Line #26 Main/DivertingPower


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4	[[quoteright:349:[[Film/Passengers2016 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/passengers_divert_power.png]]]]
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7	->'''Guy''': We're getting hammered, Jason! Return fire?
8	->'''Jason''': No! Divert all energy to the armor!
9	-->-- ''Film/GalaxyQuest''
10
11	According to TimTaylorTechnology, all you need to do to enhance a system is pump more power into it. But where do you get that power?
12
13	Diverting Power is what happens when Tim Taylor Technology runs into a limited pool of power. If the extra power to pump into something is not readily available, [[EquivalentExchange that power must be reclaimed from somewhere else]], usually by shutting down or reducing power to one system to power up another.
14
15	Played well, this can add extra tension and interest. Buffing up one aspect of something can expose a LogicalWeakness in another aspect. [[AwesomenessByAnalysis An observant hero]] might use this to dodge the extra danger of one foe powering up an aspect of himself by exploiting the aspect he left vulnerable. Or a WaveMotionGun might be enough to end a battle in one shot, but doing so requires that the user power down all other systems and leave himself vulnerable, thus justifying [[HoldingBackThePhlebotinum why he does not use it all the time]].
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17	Note that most of the uses of this involve technology using presumably electrical charge or MinovskyPhysics. However, this trope can also apply to something using [[SteamPunk steam pressure]], FunctionalMagic, or other similar concepts, depending on how they are handled in the context of a particular setting.
18	----
19	!!Examples
20
21	[[foldercontrol]]
22
23	[[folder:Film]]
24	* ''Film/TheMeg''. In order to descend faster for his deep-sea rescue mission, Jonas diverts all non-essential power in his one-man minisub to the motors. One would think ballast, buoyancy, and water pressure were more crucial factors when descending.
25	* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
26	** ''Film/ANewHope''. Before the final battle over the Death Star, the Rebel pilots were ordered to "Switch your deflectors on double front" (i.e., switching the deflector shields to increase forward deflectors at the expense of the rear ones). Once the TIE Fighters show up on the scene, the pilots are ordered to stabilize their rear deflectors, now that they are being chased as well as being shot at by their target.
27	** ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. Han Solo orders all power to the forward DeflectorShields before charging the ''Millennium Falcon'' straight at an Imperial Star Destroyer, since he knew he would not need to worry about firing coming from behind [[spoiler:as he was planning on parking his ship on the rear side of their command tower and out of their sensors' scope]].
28	* Used offensively in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' when the ''Enterprise'' is locked in a duel with Klingon Bird-of-Prey owned by the Duras sisters. Having been able to bypass the Enterprises' shields, they need a quick solution. Data figures out some TechnoBabble that can force the Bird-of-Prey to go into [[StealthInSpace cloak]]. Since cloaking requires that a ship power down its weapons and shields (see ''Star Trek'' under "Live Action TV" below) this allows the Enterprise to render the Bird-of-Prey defenseless for a brief window that they can use to hit it with photon torpedoes. Being a much smaller ship, it cannot take nearly as much hull punishment as the Enterprise and is destroyed.
29	* In ''Film/{{Apollo 13}}'', Ken Mattingly and John Aaron are trying to come up with a startup procedure for the command module using only the CM's batteries, which had been partially drained in the disaster before the CM was shut down. Unfortunately, there just is not enough power in the batteries to perform any viable startup. Mattingly gets the idea to get the extra power from the lunar module's power systems, via a linkup normally used to transfer power from the command/service module to the lunar module. It's not very energy-efficient when [[ReverseThePolarity used in the reverse manner]], but it gets them the few extra amps they need to get the CM up and running--and thanks to the earlier power conservation procedures used with the LM, there's power enough to do this.
30	* Parodied in the animated Australian ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' spoof ''Sev Trek: Pus in Boots''. Gaudy (Geordi [=LaForge=]) notices his [[ExplosiveInstrumentation console is beginning to spark]], so he quickly "reroutes" the explosion to the [[RedShirt expendable ensign's]] console.
31	* ''Film/Passengers2016'': A SleeperStarship is damaged by a small meteorite fragment that becomes lodged in the engine core. The ship's computer responds by diverting power from the other systems in order to maintain life support, [[spoiler:but this slowly but surely causes a cascading effect where more and more systems across the ship start to malfunction due to lack of power. If it is not fixed in time by our leads, this will inevitably lead to total system failure and everybody on board dying.]]
