I would like to propose a Circuit Breaker-type object, like so:
- It is constructed in the same manner as a single square of Power Conduit.
- It is controlled with the same button as a power-consuming object - "on" or "off".
- When active, it acts like Power Conduit in that it conducts electricity.
- When inactive, it acts like an empty square in that it does not conduct electricity.
- Any short-circuit-type event (battery getting rained on, faulty power conduit) causes all connected Circuit Breakers to go inactive, regardless of whether they'd be "downstream" from another Circuit Breaker and thus protected.
- The "Faulty Power Conduit" event calculates its explosion after the Circuit Breakers trip (and therefore probably accesses less stored energy); there is a minimum size of 1.
This would be useful as both damage-mitigation and as a simpler means of control than individually toggling lamps ("An eclipse? Well, shut down the bedroom circuit, we'll save battery for the hydroponics."). I know there are a couple (http://"http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=174.msg12807#msg12807") other (http://"http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=1071.msg10605#msg10605") threads (http://"http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=826.msg8812#msg8812") about Circuit Breakers; I'm hoping that detailing how I think it should function will help get the idea across.
+1
want it!
Yeh, power management would be a welcome feature.
+1
+1
Yes! I don't think there would be much need for any other power options with this. It is so simple too.
+1
Should be very simple to implement and would give players a lot more control and less frustration.
1+
just if i could add a personal wish: when you click on the circuit breaker box, instead of getting just the boring on/ off button, you get a whole window with one or more buttons which you can assign several electrical objects to (and then the regular on/ off button would be like a master- switch). In this way, you could easially manage several groups of electrical equipment in a realistic way. If such a thing is implemented, we wouldn't need things like "motion- sensors" and such, which i personally thinks is a little too far past Rimworld.
I'd quite like to see something akin to redstone repeaters from minecraft in terms of power conduits too. The ability to block power from flowing one way means you could set up batteries for specific areas. That way if your main batteries went down for whatever reasons and the lights went off, you could still have a set up for your turrets to feed off a one way circuit.
This thing will happen soon guys.
However, I think that the protective part of the thing (turning off upon short-circuits) should be called fuse and should require colonists to turn it back on.
This could easily be expanded into a whole set of special power-control items. Circuit breakers and one way power lines were both mentioned, which I would greatly enjoy added to the game, but I'm sure there are other things which could be very nice to have.
How about a wire crossing? As in, a special wire that sends power north/south, and east/west, but the two signals are separate from each other. That way you can compact your power lines while still allowing you to make separate "networks"
I agree with all of this, but I really want an electrical maintenance worker job too. :) And they have to put on little hard hats.
Their maintenance counts as repair and also includes preventive maintenance.
+1!
Having to manually turn off electrical devices to conserve power is a proper ballache at the moment, circuit breakers would make this far easier. I'd also like to see...
- fuses (as mentioned above)
- light switches (switches off all lights within room)
- light level detector (used to automate sun lamps to come on when it gets dark)
- timers (timed switches - alternative to the above as sunrise/sunset happens at the same time)
Breakers actually would be a good idea, especially to separate a group of batteries from the main circuit as backup power should the main circuit explode.
Quote from: Darker on March 09, 2014, 01:46:30 PMHowever, I think that the protective part of the thing (turning off upon short-circuits) should be called fuse and should require colonists to turn it back on.
Expanding on that, I think that most or all appliances should require a colonist to manually turn the power on or off when you click the toggle power button. Perhaps later on, research to build remote controls for power management instead.
+1
Fantastic idea! I would use this a lot.
I'd definitely be looking for something like this. As it is I build so that there is a solar panel attached to each house and a battery. That way when circuits inevitably short, there's not much power behind them and at worst you lose one building. The only thing is that this doesn't work underground and takes up a lot of space.
+1
Did I miss something on the forums? All of a sudden "+1's" Everwhere.
Anyways.
Ontopic,
Quote from: Thunder1 on March 11, 2014, 02:44:27 AM
Breakers actually would be a good idea, especially to separate a group of batteries from the main circuit as backup power should the main circuit explode.
