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{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}
{{quote|'''''"MORE POWER!"'''''|'''Tim Allen'''{{'}}s catchphrase as Tim Taylor on ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]''}}
If your [[Applied Phlebotinum]] is broken, you can usually fix it by increasing the power.
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[[Deflector Shields|Shields]] failing? More power. Critical pieces burning out? You'd think the solution would be to ''reduce'' the strain on that component, but no, the solution is to increase the power. The [[Negative Space Wedgie]] has nullified the physical principles on which the ship works? Turn up the power and it'll get scared and back off. Can't compute the Nth digit of pi? Increase power to the computer. Even missing or broken parts can be temporarily replaced by increased power. With the power up so high, it's no wonder there's so much [[Explosive Instrumentation]].
Sometimes, this is subverted, and [[Overclocking Attack|more power is a good way to destroy everything]]. In these cases, it may be time to [[Reverse Polarity|Reverse the Polarities]] instead. If things are ''really'' bad, you do ''both'' - but beware of [[Explosive Overclocking]]. [[Nitro Boost]] is somewhere in between - no great enough risk of catastrophic failure to count as purely desperation measure, but already wastes enough of limited resource to not be a normal mode of operation.
Named for the lead character of the sitcom ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'', who constantly tried to give various appliances and tools "more power." However, this typically - and on some occasions literally - blew up in his face.
Compare [[Up to Eleven]]. [[Oven Logic]] is what happens when
Not to be confused with the occasionally-formidable [[The Goodies
▲Not to be confused with the occasionally-formidable [[The Goodies (TV)|Tim Brooke-Taylor Technology]]. Or with needing more ''[[More Dakka|fire]]''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|-power]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Averted in the original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', where the eponymous machine's performance was improved with a new friction-reduction system instead of increasing the power output.
** Played straight in ''[[Gundam Seed]]'', where the [[Mid-Season Upgrade|Freedom and Justice]] are able to outperform the earlier Gundams primarily because of their stronger (nuclear) power source.
*** Its not exactly straight, the Freedom and Justice are designed to have much greater fire power than any other suit at the time. The big difference in power supply is that all of the other suits have to be charged up before a fight at a base or on a transport. The Freedom and Justice having nuclear power could outlast anything else, and be completely independent.
** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'s'' Trans-Am system seems to show that Gundams operate on this principle: need to make a gun more powerful? More GN Particles! Need to move faster? More GN particles! Need to {{spoiler|read people's minds}}? MORE GN PARTICLES!
*** [[Gundam 00:
* In ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', the nature of Spiral Power as a manifestation of the [[Rule of Cool]] means that if you apply enough of it, the rest usually works itself out. After Kamina's mech, the Gurren, has been beaten up for a while, Simon (in his Lagann) lands on top of Gurren, and [[Combining Mecha|the two mechs combine.]] All damage is immediately repaired by Spiral Energy. However, after Lagann detaches, [[No Ontological Inertia|the damage returns, since Spiral Energy is no longer being used]]. The power output tends to manifest itself as [[This Is a Drill|enormous drills]] jutting out from the [[Gurren Lagann]]: More drills equal more power. Except, of course, when it's just one drill... several times larger than the mech itself. More Power indeed...
** Indeed, the final arc of the series consisted of {{spoiler|an exchange of [[Power Limiter|one-ups]] with the Anti-Spiral being defeated in one form, only to simply go on a larger scale and trounce the Gurren Brigade. Simon's solution? MORE SPIRAL ENERGY!!! and the <s>Giant Robot</s> [[Giant Robot|BIG ASS GIANT ROBOT]] would grow even larger to compensate and defeat the form that the Anti-Spiral took. First they were about as tall as a sky-scraper, then when that wasn't enough, they grew to a planetary scale, then to the size of a star, then to the size of the solar system. Soon they were bigger than the solar system, battling over a field of solar systems on the Milky Way. Then they out grew that too, standing and fighting on top of the Milky Way, hitting parallel, and perpendicular galaxies. By the end of the final arc, their [[Giant Robot|BIG ASS GIANT ROBOT]] was so large that it could tear through the fabric of Space and Time. Several times over. }}
* Of course, seeing as how Spiral Energy is something of an [[Expy]] of Getter Rays, that means that ''[[Getter Robo]]'' has been doing this for approximately three decades now. Each of the small, one-man Getter Machines has a Getter Energy reactor. Whenever they [[Combining Mecha|combine]] into the titular [[Humongous Mecha]], they're able to do just about anything because they have... MORE POWER!