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Literature]]
35	* Creator/KeithLaumer's short story "The Last Command". After the last battle against the enemy, Literature/{{Bolo}} unit LNE (Lenny) is deactivated and sealed underground. Many years later he's awoken by the detonation of explosive charges and tries to escape his confinement. He activates his forward scanners and shunts power to his I-R microstrobes. He channels all available power to a single ranging pulse in an attempt to figure out where he is. Near the end, when his old commander tries to convince him to not drive into the human city nearby, LNE shunts power to his forward scanner again in an attempt to verify the commander's identity.
36	* Comes up on occasion in the ''Literature/XWingSeries'', which borrows several elements from the ''VideoGame/XWing'' PC games. The X-Wings are capable of diverting power between several subsystems, most commonly the shields, engines and guns.
37	* This ends up [[spoiler:killing Ax]] in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': his ship is investigating what appears to be a derelict Yeerk ship, and he joins the boarding party while his own ship is diverting power to the scanners. On figuring it's a trap, he tells his ship to send full power to the shields, but it's too late.
38	* Literature/SherlockHolmes claims this is the reason he rarely eats while on a case: blood sent to the digestive system could be put to better use by his brain.
39	* ''[[Literature/TheExpanse Cibola Burn]]'' -- {{Discussed\|Trope}} when the ''Rocinante'' is forced to operate on battery-power. The ship's [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon keel-mounted]] [[MagneticWeapons railgun]] has its own very substantial set of batteries and capacitors which were already topped off, and they have to consider tapping into those to keep other systems powered. However, the power is only designed to flow ''into'' the railgun system, not back ''out of'' it into the rest of the ship ([[OverclockingAttack for cogent safety reasons]]) and they do not have the time to [[ReversePolarity effect a workaround]], so they abandon that plan in favor of [[RecoilBoost a different solution using the railgun]].
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
43	* A variation in ''Series/CowboyBebop2021''. In [[Recap/CowboyBebop2021S1E6BinaryTwoStep "Binary Two-Step"]] the Bebop is ComingInHot causing the engine to overheat and burst into flame, so Mel and Faye plug the coolant into the sprinkler system.
44	* This happened on a regular basis during space combat on ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.
45	** "The Changeling". Nomad is attacking Enterprise and Captain Kirk orders evasive manouvres, but the ship can't perform them because Scotty has diverted warp power to the shield to fend off Nomad's energy bolts. Kirk approves the action when told they can't outrun the bolts anyway.
46	** "Balance of Terror". The Romulan ship had to turn off its cloaking device in order to fire its plasma weapon. Also, Kirk orders all power diverted to weapons before making the final attack on the Romulan ship.
47	** "Catspaw". Assistant Chief Engineer [=DeSalle=] orders power diverted to the hull in an attempt to escape their imprisonment.
48	** "The Tholian Web". Spock orders all but emergency maintenance power to be diverted to the shields to resist the Tholian attacks.
49	** "The Immunity Syndrome". While inside the giant space amoeba, Spock diverts his shuttle's secondary power to the shields.
50	** "The Apple". Scotty diverts everything except life support to the impulse engines, through he warns that it's dangerous to do so. Unlike other examples where this is done with a push of the button, it takes eight hours to make the necessary modifications.
51	** In all of the ''Star Trek'' incarnations activating a [[InvisibilityCloak Cloaking Device]] requires that a ship divert power away from its weapons. In the original series episode ''Balance of Terror'' where the cloaking device was first introduced, it literally used up too much power to run both it and the weapons system at the same time. Later instances seem to have gotten around this particular issue, but new issues come up that still keep the trope enforced. The writers described it as being akin to an arms race between cloaking technology and sensor technology, and any advantage one gains over the other is only temporary until the other side figures out a work-around. This then keeps cloaked ships as the equivalent of "[[StealthInSpace submarines in space]]", having to reduce all the emissions that might give them away when they go into cloak.
52	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. In "Q Who", the Borg have knocked out their shields, so Geordi [=LaForge=] and Ensign Gomez try to get them up again before the Borg repair their own ship.
