GRAVHOUNDS Power and Generator Guide: Never Go Dark

Every GRAVHOUNDS death spiral starts the same way: the grid goes down, the turrets stop, and the wave that was being handled suddenly is not. Power is the least dramatic system in the game and the one that ends the most runs.

This guide covers how power is produced and distributed, how many generators a base actually needs, where they belong, and what to do in the thirty seconds after a blackout.

Official source: GRAVHOUNDS on Steam ↗ — power, pipelines and deployable defenses are core to the builder loop.

How power reaches a turret

The chain is short:

1. Electrium is mined from crystal nodes on the planet.
2. A generator burns Electrium to produce power.
3. Pipelines carry power to connected turrets and structures.
4. A turret with no power stops firing but still occupies its node.

Two consequences follow. First, Electrium is not optional — it is the ammo for your entire defense. Second, the pipeline is a power line, which means cutting it or losing a generator can black out a whole section of the base.

Electrium crystals can be broken and dropped directly onto a pipeline for fast collection. That is the fastest delivery method in the game, and the launch build fixed the stat tracking so the collection is credited correctly.

How many generators do you need?

The honest answer depends on turret count, but the ratio is stable:

The rule is not "one generator per X turrets." It is one generator per failure domain. If a single generator dying would black out your entire kill box, you need a second generator, regardless of turret count.

Placement: close, separate, protected

Generators have three placement requirements that often conflict:

• Close to the turrets they power. Long power runs are long weak points.
• Separate from each other. Two generators side by side are one generator with extra steps.
• Protected from the approach. The swarm should have to cross the kill box to reach the grid.

The layout that satisfies all three is a shallow arc behind the kill box: generator A on the left, generator B on the right, both within a short pipe of the turrets, neither within explosion radius of the other.

Do not put generators:

• In front of the kill box. They become the first thing the swarm eats.
• On the extraction line. A generator on the exit pipe turns your escape route into a target.
• On a raised platform with no cover. Height helps line of sight, not survivability.

The power spine

Power should travel on its own short network, not on the resource trunk. The spine connects generators to turrets; the trunk connects the collector to the resource field. Mixing them means a resource detour can black out the base.

A good spine looks like an H: two generators on the verticals, the kill box on the crossbar. Cut one vertical and the other still feeds half the turrets.

Reading a blackout

When the turrets stop, three things could be wrong:

1. Electrium ran out. The generator is intact but has no fuel.
2. The generator died. Destroyed by the swarm or by splash damage.
3. The pipe was cut. Power cannot reach the turrets even though the generator runs.

Diagnose in that order, because it goes from cheapest fix to most expensive:

• Check the fuel indicator. If empty, grab Electrium and refill.
• If the generator is smoking, rebuild it — do not repair a destroyed generator mid-wave.
• If both are fine, follow the pipe and find the break.

The 30-second blackout drill

When the grid goes down mid-wave, do this in order:

1. Call it. "Power down, left side." Everyone needs to know which lane is blind.
2. Fall back to the collector. The kill box without power is a corridor, not a defense.
3. Refuel the nearest generator. If you cannot reach it, build a new one at the collector.
4. Rebuild one turret, not five. A single powered turret covering the corridor buys time to restore the rest.
5. Extract if the wave tier is above your build. A blackout at tier four is a signal, not a setback.

Fuel discipline

Electrium is the resource players run out of first, because it is spent continuously while Titanium is spent once.

Habits that prevent dry generators:

• Mine Electrium on every run, even when you need Titanium. A run with no Electrium is a run that ends early.
• Keep one full stack in reserve. Do not spend the last crystal on a turret.
• Refuel before the wave, not during it. A generator topped up at 80% never becomes an emergency.
• Break cores onto the pipe. It is faster than carrying, and it keeps your hands free.

Generators in co-op

In a pack, power should have an owner. One player watches the fuel, the pipe and the redundancy; everyone else treats the grid as someone else's job. That is not a hierarchy, it is a lane assignment — and it is the single most reliable way to stop blackouts in four-player runs.

The owner's checklist before each wave:

• Both generators above half fuel?
• Power spine intact?
• Screen turrets on their own generator?
• One spare Electrium stack in the collector?

If any answer is no, fix it before the wave, not after.

FAQ

How much Electrium does a generator burn? It burns continuously while powering turrets. Treat fuel as a timer, not a one-time cost, and top up before every wave.

Can one generator power the whole base? Early on, yes. Once you have more than four turrets, a single generator is a single point of failure.

Do turrets work without power? No. They stop firing but still block movement.

Can I repair a destroyed generator? No. Rebuild it. Repair is for damaged structures.

What is the fastest way to collect Electrium? Break the crystal core and drop it onto a pipeline, then let the pipe carry it to the collector.

Further reading

• Steam patch notes ↗
• Steam Community hub ↗

Summary

Two generators, a short power spine, fuel before every wave, and a fallback plan for the dark. The pipe layout guide shows how the spine fits the wider network; the base building guide covers the layers it powers.