** Taken to its logical conclusion with the Getter Emperor, an out-of-control planet consuming monstrosity which is variously depicted as being the size of the earth, the size of Jupiter, and once an entire galaxy. Then it punched God in the face, who promptly exploded.
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
** ''[[
** Notable also is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV6ZtGhllMg&feature=related the scene where Nanoha] [[Oh Crap|puts Quatro down]].
** The ''[[Nanoha Force|Force]]'' manga takes it [[Up to Eleven]] when they give Nanoha [http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/nanoha72d59b071106aec23.jpg/ her own cannon and a suit of magical armor to support it.]
== Comic Books ==
* In a DC ''[[Star Trek]]'' comic, the ''Excelsior'' was shown to have a working transwarp drive, capable of Warp 10. Transwarp has sometimes been defined as infinite speed, but only in later sources. Strange coincidence, considering Warp 10 is infinite speed by the rules of ''[[Star Trek:
▲* In a DC ''[[Star Trek]]'' comic, the ''Excelsior'' was shown to have a working transwarp drive, capable of Warp 10. Transwarp has sometimes been defined as infinite speed, but only in later sources. Strange coincidence, considering Warp 10 is infinite speed by the rules of ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation]]''. Anyway, by Scotty diverting power from the transwarp drive, the ''Excelsior's'' shields are able to absorb the impact and detonation of a planet-killer bomb.
== Film ==
* The 2005 ''[[Fantastic Four (
▲* The 2005 ''[[Fantastic Four (Film)|Fantastic Four]]'' movie put this trope in center stage with Reed's cosmic storm simulation device for reversing their mutations. At the highest power he had available, it could do nothing but recreate or worsen their mutations. But if it had ''more power''...
** {{spoiler|And once it did have enough power it worked, but the character who was cured went back in and mutated again so he could face the Big Bad.}}
* In ''[[
* Sark yells for more power in ''[[Tron]]'' when he is trying to break down the door to the I/O Tower. Somewhat justified as this takes place in the computer world, and the programs can ''drink'' energy.
** Well that just depends on if he meant more ELECTRICAL power, or more PROCESSING power, which considering what the Master Control Program says near the end of the movie, when Sark is taken down by Tron himself;
{{quote|
* In ''[[The Hunt for Red October]]'', Captain Tupolev of the ''Konovalov'' is dispatched to hunt down and sink the ''Red October''. However, when he receives these orders, they are already seven hours old; thus the ''Red October'' has a seven-hour head start on him. In an effort to make up the lost time, he orders the reactor power increased, though not without hesitation.
{{quote|
'''Crewman:''' Captain, Engineering reports one hundred five percent on the reactor ''possible'', but not recommended.
'''Tupolev:''' ''*takes drag off cigarette*''... [[Up to 11|Go to one hundred five percent.]] }}
** Justified since reactors are generally rated such that a hundred percent is for safe, continuous output - so it is possible to get more out, but things can start to go wrong.
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*** No they don't. At least not the Russian an American ones. They use the steam produced in cooling the reactor to drive a steam turbine connected directly to the propeller shaft. More power means ,more steam which means more rpm for the steam turbine. The only nuclear subs that interpose an electric drive between the steam turbine and the propeller shaft are the French and Chinese submarines.
** Since Ramius taught Tupolev, it's no surprise he does the same in the final sub duel:
{{quote|
'''[[The Engineer|Melekhin]]:''' Negative, we're allready at one hundred ten percent.