53	-->'''[=LaForge=]:''' Divert power from anywhere you need it. Anywhere except for life support.
54	-->'''Gomez:''' No, it wouldn't help. The circuits which control the shields, they've been fused.
55	-->'''[=LaForge=]:''' If you can't reprogram, then reroute.
56	** This nearly proves their undoing in [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E11HeroWorship one episode]], where dumping more and more power into the shields to increase their power also increases the power with which they're routinely hit by that weeks NegativeSpaceWedgie. It's explicitly mentioned they dump the Warp power into the shields at one point, at which point things really go FromBadToWorse.
57	* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. In the pilot episode, Chief O'Brien says he can transfer all available power to forcefields around critical areas, but that leads the docking ring vulnerable. Major Kira has Odo evacuate the civilians from that area, but some are still injured by StuffBlowingUp.
58	* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''
59	** In the ActionPrologue of the pilot episode, a Maquis ship is being hammered by a much larger Cardassian cruiser. B'Elanna Torres transfers all power from the weapons to the engines so they can [[TryAndFollow make it to the Badlands]]. When Tuvok questions losing their weaponry in the middle of a battle, she points out their weapons aren't powerful enough to get through the cruiser's shields anyway.
60	** In "Cathexis", Captain Janeway has all power diverted to the engines including life support, so they can escape before hostile aliens break through their shields. [[FridgeLogic Wouldn't that include the power going to the shields?]]
61	** In "Collective", the Borg attempt to tear off Voyager's deflector dish by force with a TractorBeam, so Janeway orders all power diverted to structural integrity, but B'Elanna says it will only give them another minute at most.
62	** In "One Small Step", a [=21st=] Century space explorer is trapped in a NegativeSpaceWedgie. After several failed attempts to escape, he reroutes power from life support to the scanners, using everything his ship has left to [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture gather data rather than waste resources on himself]].
63	** Averted with the holodeck whose energy system is incompatible with that used by the rest of Voyager, [[RuleOfCool so they can have holodeck episodes]] despite being on a ship that's so short of power they need to ration their food replicator use. So why can't the {{Gadgeteer Genius}}es of Starfleet jury-rig a means of transferring power, given how often they can [[PlugNPlayTechnology easily integrate parts from alien spacecraft]]?
64	* Parodied in [[Recap/CommunityS2E04BasicRocketScience "Basic Rocket Science,"]] an episode of ''Series/{{Community}}'' that [[AffectionateParody spo]][[{{Homage}} ofed]] ''Film/TheRightStuff'' and ''Film/{{Apollo 13}}''. The gang, sans Abed, are trapped on a space exploration simulator and have no clue as to where they are. [[MissionControl Abed and a few others at Greendale are tasked with finding the gang and bringing them back to the school.]] About halfway through the episode Chang comes running to Abed with a plan.
65	-->'''Chang:''' I've worked out a way to reroute the RV's power from the auxiliary battery!
66	-->'''Abed:''' Reroute to what?
67	-->'''Chang wordlessly backs out of the room.'''
68	* Standard spacecraft function in the ''Franchise/StargateVerse''. Typically they're switching between DeflectorShields and engines.
69	* ''Series/BlakesSeven''.
70	** In "Mission to Destiny", while piloting the Liberator through a meteor shower the power starts to fade. Zen gives them a choice between diverting to the drive units (risking destruction) or the forcewall (protecting the ship, but stranding them in space). Blake chooses the drive units. Fortunately they're almost through the storm.
71	** In "Games", Avon has all power except that which is necessary for life support diverted through the weapon system.
72	** In "Terminal", the Liberator's hull is breaking down after being infected by some kind of enzyme. Villa orders Zen to shut down the auto-repair systems as they're fighting a losing battle and draining the power banks, and instead divert all power to maintain the MasterComputer so it can analyze the infection and find a solution. [[spoiler:Unlike other examples of this trope, it doesn't work and Liberator is destroyed.]]
73	** Averted in "Volcano". With the Liberator's power banks drained and Servalan's battlefleet bearing down, Avon calls for the emergency circuits to be activated. They don't work [[spoiler:and only a convenient EarthShatteringKaboom saves their lives.]]
