elite-dangerous
In systems with lockdown or war, you get "checkpoints" near some planets and stations. They show up on the navigation panel. I've tried stopping at a couple, and some ships from one local faction scan you, and nothing else seems to happen.
Is there a reason to go to a checkpoint ever? As it's so easy to just not go to a checkpoint, do they serve any purpose at all?
Your upgrades made your power demands exceed your available power when you deployed your hardpoints. When you're equipping a ship you can see what the power draw will be with hardpoints deployed and without hardpoints deployed. If your power utilization goes over the available power from your power plant, then the ship will shut down the lowest priority systems.
The first thing you can do is pay attention to your power when you're equipping your ship.
When outfitting, the lower right of the screen shows various stats. The "Retracted" power use is when your hardpoints aren't in use, the "deployed" power use is when your hardpoints are deployed, and the "available" is what your power plant can give you.
This particular screenshot shows me evaluating a weapons upgrade that would raise my hardpoints deployed power utilization just over my total available power. Note that the red color is just what's used when that stat goes up; you have to actually read the numbers to know that it's gone over the available power.
But that laser is awesome and I still want to use it! Can I still do that?
Yes. You need to pick some things to shut down when you deploy hardpoints. You'll still get a dire warning, but only things you decided were non-essential will get shut down.
In fact, even if you don't want to equip more stuff than you can fully power, it's a good idea to set your module priorities, since it's possible to take damage in combat that reduces your power capacity.
Use the 4 to switch to the Systems panel of your cockpit, use Q/E to switch to Modules, W/S to select a particular module, and A/D to change the priorities. I suggest putting your thrusters in the highest priority (1), and putting the Cargo Hatch, Frame Shift Drive, Discovery Scanner and anything else you only want to use while docked or in frame shift into the lowest priority.
In this example, you can see that I have the Cargo Hatch at the lowest priority (4), thrusters and a low-power-draw weapon at the highest priority (1), other things essential during combat (shields, power distribution, another weapon) at the second priority (2), and things that would be really nice to have, but I can do without for a while (kill warrant scanner and life support) at priority 3.
Note that the list is sorted by how much power each module draws (the percentage), and that there's a graph on the bottom that gives you a good idea how much power utilization is assigned to each priority level.
A note on life support: If your life support goes out, you have an emergency oxygen supply that you can use for a while. It's possible to buy a life support upgrade that gets you a longer emergency oxygen supply.
After a lot more practice with running too much stuff on too little power plant, here's how I'm setting my module priorities:
As long as my power plant can power the first 3 priorities, I'm fine. If it can't power down to priority 4, it just means I have to retract my hardpoints and wait an extra second before I can frameshift away. If I don't have power for shield cells and put them into priority 4, that's not too bad, since when I need shield cells I'm usually fleeing not shooting. If my power plant is damaged, the 1,2,3 ordering still helps. If I can't power priority 3 with hardpoints deployed, I can always go into the modules panel and shut down my most power hungry weapons while doing a warrant scan, and then turn the weapon back on once I've finished scanning.
If you are more than 7.5 km away from the station when you request docking permission, or if the station has no free landing pads the station will deny your request. Stations will also deny your requests if you've annoyed the controlling faction sufficiently (i.e. you don't have enough reputation with them). As CmdrFreiheit pointed out in the comments, permission can also be denied if your ship is too large to land at the station.
Obviously in the first instance you just need to move closer to the station and try your request again. In the second instance, you could wait for a pad to free up, however if there are a bunch of AFK players there that could take a while. You could instead switch to solo mode and dock, do your stuff, then return to multiplayer. In the third instance you'll have to find some way of raising your reputation with the controlling faction before they will allow you to dock.
In the case of your ship being too large, you'll just have to find somewhere else to dock.
Best Answer
Checkpoints are an indicator that a system is in lockdown, and can be useful in destabilizing the faction controlling the checkpoint and potentially instigating a civil war.
To cause civil war in a system, you must:
As the level of civil unrest increases, it can trigger a state of lockdown for the controlling faction. This will cause them to create checkpoints that contain ships for the controlling faction. You can then use checkpoints as a place to conveniently kill security of the controlling faction to further create unrest, lower security levels, and spark a civil war.
There have been reports of Type 9 vessels in checkpoints owned by the controlling faction that contain confiscated contraband (such as weapons). Some commanders have earned some credits by stealing the goods and selling them at the nearest black market.