'''Ramius:''' Then get me a hundred and fifteen percent. }}
* Subverted in ''[[Unstoppable]]''. Gunning the locomotive full throttle in the opposite direction after it's been hooked up to the speeding train would only cause it to lose its grip on the tracks as the main train pulls it along. Therefore, Frank and Will alternate their locomotive's power between directions to slow the train down more effectively.
* Inverted in ''[[Honey
* ''[[Back to The Future]] part 3'': Doc's solution to getting the steam engine to reach 88
** Since they deliberately ran the engine off the end on an un-finished bridge they knew the overclocking wasn't going to be the worst problem.
== Live
* Many episodes of ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' end with Al suddenly appearing and declaring they've figured out how to solve the current plot problem with enough power to light up major city X with time period Y.
* Almost every episode of ''[[Star Trek:
** Later deconstructed in a ''[[Star Trek:
▲* Almost every episode of ''[[Star Trek the Original Series]]'' featured Captain Kirk demanding "more power" from Scotty.
*** That's <s>just good</s> ''essential'' engineering practice. A bridge with a 10 ton load limit isn't going to collapse if you put an 11 ton truck on it. It
▲** Later deconstructed in a ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation|ST:TNG]]'' episode featuring Scotty, in which he explains to Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge that he always held something back and [[Scotty Time|padded time estimates]] to make sure he would come off as a miracle worker. Oh, and as a side effect of Scotty ''writing'' most of the Engineering manuals that they use in Geordi's time, that means that most of the ships in the Star Trek universe by TNG time are running at about 33% efficiency. Just 'cause.
* ''[[Star Trek:
▲*** That's <s>just good</s> ''essential'' engineering practice. A bridge with a 10 ton load limit isn't going to collapse if you put an 11 ton truck on it. It will probably be okay with a 20 ton truck. This also partially supports the [[Super Prototype]] trope, as prototypes are often tested to their limits in order to figure out what those limits actually are.
▲* ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' used this trope frequently, but inverted it in the episode "Booby Trap", where more power simply fed more energy to the titular devices which held the ship immobile and bombarded it with radiation. The solution was to shut down all the power systems and slip away on minimal life support and a single thruster pack.
** Another inversionin "Hero Worship", when one ship is destroyed (and the ''Enterprise'' nearly follows) by a [[Negative Space Wedgie]] when it keeps increasing the power to its shields - it turns out the phenomenon was actually an amplified echo of the shields themselves.
* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' used the device to the point of absurdity, including one instance where "more power" was used to counteract the fact that most of the ship had dissolved into a cloud of deuterium. However, this was also inverted when Voyager hit a [[Space Is an Ocean|"subspace sandbank"]], so the more they struggled, the more stuck they got. So, they wiggled themselves free with minimal power.
** It also had an absurd case where [[Oven Logic|this trope was applied to ''cooking speed'']].
* ''[[
* The many troubles facing the crew of ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' would be solved if only they could locate a sufficient power source; but this is a minor subversion, because the Ancients ''built'' the city for three ZPMs, and they had all burnt out by the time the Atlantis team got there. Much of the first few seasons are spent trying to find more ZPMs or otherwise come up with a way to solve their power problems.
** There is an episode wherein the power cables are damaged. McKay's solution? MORE POWER! This is however justified, as McKay states that the damaged wires are 'leaking' power, and by sending more through them, hopefully enough will get to the device to actually power it.
** The ''[[Stargate]]'' franchise in general literally turns this trope [[Up to Eleven]]. Most equipment will run off energy sources orders of magnitude greater than what they were designed to be used with, boosting their power [[Over Nine Thousand]]. This includes [[Energy Weapons]], [[Deflector Shields]], and the [[Organic Technology|living hull]] of a Wraith Hiveship. Normally, a Wraith hiveship is strong enough to withstand a single nuke and quite a few shots from Asgard beam weapons but unable to travel between galaxies due to it's slow speed in hyperspace. However, when a ZPM was tied into the power system, the ship grew a reinforced hull that made Asgard weapons ''COMPLETELY USELESS''... and it crossed several million lightyears in a matter of hours.