74	* ''Series/Titans2018''. In "Ghosts", Dr Light channels the power of the entire city through the stadium lights so he can absorb it. It also lights up his location like a neon sign, [[SchmuckBait but he's expecting that]].
75	* ''Series/DoctorWho''. In "Resolution", the Recon Dalek diverts all the power in the UK to send a signal to the Dalek fleet, knocking out the internet in the process. We then cut to a BUFFERING symbol on the screen, as [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall if the Dalek has managed to stop the episode as well]] (at least for those watching on their computers instead of TV).
76	-->'''The Doctor:''' Whoa! That Dalek just shut down the whole of Britain's internet.
77	-->'''Graham:''' What, on New Year's Day; when everything's shut and everyone's hung over?
78	-->'''Ryan:''' [[FauxHorrific What a monster!]]
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80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:TabletopGames]]
83	* ''TabletopGame/StarFleetBattles''. Since the game is based on ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', one standard technique during combat is to move around your ship's available energy to where it's needed.
84	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'', Jump drives use so much power that many older ships have to divert power from nearly everything (leading to the tradition of "jump dimming").
85	* The multipower framework in the ''TabletopGame/HeroSystem'' works like this. For a lower point cost than buying all the powers in it piecemeal would entail, the character instead gets a total point pool that can be split up between them -- a classic example would be a character who can have flight, a force field, and an energy blast, but can't have them all running at full power at the same time.
86	* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3.5, the incarnum subsystem (presented in ''Magic of Incarnum'') expands on the body slots used to equip magic items, most notably by allowing characters to enchant these slots with pieces of [[BattleAura spectral equipment]] known as soulmelds. Incarnum-wielding characters gain a limited pool of "essentia" which can be invested in soulmelds (and certain other abilities) to increase their power, and which can be reallocated between them from round to round. A number of classes have bonuses and {{Super Mode}}s which either increase the maximum essentia capacity of their soulmelds, or cause soulmelds to function at maximum power without any investment.
87	* ''TabletopGame/ArkhamHorror'':
88	** Investigators have scores in three pairs of skills: Speed/Sneak, Fight/Will, and Lore/Luck. They have a limited ability to adjust those scores each turn, but increasing a score in one skill requires an equal decrease in its paired skill.
89	** The {{Supernatural Martial Art\|s}}ist Investigator Lily Chen has the unique ability to adjust her HitPoints and SanityMeter in the same way, representing her body and mind reinforcing each other through her training.
90	[[/folder]]
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92	[[folder:VideoGames]]
93	* ''VideoGame/XWing'' was a series that helped popularized it. This was actually done on several levels: besides allocating power consumption between engines, lasers, and shields, you could also switch your shield priority (forward, rear, or balanced) to provide more protection where you need it, and your firing pattern (single, double, or quad) to tweak fire rate vs. damage done at once (assuming every laser hits the target, of course). And in a pinch you could shunt power between beams and shields, draining one for a quick recharge of the other. One bonus as well was that, starting from ''VideoGame/TIEFighter'', some craft would get a beam of some variety (such as a tractor beam to hold targets in place) with its own power supply that could just as easily be turned off to give further increased power to the others, e.g. boosting your laser recharge rate without impacting your normal top speed. Effective power management is essential to surviving the harder missions.
94	* ''VideoGame/StarWarsSquadrons'', being a SpiritualSuccessor to the above-mentioned ''X-Wing'' series, incorporates this into its gameplay as well, albeit streamlined. Diverting power to shields increases their recharge rate, diverting power to thrusters increases maximum speed and allows for boosting, and diverting power to lasers increases their recharge rate and attack power. Most Imperial fighters don't have shields and instead compensate by allowing for "power shunting", allowing more energy to be diverted between lasers and thrusters.
95	* ''VideoGame/TachyonTheFringe'' allows you to divert power between your forward and aft shields, and between your engines and recharging shields, guns, and afterburners. Excess power to a fully charged system is automatically diverted to other systems.
96	* A minor example in the ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' series, which allows you to switch sets of guns on and off. This can conserve power, but it's more commonly used to swap between weapons for specific targets (such as switching to a low-damage, high-ROF gun to {{Cherry Tap\|ping}} enemy fighters in the hopes the pilot will bail out).
