming 'ruined' is still high.

Overcharge: These are standard-quality power cells that hold and deliver more charge than a standard cell, at the expense of controllability and predictability in performance.

Optimized: These high-quality power cells are designed for use in mission-critical technology, supplying a consistently higher output of energy without overloading components, allowing much better performance at a nominal increase in wear rate.

Maxcharge: These heavily charged power cells are often used by the military or in extremely power-hungry equipment, as they hold the maximum capacity of any power cell of their type.

This results in a total of 28 references (7 ammo and 21 misc) per ammunition type. Large, but not entirely unmanageable, and expands the realism aspect without becoming too overwhelming.

Because of the revised interpretation of energy ammunition types as separate batteries, all energy ammo types have an equal chance of returning a 'drained' cell of their own type (drained max-charge energy cell for max-charge energy cells, for example).

Fusion Batteries are compact long-term energy storage solutions designed to be used as backups to a power grid, or as heavy-duty power support for an appliance.

Ruined: The Fusion Battery has failed and is only useful for components.

Empty: The Fusion Battery has been entirely drained of power or is freshly manufactured, and requires a recharge from a significant power source to be usable (there is insufficient power for its internal recharger to kick in).

Drained: The Fusion Battery has been drained to the point where it is not useful for backup power or other standard uses. It requires less power to restore to operation, and may recharge on its own if it actually contains a fusion generator.

Normal: The Fusion Battery is sufficiently charged for it to maintain its own charge level without service interruptions.

Although this may or may not be canon, I am going to assume that a Fusion Battery basically contains a number of power storage devices (Microfusion Cells) coupled with a Microfusion Breeder that gradually restores power to the cells, allowing the device to serve as a generator alternative for low-power systems. The assumption, then, is that a Fusion Battery requires a recharge (when in Empty state) to kickstart the MF Breeder after being drained entirely of power.

There are several new gadgets I intend to add, mostly built around acquiring, storing, and converting power.

Just as bullets have Lead, power cells have Kilowatts. In order to reasonably store Kilowatts of power, you need something to store them in; any excess discharges and disappears (based on a script attached to the Kilowatts). You also cannot drop Kilowatts normally (if you somehow manage it just to see what will happen, just in case, they are given a Sierra Madre chip as a world token, but you really shouldn't be allowed to do so.)

Instead, ideally you have an item (an Electron Storage Buffer, until I make up a better name) that can hold KW (I may limit this, or just make it heavy as a fair exchange for not giving the KW units themselves any weight). The device can't be hooked up to items that require known power sources directly; instead, it is basically used to keep Kilowatts from disappearing until you have time to make use of them.

There are several basic types of Charger that can be found or built by the savvy wastelander.

The simplest type of device to build, and fairly easy to find copies of, the Solar Charger creates power over time while you are exposed to light. As such, it works best outside during daylight hours. If possible, it should be able to take into account the time of day (generates little power at 3am) as well as the location (generates little power in poorly lit indoor areas). If not, it may just have two charge rates - daylight-hours charge and elsewhere charge. Either way, while this doesn't generate huge amounts of power quickly, it does accumulate.

This device essentially converts fuel (usually flamer fuel or alcohol) into power via steam turbines. However, there are some significant caveats involved:

• The device burns Generator Fuel in a combustion chamber container to generate power. It also boils Distilled Water from its water tank.
• The device automatically draws Generator Fuel from its fuel tank when it falls below a certain point in the combustion chamber. It generates less power and more heat when the water tank runs dry, but can still function.
• You can make Generator Fuel yourself, and have a number of options for how to make it.
• You can also make Distilled Water yourself, and have a number of options for how to make it.
• The generator is very noisy; having it in your inventory generates a nasty sneak penalty.
• The generator also tends to be hot; having it in your inventory may affect your temperature (see Ambient Temperature).
• The generator can be activated to access its battery (take out KW of energy), fuel tank (add more fuel), and water tank (add more distilled water). Any non-relevant item stored in these compartments is automatically returned to you.
• You can also access its Fuel Intake in order to add items to it. They convert less efficiently in this way than if you were to use them to create Generator Fuel or Distilled Water at a workspace, but you can dump a cache of flamer fuel into the engine in this way without having to find a conversion point, for example. Items which cannot be converted will be returned to you.
• Generator Fuel converted by the Fuel Intake will be stored in the generator's Fuel Tank; Distilled Water converted by the Fuel Intake will be stored in the generator's Water Tank.
• You can configure automatic refuelling via MCM commands; this allows you to specify certain fuel types or water types to automatically add to the Fuel Intake if you have them in your inventory and the supply of Generator Fuel or Distilled Water falls below a specified point.
• You can also configure automatic discharge via MCM commands; if set, your ESB will automatically take KW out of its Battery compartment.
• It has multiple 'containers': the battery (stores the KW output), the fuel tank (which stores only Generator Fuel), the fuel intake (which stores items being converted to fuel), and the water tank (which stores Distilled Water).

