When a ship has been turned off, its engine is not generating power, and any subsystems are drawing power from reserves. Ships that are disabled like this are easier to perform maintenance on, and generate nearly no signature on scanners, and do not broadcast transponder signal. However, in order to operate the spacecraft, a crew must perform a series of complex and time-consuming tasks called a "cold boot".
To cold boot a spacecraft, you must use the following procedure:
Pump the main-engine's primer Engineer
Start the main-engine's ignition. If it does not ignite, return to step 1
Wait for engine power generation to charge the ship's batteries
Boot the ship's computer Tweaking
Using the ship's computer, activate each subsystem in order of priority. (Note: Activating subsystems too quickly may cause the computer to lose power. If this happens, it must be rebooted) Strategy
When a ship has minimal power requirements, it is common to be put into standby, where non-essential systems are disabled, and a power reserve is maintained to allow systems to reboot quickly. Ships on standby have reduced signature on scanners, and are quick to start. Booting from standby is easy and normally not subject to any complications.
To boot a spacecraft from standby, use the following procedure:
Switch ship to active from helm or engine
Wait for systems to come online before using