97	* This is a core mechanic in ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight''. You'll never have enough power to operate every system in your ship at full capacity, even after upgrading the reactor several times. Therefore, [[ResourcesManagementGameplay it's imperative to adjust power distribution wisely]] according to the situation at hand.
98	* Games based on ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' often allowed the player to do this. For example, in ''Super Stellar Trek'' and ''Apple Trek'' the player could transfer energy from reserve power to the shields and back again. Energy in the shields couldn't be used to fire phasers or move the ship.
99	* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'''s multiplayer mode, certain classes of [[MechanicalLifeforms Geth]] characters can enter "[[SuperMode Hunter Mode]]", lifting the {{Power Limiter}}s on their weapons to fire them with greater force, diverting power to their synthetic muscles to handle the recoil that would break an organic's arm. However, this power is drawn from their DeflectorShields, reducing them to half strength[[note]] This is half of the shield's base strength of 1000 points. Any bonuses to shield strength, whether through passive skills, equipment, or consumable items, apply their full value, so a Geth Engineer with 1000 base shields and cumulative bonuses of +100% to shields that entered Hunter mode would have 1500 shield points, not 1000.[[/note]] while this mode is engaged and turning the Geth into a GlassCannon.
100	* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
101	** Most Covenant vehicles after ''[[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved Combat Evolved]]'' allow the player to "[[{{Overdrive}} boost]]" by diverting power from the weapons to the engines, granting temporary extra speed but rendering you unable to shoot while doing so.[[note]]Though there is an exception when Covenant vehicles have a secondary turret operated by a separate gunner. Presumably the secondary turret operates on its own isolated circuit.[[/note]]
102	** There are several times in the games where Cortana has to use the Chief's suit's reactor to overload some sort of power system; doing so usually temporarily depletes the Chief's energy shields.
103	** In ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' there is a specific example. At the end of the third mission, "Forerunner", the Master Chief and Cortana must escape a CollapsingLair on a Covenant Ghost. Given that they need even more speed than the boost would usually give them, Cortana diverts power from the Master Chief's DeflectorShields to the Ghost's engines. This does leave him vulnerable, but any Covenant he encounters along the way are too busy running for their lives to try shooting at him.
104	* To progress through the Bugbear Mothership in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', the player has to deal with various things diverting power from the elevators. [=KoL=] being [=KoL=], this is eventually lampshaded.
105	-->''A computerized voice says, "De-Evolution Detected in Galley. Rerouting Power From Elevator To Food Replicators."''
106	-->''WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE ELEVATOR?''
107	* In ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'', power switch boxes can be found all over Sevastopol, and because the systems are usually operating at only nominal capacity at best, [[PlayerCharacter Amanda]] often has to switch various systems on an off to gain access, evade hostile security, make distractions, or any number of other things.
108	* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' has power distribution as a major mechanic in space combat. Ships have 200 points of power (160 for Romulan ships, whose power plants grant several special abilities) to be distributed between weapons, shields, engines, and auxiliary systems. Most ships grant bonus power to one or more systems, and player character skills or ship equipment can also increase the amount of power available.
109	* In ''{{VideoGame/Uprising}}'', that's how the Wraith's Power Triangle works. You can allocate power to speed, shields or weapons, depending on the situation.
110	* ''VideoGame/ArtemisSpaceshipBridgeSimulator'', being heavily inspired by Star Trek, naturally features this. However, it adds the twist of having a finite amount of coolant as well. Systems with extra power but not enough coolant will overheat.
111	* ''Videogame/EliteDangerous'' has a simple three-way split between [=SYS=]tems, [=ENG=]ines, or [=WEP=]ons. Diverting power to Systems increases the damage resistances of your shields, and means that they can come back up faster once fully depleted. Diverting power to Engines increases your maximum speed and allows you to boost more often as your drive energy recovers faster. Finally, diverting power to Weapons increases the effectiveness of their cooling systems, allowing you to fire for longer without experiencing Thermal Load.
112	* One of the tasks in ''VideoGame/AmongUs'' is to divert power to a room of the ship, requiring the player to go to one panel to increase the power to a room, then go to that room and accept the diverted power by flipping a switch.