Quote from: Darker on March 09, 2014, 01:46:30 PMHowever, I think that the protective part of the thing (turning off upon short-circuits) should be called fuse and should require colonists to turn it back on.
Expanding on that, I think that most or all appliances should require a colonist to manually turn the power on or off when you click the toggle power button. Perhaps later on, research to build remote controls for power management instead.
And expanding on that again! But of course electrical items (Mainly lamps here.... the bigger stuff should be separate) should need to be set in a group, so you turn on one in the room and the rest turn on aswell, because at the moment it takes an insane amount of time to turn on the 50 or so lamps I have, and a lot of them are along my hallways, which are all interconnected without doors.
Quote from: Coenmcj on March 12, 2014, 08:33:36 PM
...
And expanding on that again! But of course electrical items (Mainly lamps here.... the bigger stuff should be separate) should need to be set in a group, so you turn on one in the room and the rest turn on aswell, because at the moment it takes an insane amount of time to turn on the 50 or so lamps I have, and a lot of them are along my hallways, which are all interconnected without doors.
Could you not just double-click on a lamp? It'll select all the lamps visible on screen.
Zoom out and double-click on a lamp, or shift+click multiple lamps.
Quote from: Darker on March 09, 2014, 01:46:30 PM
Expanding on that, I think that most or all appliances should require a colonist to manually turn the power on or off when you click the toggle power button. Perhaps later on, research to build remote controls for power management instead.
agreed. forcing the colonists to manually turn off devices should make things more "realistic" since currently, if all i wanted to do was turn the lights off, all i have to do is zoom-out and double-click a light and turning that off will do the same thing with the others that are selected. same thing with doors.
but sometimes, i just want to turn off some lights or some doors while leaving others activated. which is why circuit breakers and other red-stone type mechanics should add a more intricate level of control to base design.
---------------------------------
other electrical devices i would like to see.
-conveyor belts : can have a switch to control direction and allows colonists to ride or drop items on the belt that could lead towards a stockpile. (raiders will shoot and destroy this)
-switchable walls : can be used as hidden entrance/exits for flanking maneuvers. (it is not considered a door so raiders will not prioritize attacking it)
Quote from: StorymasterQ on March 12, 2014, 09:30:11 PM
Could you not just double-click on a lamp? It'll select all the lamps visible on screen.
I do, But do you realize how long it takes if you turn on everything at once? everything slowly turns on, one appliance at a time. what if the stuff is on the same circuit anyway? shouldn't it turn on rather quickly instead of tremendously slowly?
Quote from: Coenmcj on March 13, 2014, 08:25:22 AM
Quote from: StorymasterQ on March 12, 2014, 09:30:11 PM
Could you not just double-click on a lamp? It'll select all the lamps visible on screen.
I do, But do you realize how long it takes if you turn on everything at once? everything slowly turns on, one appliance at a time. what if the stuff is on the same circuit anyway? shouldn't it turn on rather quickly instead of tremendously slowly?
Selecting all the lamps and waiting for them to power on is still quicker than powering them on one by one, especially if you have a lot.
I'm not sure why they take so long to come on though. Is it by design or is there a bottleneck somewhere in the tasks/actions/updates/whatever process?
I'd like to see some zoning options coming in, either using the current zones system and being table to toggle the power of items within that zone, or a different control option (ctrl + click) to select all electrical items in the room the item clicked is in. This would allow fairly granular control over what parts of your base are on at a given moment in time and allow quick powering/depowering of items.
+1
Great Idea! ;D
Loving this thread, lots of good ideas in here.
I especially like the ideas about having colonists maintaining the power network, I hadn't considered that myself... Though I wonder about how the response times will feel with low numbers of colonists...
I've been quietly tinkering away in the background on some of this stuff, and this thread is very motivating. :)
A very late +1 on this topic. It's a bit surprising to me that it hasn't already been implemented ... seems like such a simple idea, but very, very useful on several levels in a game where power can be so important.
Umm haplos power switch mod?
That mod does part of this but I don't think it can reduce the "Faulty Power Conduit" events.