Geothermal vents occur in the range of about 3~5 on a small map. At 3.6kw each that gives around 15kw of power for a base. Add in maybe 4 1kw fueled generators before tree consumption imposes on regrowth, a bank of 4 space-consuming 3kw wind turbines filled with 4 1kw resource-heavy solar panels and the power available for sustaining a small map is about 30~50kw of power.
- The Solar Flare Shield mod has an out-of-the-box setting of requiring 25kw of power to run.
- Additional mods often add power requirements to the game
- Nuclear power isn't really a useful option as it requires a non-renewable and usually unavailable resource.
So what about some science-fiction solutions that can be combined to answer a need for about 50kw of additional power?
- Matter Converter converts atomic particles directly into energy. Matter->Energy conversion is so high that fuel is a non-issue; a pebble could source the conversion for centuries.
- Gravitic Anomoly Generator converts planetary rotation into mechanical energy and from there to electricity. Each one is small and turns out only a little electricity, but a bank of them can be assembled over time as resources become available.
- Solar Flare Harness a power capacitor/storage device that accumulates electricity during solar flares, to be used once the electrical systems are back online.
- Temporal Differential Engine runs off the temperature difference between now and yesterday
Quote from: AngleWyrm on March 16, 2017, 01:49:42 AM
Geothermal vents occur in the range of about 3~5 on a small map. At 3.6kw each that gives around 15kw of power for a base. Add in maybe 4 1kw fueled generators before tree consumption imposes on regrowth, a bank of 4 space-consuming 3kw wind turbines filled with 4 1kw resource-heavy solar panels and the power available for sustaining a small map is about 30~50kw of power.
I tend to keep my bases very compact no matter what map size I play with. I know it's difficult to increase power generation without overexpanding the base.
My lategame power problems are solved by RTG's (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=10623). Uranium ceases to be a problem when I'm drowning in 20k silver after just 2 in-game years. Spamming bulk goods traders every 4 days.
The problem with power generation is that you have to provide both advantages and disadvantages otherwise your solution becomes overpowered.
- Solar is cheap, available early but doesn't work at night and is affected by latitude.
- Wind is also cheap, available early but unpredictable and has a huge area requirement.
- Fueled Generators are yet again, cheap, available early but require a constant supply of wood.
- Geothermal is limited by available number of geysers.
- RTG's and ASRG's are limited by the availability of an uncommon resource.
Solar and Wind complements each other well. Fueled Generators are very useful for nighttime if you're willing to micromanage. I honestly think Geothermal is rather weak right now, considering you have to research it and it's heavily limited by the numer and location of geysers, and to top it all off it costs a lot to build too.
Quote from: AngleWyrm on March 16, 2017, 01:49:42 AM
The Solar Flare Shield mod has an out-of-the-box setting of requiring 25kw of power to run.
That's 25.000 power/day. Solar Flares last for less than a day. With enough batteries and your already-established power generation you should be able to maintain that. There are two uses for that mod:
- Get rid of Solar Flares entirely. Feasible if your colony is in late-late game when you can easily spare that power.
- Giving you a window of opportunity to mitigate damage by Solar Flares like harvesting your Hydroponics or quickly set up emergency Campfires.
You shouldn't overly rely on power-based defences anyway so I can't see any other reason.
Quote from: AngleWyrm on March 16, 2017, 01:49:42 AM
Additional mods often add power requirements to the game
It was inevitable.Quote from: AngleWyrm on March 16, 2017, 01:49:42 AM
Nuclear power isn't really a useful option as it requires a non-renewable and usually unavailable resource.
Nothing is non-renewable in RimWorld. Now that you can just throw silver at factions for specific traders to appear, as well as being able to establish secondary mining colonies I simply can't see why one would have any real difficulties acquiring rare ores/minerals. We also have the Deep Drill for some more lategame resources. If you still don't find the available resources adequate then I'd suggest trying the Deep Core Miner (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=25346.0) mod.
I myself have no problem spamming ASRG's lategame. And those things are more space-efficient than Geothermal, as well as fireproof!
Quote from: AngleWyrm on March 16, 2017, 01:49:42 AM
Matter Converter converts atomic particles directly into energy. Matter->Energy conversion is so high that fuel is a non-issue; a pebble could source the conversion for centuries.
So basically reinvent the RTG. Would only be balanced if it required lots of different, hard-to-obtain resources. But that's exactly what your problem is with nuclear energy...
Quote from: AngleWyrm on March 16, 2017, 01:49:42 AM
Solar Flare Harness a power capacitor/storage device that accumulates electricity during solar flares, to be used once the electrical systems are back online.[/li][/list]
Solar Flares are a lot rarer than you'd think. This wouldn't be a feasible power generating tool for anyone not using the RT Solar Flare Shield (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=11272.0) mod, in which case you bypass the only real requirement to be able to ignore Solar Flares. Might as well disable Solar Flares entirely, the effect would be the same. Batteries aren't drained during unshielded Solar Flares so startup after a Flare is never a problem.
Quote from: AngleWyrm on March 16, 2017, 01:49:42 AM
Temporal Differential Engine runs off the temperature difference between now and yesterday[/li][/list]
Sounds cool but when you actually start to think about it, a couple problems start to surface. If this works based on the daily temperature swing between night and day, then we've basically combined Wind and Solar. Except this is a lot more reliable. Therefore it'd require expensive, rare materials to not be overpowered, so we're in "reinventing the RTG" territory again, unless it actually gives less average power than a Solar. If it works based on the difference of "now and yesterday's" average temperature difference then it would either always produce little-to-no power or lots of power; former makes it trash tier, latter makes it overpowered unless it requires exotic materials; again reinventing the RTG's.
Of course, if you don't care about diversity and just want a way to generate a lot of power in a way that makes other methods obsolete, then feel free to ignore the above.
This post might sound a bit harsh, although that wasn't the goal. I just want to remind you that adding a new option for a function that is simply better than the existing ones in every way essentially removes the other options. At this point you're better off increasing every power generator building's output, in which case I have a solution for you: Advanced Powergeneration (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=26276.0) adds a second tier for Solar, Wind, Geothermal and it's own take on Nuclear, doubling the power generation for the same space.
Quote from: Granitecosmos on March 17, 2017, 09:09:30 PM
I just want to remind you that adding a new option for a function that is simply better than the existing ones in every way essentially removes the other options.
- That's called a strictly superior strategy, and is usually a problem with the way tech trees are conceived. It is better to think in terms of areas of applicability rather than to add liability.
- Since I didn't assign any values to the proposals the efforts at claiming OP/balance are imaginary
- I disagree with the notion that scarcity is a suitable substitute for expense. It fails to scale with game progression and the player witnesses two states, none unavailable and swimming in it.
QuoteI have a solution for you: Advanced Powergeneration (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=26276.0) adds a second tier for Solar, Wind, Geothermal and it's own take on Nuclear, doubling the power generation for the same space.
Need is the mother of invention, and this thread represents a need for about 50kw more power to feed the mods. Thanks, I'll check it out.
I like the sound of this. Rammycakez(pls no ban) also said something similar in discord. I'm always looking for new and wacky forms of powergen!
Right now, I have the lightning rod (https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=30469.0) mod that can generate quite a bit of power (playtests showed about ~50000Wd during 24 hrs of rainy thunderstorm with 2 or 3 normal mode rods).
Gravity Anomaly Generator sounds promising. Especially if you make it so "gravity anomaly modules" can be placed in "gravity anomaly powerbanks" to cumulatively increase the power production in a fixed area.
There is already a thermoelectric generator that runs on temperature difference. It's in HCSK, that's all I know.