** Another example: the stargates themselves. When O'Neill tried to dial the Ida galaxy, the gate couldn't connect even though the entire American power grid was at their disposal. So he disassembled a ''STAFF WEAPON'' and used it's liquid naquadah power cell to make a "power booster". Once he hooked it up to the gate, it suddenly got the energy needed to connect to another stargate four million lightyears away. Mind you: such a connection requires ''ASTRONOMICAL AMOUNTS OF POWER''.
* Several times in ''[[Sliders]]'', "more power" was the solution to an uncooperative wormhole (and in the pilot episode, "more power" ''created'' the balky wormhole that ''started'' the entire mess).
* ''[[
* When the title starship of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' has its prototype [[Frickin' Laser Beams|phase cannons]] installed early on, their performance is initially disappointing. A way to feed them more power is devised...resulting in the weapons now ''greatly exceeding'' expectations by completely obliterating the target asteroid. What was originally thought of as overclocking becomes the standard setting for the phase cannons.
* ''[[
* In ''[[Top Gear]]'', this is Jeremy Clarkson's answer to just about any problem.
{{quote|
'''Hammond:''' There's a Clarkson answer to a problem. }}
** See the V8 blender and the V8 rocking chair, for two examples that suffered from problems.
* ''[[
** If the myth does prove to be confirmed, they still ramp it up to see how far they can push it. So burning 30,000 matchheads looks exactly like that viral clip... let's see what a [[Up to Eleven|million matchheads will do!]]
* ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'', [[Trope Namer|naturally]]. One of Tim Taylor's most notable acts was when he put so much fuel into a barbecue grill that it achieved geosynchronous orbit. In general though, his solution to any problem is to put more power in it. Whereas science fiction puts more power into laser cannons and shields, Tim Taylor is the king of [[Mundane Utility]] for power levels normally reserved for NASA.
** This was [[Lampshaded]] in at least one case. Tim wanted to buy a security system for his home, but most uncharacteristically, he just wanted a simple system. As soon as he told his friends at the hardware shop he was getting a security system, they immediately assumed he'd go his normal route and went nuts thinking up insane measures to install. One of them announced proudly that Tim's home was going to be the first one with "[[Nuclear Option|first-strike capabilities]]."
== Newspaper Comics ==
* In a ''[[Garfield]]'' Christmas strip, Jon buys an electric rotating base for his Christmas tree because he wanted a little splash and dash. Garfield decides to give him more splash and dash by replacing the base with a blender set to liquify.
== Tabletop Games ==
* The tinker gnomes from the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' campaign setting, creating absurdly large machines and devices that make a lot of noise and produce a lot of light, and are often ridiculously oversized for the tasks they're designed to do. In game terms, the larger a tinker gnome device, the more chance it has of actually working successfully.
* [[The Empire]] of ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]''. A lot of their gunpowder / steam technology is Dwarf technology with extra power; gattling cannons and rocket batteries are good examples.
* Geniuses in ''[[
== Video Games ==
* The ''[[Star Wars: X-Wing]]''/''[[TIE Fighter]]'' series of space sims allowed the player to divert power to either shields, guns, or engines, increasing the performance of one or more of them at the cost of decreasing the performance of the remaining device(s). ''[[Free Space]]'' and later games in the ''[[Wing Commander (
** The Missile Boat, found in the ''[[TIE Fighter]]'' expansion packs, provides a more traditional example of this trope. This particular craft features the [[Fun
▲* The ''[[X-Wing]]''/''[[TIE Fighter]]'' series of space sims allowed the player to divert power to either shields, guns, or engines, increasing the performance of one or more of them at the cost of decreasing the performance of the remaining device(s). ''[[Free Space]]'' and later games in the ''[[Wing Commander (Video Game)|Wing Commander]]'' series also used this play mechanic. Unlike the typical applications of this trope though, it ''usually'' doesn't affect the maximum performance of these systems, but rather the rate at which they or associated systems recharged. This may have been inspired by the part of ''[[Star Wars]]'', where Luke says "R2, try to increase the power!", and also the lines where pilots say "Switch your deflectors on double front," and "Stabilize your rear deflectors".
