Hello / Question about Overcharge and EMP

Hello, it is tradition for me to state a greeting post so this is my formal one. =)

I have been playing for over two months now and I am glad to experience a great Shmup/RPGish hybrid game which some have seen as the next evolution of the Shmup genre. My first love in video game generes has been the classic shmup, simple in concept but satisfying and ever stubborn as just when the genre is slated for extinction it comes back with something fresh. A shmup with a high level of customizable options and an RPG-like structure (including light/dark humor and references galore) is a rare but refreshing entry. Good work to you all for your efforts!

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Here is my question:

I have a build for the C5F Zephyr which is being geared a bit for mass energy storage. One of the goals of the build is to periodically exploit the EMP ability, yet for some reason I cannot exploit it as I thought, being that I just let the energy fill to max and purposely overcharge. Instead, the energy meter maxes out but nothing happens, which is good in it's own right. I am safely assuming that this could have been a safeguard built in to prevent this very tactic from being employed, though I'm not sure.

Here are the more relevant aspects of the build that deal with this combination:

Caster Drive:
-Excess Capacitor
-Electromagnetic Pulse Device
-Arcing Tesla Core

Power Hub:
-Overcharged Converter
-Overcharged Capacitor Module

In all, was my suggested theory correct and also, is this an overall effective way to have a high energy build?

In one of the earlier videos posted by the devs on Youtube, fighters were able to overload from their abilities when using the Agile Drive passives.
This was patched out by the time I started playing the game. Only casters still overloaded from converting their overcharge. Which would make picking up resupply powerups very risky.

If this overloading thing doesn't work for casters... that's a not-so-nice disadvantage. I think we should be allowed a choice, for ALL hulls: To choose to enable or disable overheat or overload prevention. I think overheat prevention is useless when I already have break equipped to deal with it once it happens... it just needs to bloody happen.

Hmmm. Well, here is another quirky thing I noticed though I'll have to re-verify if it is correct. In another build I initially had for the F5CG Archimedes, there was a similar setup to this one for mass energy storage, though it couldn't take advantage of EMP since it lacks the Caster Drive hub. In this case, if I let the energy cap, it would indeed overcharge which would be a disadvantage in this case. This is why I was wondering if this tactic was a possible nerf of some sort.

Could you provide more information on what happens, the build used and your testing environment?

I flew your C5F Zephyr build, and when the ship overloaded both EMP and Arcing Tesla Core activated.
I used a mostly blank build on highest difficulty, so I'm curious as to what's going wrong on your end.

It seems fairly unusual that one or more would be completely immune to the effects of overloading, and also that an ability simply doesn't trigger - if either happens I'd consider it a likely bug.

Sure, here is the equipment:

Utility:
-Avoidance Plating
-Nano Repair Bots

Shield:
-Medium Shield

Agile Drive:
-Stellar Wind Funnels
-Star Duster
-Death Blossom Device
-Astrogami Omni-Drive

Power Hub:
-Advanced Power Hub
-Overcharge Converter
-Overcharged Capacity Module

Heatsink:
-Plasma Coil Heat Sink
-Max Module

Weapons Bay 1:
-AoE Amp

Weapons Bay 2:
-Damage Amp

Dimensional Array:
-Forked Path Catalyst

Caster Drive:
-Super Sine Collider
-Excess Capacitor
-Electromagnetic Pulse Device
-Arcing Tesla Core

Engine:
-Advanced Engine
-Thrust Module * 2

Auxiliary Drives:
-Mending Drive
-Chronodrive

Mass Emitter:
-MADRATi Pulsar Generator
-Dark Matter Orb Launcher
-Persistent Repulsion Device
-Gravector Beam

Caster Veterancy:
-Ultimamp
-Aftermath: Subtraction
-Charged Caster Core

Corona:
-Transcendence
-Stubborn Thread

I haven't tested out every scenario such as getting hit by energy adding fire so I'm not sure if that would trigger an overcharge. Have tested standing still, slow movement, fast movement, and getting powerups.

I tested this on Runner difficulty primarily on Wave Mode.

Hardware:
-Win XP SP3 32-bit
-+3 DDR2 RAM
-Radeon HD 4670
-Intel Core 2 Duo E8500

Downloaded from GOG, currently using version 1.1.0.1 Full (do not remember the exact build # and forget where to find it as GOG does not keep a record upon an update).

Stellar Wind Funnels somehow prevent overloading.

Using only Stellar Wind Funnels, you will not overload without external energy transfer.
Using only Overcharge Converter, you will overload without external energy transfer.
Using both, you will not overload without external energy transfer.

However, Stellar Wind Funnels don't completely prevent overloading. For example, adding Suiro Shielding will result in you flying around in an overcharged state - until you take damage and unleash the EMP.
I would've liked to try combining Stellar Wind Funnels and D.I.C.E, but couldn't find any ship that can equip both.

By the way, it seems you're playing a dated version. We're at 1.1.0.4 by now - check it in the bottom left corner of your main menu.

Ok, then I'll take off Stellar Wind Funnels and see what happens as well as update the game. Was a new version just released late last week?

Update:

It appears to have worked! Thanks for that info on Stellar Wind Funnels. Now to see if I can put that knowledge to good use in other builds.