This generates power through nuclear fusion, which was more popular in the pre-apocalyptic world, but more hazardous to one's health. Nuclear generators run forever once built, and merely require Distilled Water; they otherwise function similarly to the Steam Generator (with a battery container for power stored and a water container for water stored.) They do not have a Fuel Intake system, and as such you must have Distilled Water at hand to operate them. They also are particularly unsafe if they run out of water; they generate unpleasant amounts of radiation, become noisy, become extremely hot, and have a small chance of setting off a mini-nuke explosion. It also takes time to 'shut down' a nuclear generator, so it's better to turn it off before you run out of water.

This generates power by breaking down the molecular structure of anything put inside of it based on weight (and partly on value). As such, the heavier and more expensive an item is, the more 'fuel' it provides. The flip side, of course, is that anything you put in the Matter Converter container WILL be destroyed eventually, so don't leave your valuables there! It has a Fuel Intake system that converts anything put into it, but its Fuel Tank (which contains Disassembled Matter) cannot be accessed. Disassembled Matter fuels the device, and it shuts down (safely) when the supply runs out rather than running dangerously. Even with nothing in the fuel tank and nothing in the intake, it generates a very small amount of Disassembled Matter over time (thanks to air flow), which can be useful when you need to generate power in a pinch. On the off chance that Disassembled Matter gets out, it takes the form of Squirrel Stew's model. Mmmm, matter.

Ideally, if the Powered Power Armor system has its own ways of recharging KW, this should allow the ESB to catch excess KW or feed them into it. Maybe. We'll work out the details.

This contraption, made from Microfusion Breeders, essentially bleeds energy from the Breeders to recharge power cells. Any non-charged cell placed in its Battery Bin will eventually be recharged; any charged cell in its Battery Bin will be ejected into your inventory when you are holding it.

This device allows you to discharge power cells in order to get at those sweet, sweet kilowatts of energy. As previously mentioned, you have to have an Electron Storage Buffer in order to stably store this energy; however, you can also use the Power Inverter to convert on-hand kilowatts and drained cells into recharged cells, so theoretically you can transfer power from cell to cell without much loss as long as you don't exit the Inverter.

Using a Power Inverter, you can transfer power between cells. There is a loss of efficiency in the process, which is mitigated if you have Vigilant Recycler.

Since it takes 4 drained cells to make one normal cell, or 3 with Vigilant Recycler, this gives us a baseline for how much charge is left in a drained cell (and what advantage Vigilant Recycler gives in conversion.) An 'Empty' cell, of course, has zero charge.

Options are available to drain cells from full to drained or drained to empty.

This shows the ratios between different quality levels, in terms of base units to power them.

These numbers are drawn from the charge requirements in the original game. For consistency, here are the original conversion stats and effects.

Three full = 2 overcharge Five full = 2 maxcharge Three full = 2 optimized (req Vigilant Recycler)

Bulk: Dmg x 0.85, Cond x 0.85 (Wears out less and does less damage, no bonus penetration) Standard: Dmg x 1, DT - 2, Cond x 1 (Wears out normally, normal damage, -2 to target DT) Overcharge: Dmg x 1.25, DT -5, Cond x 1.5 (wears out 1.5x as fast, better damage and DT) Max Charge: Dmg x 1.5, DT -10, Cond x 2.5 (wears out 2.5x as fast, better damage and DT) Optimized: Dmg x 1.3, DT -5, Cond x 1.1 (wears out only 1.1x as fast, better damage and DT) Junk: Dmg x 0.8, Cond x 1, -0 DT (Slightly worse damage and deterioration than bulk.) Homebrew: Dmg x 1, DT - 2, Cond x 1.1 (As standard, with slightly higher deterioration.)

Junk: Similar to bulk cells, with a high fail rate (25%). Homebrew: Similar to standard cells, with a moderate fail rate (15%). Most cells have a low fail rate (5%). These probabilities are checked after it decides that a cell has been recovered. Luck may affect the failure rate, or just the recovery rate.

Solar Scorcher: A weapon that recharges ammo only when outdoors in daylight hours/bright light; it has 6 shots, fires a laser with a base 60 damage, has a doubled critical rate, requires Str 3 and Energy Weapon skill of 25, has no spread, and is highly accurate. On the other hand, it ONLY regains ammo when out in the sun.

Photovoltaic Cell: This is the 'ammo type' used by the Solar Scorcher; it is meant to act the same as the MF Breeder for the Recharger Pistol, and just use a different (more limited) method of recharging.

The Mobile Cogwave Signal Jammer and Codac R9000 are examples of equippable 'weapons' with ammunition that are actually just tools; they fire an invisible 'projectile' that will not anger anyone hit by it, and carry out their tool functions via scripts attached to the weapon.

Capacitance Gel: Available in various glowing colors, capacitance gel is the gooey substance inside of energy cells. Combine it with some metal and electronics and you have yourself a battery. Capacitance gel comes in colors: Uranium Green, Strontium Blue, Promethium Red, and Tritium Yellow. Do not eat capacitance gel, as it is radioactive and bad for your long-term health.