▲** The Missile Boat, found in the ''[[TIE Fighter]]'' expansion packs, provides a more traditional example of this trope. This particular craft features the [[Fun With Acronyms|SLAM]] booster system, allowing the player to double the ship's speed by draining stored energy from the laser system - essentially trading laser cannon shots for seconds of speed boost. Being the ''[[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|Missile]]'' [[Macross Missile Massacre|Boat]], however, this had little effect on its firepower.
** This also occurs in many of the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' novels, particularly the [[X Wing Series]]. Often a pilot will find himself in a situation where he has sufficient power for N systems and needs N+1 functioning. This often turns into cursing the design flaws of that particular craft.
** It DOES affect maximum performance of systems in ''[[Independence War]]'', just because more weapons power means that PBCs recharge faster, do more damage, and have somewhat longer range. More engine power means both greater acceleration and less time for the LDS drive to start up. More shield power means stronger and faster-recharging shields. Underpowered systems get penalized much as you'd expect. Also note that the best way to fight in this game generally involves spending the vast majority of time with maxed engine power and only going into maxed weapon power for when you've got a good shot with your PBCs; very rarely might you divert energy toward shields, since they only tend to block PBCs (in a game where you tend to have homing missiles spammed at you, each doing about 20% hull damage with the tug), and only from two directions at that.
* While not stated, the [[Powered Armor|Mega Armoured Nobz]] of ''[[Dawn of War]]'' seem to perform this through the ability, Power Surge: Their movement speed is doubled for 15 seconds, but lose 10 hitpoints every second for that 15 also. No doubt that the damage is from the [[Mek Boy]] who built the armour in the first place having skimped a bit on electrical insulation.
* ''[[Star Trek]]: Starfleet Command'' is, of course, a ''Star Trek'' game about commanding a starship, so it naturally features this, but it also features an interesting case where
* In ''[[Star Trek Online]]'', your ship has 4 power slides: Weapons, Shields, Engines, and Auxiliary. Notably, no matter how many [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] or [[Macross Missile Massacre|photon torpedos]] your ship takes, just divert all power to Auxiliary and Engines to [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|get to safety]] and [[Walk It Off]]. Likewise, divert all power to Weapons and [[Beam Spam]], or just power up your [[Deflector Shields]] and go! No matter what happens, you're always barking and asking for more power.
* One guy you can talk to in ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' asks you if the engine for an airship should go in the front or the back. If you reply that it should go in the front, he throws a fit and says that it should go in the back, because "putting it in the front provides mor stability, but less power!" This is [[Lampshaded]] by another guy standing next to him, who sagely points out that most airship engineers are weird, and wonders why that is.
* In ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'', rerouting non-critical power seems to be the solution to ''every'' technical setback on the Normandy.
** I only recall this happening twice. Once, when the fusion plant gets taken offline and the ship switches to emergency fuel cells, and once when they route power to the shields as they're about to fly though a debris field. Both of those seem like perfectly acceptable courses of action.
* In ''[[Star Control]] 2'', the [[Silicon
* In ''[[
** IIRC, she called for "More Power!" when Marle got sent through the first wormhole. [[Justified Trope|So maybe she was trying to recreate the conditions.]]
* ''[[
== Web Comics ==
* [http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/991204.html This] strip of ''[[Real Life Comics]]''.
* After Riff in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' "improved" his ex-girlfriend's life by amplifying her kitchen sink to a geyser:
{{quote|
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]''
* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]'', teraport area denial systems can be penetrated by a sufficiently large amount of energy, and [[Deus Est Machina|the Fleetmind]] has that level of energy. Except that {{spoiler|it needs every petawatt of it to defend planets from the Pa'anuri, and it is essentially sacrificing millions of lives each time it chooses to use it for other purposes.}} This isn't, however, universal. Forcing a damaged annie plant to output max power is NOT a good idea.▼
** Even sonars.
{{quote|'''Captain Hartung''': Depends on how much juice we put in my buoys.