113	* In ''VideoGame/BattlestarGalactica,'' the player's missile racks can be configured to fire swarms of weak homing missiles (Number/Homing axis) or a single high-powered torpedo (Damage/Radius axis) by fiddling with the [[Platform/PlayStation2 PS2's]] D-pad. The weak, accurate homing missiles are great for the ZergRush of fighters, and the torpedoes are for the base-star bosses and other emplacements.
114	* ''VideoGame/XCOMInterceptor'' allows you to adjust your power load between shields, engines and weapons. However, in practice, combat is generally over so quickly that shield energy isn't needed, and with few exceptions, fighters are fast enough with minimal power to engines, so diverting maximum power to weapons is ideal[[note]]and with some weapons, all but required: the Gatling Laser is extremely effective at pummeling enemies in the early game, but drains energy so fast that a five second burst will deplete your reserves even ''with'' power diverted to weapons[[/note]]. Weapon energy only affects the speed at which your energy weapons regain energy, and has no effect on missiles and their refire rate.
115	[[/folder]]
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117	[[folder:WebComics]]
118	* This is effectively how Maxima's powers work in ''Webcomic/GrrlPower''. She has superhuman strength, speed, and invulnerability as well as flight and energy blasts. Typically she keeps a balance between them, but when the situation calls for it she can switch power from one ability to another; for example, she could lower her SuperStrength to improve her [[NighInvulnerable invulnerability]] in anticipation of a powerful attack.
119	* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive:'' This is [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/balance-010 how Elliot's "Cheerleadra" spell works after the un-change]]. The spell has seven "stats" that represent different powers he can gain while in Cheerleadra form (SuperStrength, flight, etc.), each of which can be assigned a score between 1 and 3 (higher scores obviously giving more and better powers). But Elliot only has fourteen points to spend, so if he wants to max out some stats he has to weaken others.
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:WebVideo]]
123	* ''WebVideo/StarWarsDownunder''. Jedi Knight Merve Bushwacker's spaceship can divert all power to the [[INeedAFreakingDrink beer fridge in case of emergency]].
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
127	* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Lorelei Signal". Spock orders ship's energy to be diverted into the deflector shields in an attempt to block the title sonic MindControl attack.
128	* Discussed in the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "Overlabbing". Dexter explains that he shielded his lab in response to one of Mandark's schemes, and Mandark immediately investigates.
129	-->'''Mandark:''' You must take me for a fool! Rerouting power from the deflector array?
130	-->'''Dexter:''' I guess that is a little cliché.
131	* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010''. This is how Bumblebee eventually takes down the Warworld. She's trying to CutTheJuice but its power source adapts to every attack, so she reroutes the power to Mongol's control room and overloads it.
132	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels''. In "The Siege of Lothal", the ''Ghost'' has Lord Vader in a TIE fighter on their tail and a couple of Star Destroyers up ahead, so Hera orders all power to be diverted for a HyperspeedEscape, ''including'' the power to the rear gun turret where Zeb is desperately trying to blast Vader before he does the same to them.
133
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:RealLife]]
137	* Very much truth in television for steam-powered ships as steam is directly used to power the engines, generators, and, in colder climates, heat the ship. Under normal conditions, a ship can generate enough steam to run all at top speed, but warships often didn't operate in optimal conditions. Therefore, there were indeed instances in WWI and WWII when a ship diverted power from the weapons (or rather, the generator that powered the motors turning them) to the engines.
138	** A famous instance of this outside of warfare was when ''RMS Carpathia'' rushed to to the distress call of ''RMS Titanic.'' The ''Carpathia'' diverted as much steam as she could to from other systems (namely electrical and heating) to run the engines as fast as possible. ''Carpathia'''s crew managed to get her speed up to over 17 knots during this stint, a full two knots faster than what was considered her maximum theoretical design speed beforehand. Unfortunately, [[ShootTheShaggyDog this still was not fast enough to save to bulk of the Titanic's passengers.]]
139	* Satellites and space probes, especially older ones that might not be generating optimal levels of power, will keep unneeded modules dormant most of the time until they are needed. They then shutdown other parts of the craft when they are.
140	* When the Tesla electric car was released, a bug in its systems resulted in the vehicle moving perceptably slower if the climate control was on. It was compared to diverting power from the engines to the Life Support on ''Star Trek.''
141	[[/folder]]

Context Main / DivertingPower