Either this skill has a misleading description or it does not work right. Either way I feel like I wasted a critical tier 2 Engineer skill taking it. Here is the reason I say that. In my Leningrad II, if I run nothing but engines I have initiative 26 (24 for movement +2 for captain initiative). I took Stress Engines thinking that an emergency surge of +40% from the engines would facilitate escape, but that is not at all what happened. I was on the wall moderately damaged (but with intact engines) and preparing to warp out. I fired the Stress Engines skill and then clicked Leave Map. I did take the advertised 5% hull damage immediately but ended up with my usual 26 initiative. There was no benefit at all, I got not one single extra point of energy from this self destructive +40% boost. Is this working as intended? If so, the skill is all negative without any redeeming positive effect.
Update: In a situation where you are not leaving map, the 40% energy boost works as expected including an initiative boost. The question now becomes, is it intentional for this to only hurt you and not boost initiative if you are leaving the map? If it is a bug, please fix it. If it is intentional, please alter the description to say so clearly.
It is definitely a bug then; Stress Engines MAIN purpose is to be able to escape out of danger. It is even part of the novel in the Sol storyline. I will prepare a ticket on this one right now.
Has this been patched already? I have been testing the skill off and on all day. After several failures in a row it actually worked once a few minutes ago. I don't know if that was just a fluke or if the bug is fixed.
Dalwin, I agree there is a bug in this skill. But it seems to happen randomly. If you can discover the exact conditions needed for the bug to happen, it'll be very helpful. Sometimes stress engine works when I've charged nothing. Sometimes it works when I'm leaving map. So those don't seem to be the exact conditions.. By the way, bugs aren't solved so soon because of lack of manpower. U might need to wait weeks, especially when no exact condition can be provided. Thanks.
Thanks for reply. I was not expecting anything for quite some time and wanted to make sure I was seeing a fluke or an intermittent problem. There are rare cases, however, where a new problem crops up where something was just changed and that occasionally leads to a quick fix. In other words it doesn't hurt to ask. I certainly have not set my expectations to anything sooner than, as you say, a few weeks.