'''Captain Hartung''': At full power, they'll show you fish on the other side of the planet.
'''Captain Hartung''': Of course, that involves boiling away the oceans on this side.
'''Der Trihs''': I've got a friend who overengineers things that way, too.}}
▲**
*** Or a single "big" wormhole - which is but several centimeters. It won't be stable enough to stay around for long, and you couldn't squeeze a ship through it anyway, but {{quote|what ''could'' be sent while it's around may be energetic enough to kill ships. }}
== Web Original ==
* Mentioned by name in #4 of ''[[Cracked
== Western Animation ==
* Averted in [[The Venture Brothers]] when the Venture family tries to make it out of Ünderland after their experimental jet is disabled; Doctor Venture frantically and repeatedly demands that they switch to auxiliary power, and when they finally land, Brock snaps back, "WE DON'T '''HAVE''' AUXILIARY POWER!"
* Parodied on ''[[The Simpsons]]''. NASA are watching television to get an idea of what the average American is like. They turn on [[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]] to hear Tim Taylor declare he's just finished souping up his lawnmower. Then the lawnmower goes backwards instead of forwards, knocking over the fence and
{{quote|
* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
== Real Life ==
* [[Truth in Television]]: Aircraft of all kinds (be they prop planes, helicopters or supersonic jets) do not always fly at their maximum speed. They have a 'cruise' speed at which they operate at optimum performance for distance, speed and fuel usage. The [
▲* [[Truth in Television]]: Aircraft of all kinds (be they prop planes, helicopters or supersonic jets) do not always fly at their maximum speed. They have a 'cruise' speed at which they operate at optimum performance for distance, speed and fuel usage. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UH-60_Black_Hawk#Specifications_.28UH-60L.29 UH-60 "Black Hawk"], for example, has a cruise speed of 150 knots (173 mph, 278 km/h) and a "maximum" speed of 159 kn (183 mph, 295 km/h). Some aircraft also have a "never exceed" speed, beyond which flight <s>can</s> '''will''' become dangerous. Jet engines are also rarely operated at maximum power, because it will reduce their lifespan considerably (and use disproportionally more fuel).
** The most notorious example is the Mig-25. It is "redlined" at Mach 2.8, though it can fly at Mach 3, but one aircraft that was tracked doing so ended up destroying its engines during the flight.
** Make that ALL aircraft. The Vne generally has less to do with the integrity of the motive power and everything to do with the fact that the airframe itself will start to come apart if the aircraft flies too fast.
** This applies to the four-stroke/two-stroke engine as well. These engines are usually never run anywhere near maximum RPM, for the reason that going that fast will cause a lot of mechanical wear and heat on the engine. Many cars sold have the ECU effectively cap the RPM before the redline (the area in the tachometer that has a red stripe along it). Of course, if you really need that power, you can hack the ECU to not do this.
** Also, combat airplanes technically can turn much tighter than they usually are made to - more often than not it's the pilot who can't take the fact that all ''his'' power (i.e. blood) is being [
* Similar to the aircraft example above, most military vehicles have governers to limit the amount of power the engines are capable of achieving; and thus limiting the vehicle's top speed. When deployed to a combat zone, one of the first things the crews do is remove, disable, or bypass the power governers.
** American military vehicle and radio systems, generators and other non-man-portable electronics, also have special circuit breakers to protect them from power surges or over-power states. In combat there are switches or software modes that will keep it running no matter what. It's called "[[Big Red Button|Battle Short]]" or "[[Exactly What It Says
* As seen in the film ''[[The Fast and
** Nitrous oxide (
*** This device was known as Haha-Gerät (Ha!-Ha! Device) in the WWII Luftwaffe. It enabled the pilot to squeeze some 60% more revolutions off the engine momentarily - enabling a troubled pilot to escape the enemy. It also worked as a psychological weapon; the Haha-Gerät spat out an enormous tongue of flame off the exhaust, giving an impression of the plane igniting. Often that was enough to convince the enemy that the plane was a kill already and give up the pursuit.
** Another similar device was WEP (War Emergency Power) on American turbocharged radial engines. It employed water-methanol mixture inhection in the cylinder.
* Our existing particle accelerators weren't capable of getting colliding particles to produce the Higgs boson particle. So we built the Large Hadron Collider, a 17 mile long particle accelerator, to give us ''more power!''
** And if that doesn't work, [
* This is basically the whole idea behind overclocking computer components. Likewise, sometimes defective parts can be 'fixed' by adding more voltage to force enough power through the problem. In the latter case, this is mostly a short term solution as too much power will cause issues of its own and long term exposure to overvolting will reduce the life span of the device.
* At the [
* The human body often works this way. Muscles not getting enough oxygen? Crank up the heartbeat and respiration! And if ''that's'' not enough, lactic acid fermentation will provide you with the ''more power'' you need!
** And if ''that's'' not enough? Well, only a third of your muscles normally operate at any one time. Throw them all into gear. (Note that doing this causes massive tissue damage, so the body will save it for live-or-die situations. But this is where stories of people lifting cars unaided come from.)
* Railguns and coilguns work this way. The higher the electric charge in the rails is, the faster the projectile travels. Since railguns rely on the kinetic energy of the projectile to do damage, more power directly equals more firepower. On the downside, the faster the projectile travels, the more friction it generates, causing the rails to heat up and warp.
* As mentioned in a couple of previous examples, nuclear power plants (and to a lesser extent conventional ones) have variable power output and "100% power" generally refers to the maximum output within acceptable parameters. So it's possible, but very dangerous, to operate above 100%.
** The WWER 440 reactors at the NPPs [[
* In closely matched street races, try turning off the A/C.
* The American "Big Three" car companies tend to take this approach to designing cars, often focusing on ramping up size and engine power and flaunting their '''''MORE POWER!!''''' in commercials. Like Tim Taylor's attempts, this blew up in their faces when the price of gas shot up, tanking demand for their powerful gas-guzzlers.
** Russian car brand Volga used to have a ridiculously over-powered engine compared to the other properties of the car. Most importantly, the car was cheap - all the desired properties for any wannabe rally driver. The car was nicknamed "Flying Coffin" in Finland - many wannabe rally pilots simply pushed the pedal to the metal, but the steering gear, transmission and brakes (and usually the skills of the driver) weren't really up to par to handle such powers. Those who survived usually became good rally drivers.
{{quote|
** Also played straight by the Bugatti Veyron Supersport. When the base model Bugatti Veyron's top speed record was beaten by the SSC Ultimate Aero, Volkswagen resorted to this trope to reclaim the speed record with the Supersport - [[Up to Eleven|they added around 300HP to the already powerful engine (which was already rated at over 900HP!)]].
** Ingeniously averted by many European and Japanese carmakers, who can somehow squeeze out performance from their cars without resorting to more power. An example is the 2007 Nissan GT-R, which despite being heavier and having less power, can keep up with the 2009 Chevy Corvette C6 ZR-1 on the Nürburgring Nordeschleife as shown [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1h7S2Pa3Ho here]. And even with a bit more power, the upcoming [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGQn6FF1VQQ 2012 Nissan GT-R] is still less powerful and heavier than the Corvette ZR-1, but already demonstrated potential superior performance in early tests.
* [
** Similarly, jet engines can sustain short bursts over their maximum rated thrust to take off or abort a landing.
* The ''[
* Laser pickups in CD players usually go bad either due to increasing opacity of the lens, or reduced power output of the diode. In theses cases, a very Tim Taylor fix of upping the calibration trimmer (increasing the laser's power) is employed.
* Similar to the ''Samuel B. Robberts'' example above, we has a civillian example of Tim Tayloring for an emergancy: The [
* Firearms author Elmer Keith was fond of squeezing more power out of common revolver cartridges. Naturally he lost several guns in his experimentation. While several of his up powered cartridges would be produced as standard cartridges with good reputation, like his .38 special and .44 special loads, manufacturers wisely decided to lengthen the cartridge of these production variants a bit so they couldn't be used in revolvers not built with the hotter load in mind, creating .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
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