Solar vs wind power

[Jarwy]

Why do these two power sources have to be equally balanced? To make players use both power sources? You could simply make it that they function better based to where they are located on the planet. Coast or mountain pass, good for wind, desert and dry areas that see less rain and cloud cover better for solar. Just like in real life. If you don't want to simulate that or it wouldn't suit your gameplay balance, someone also did mention an event for high winds to shut down the turbines, which would be fair in my books.

[eadras]

One thing I don't see anyone calculating is the components and resources needed for the batteries when you use wind power.  Shaeis describes the advantage in power produced by wind power.  But how much of that power is lost because your batteries are full?  It's easier to balance batteries with solar power.

But of course, you have to have wind for when the monster eclipse occurs.  (How large is this moon that it blocks the sun out for days?  Can you imagine what the tides on Rimworld must be like?)

It seems that every Rimworld is actually a large moon orbiting an extremely massive gas giant.  This would explain the days-long eclipse phenomenon.  As for the frequency of extreme solar flares, the Rimworld's extreme gas giant could be orbiting very close to a red dwarf star, perhaps even as a binary system, if the star is small enough and the planet massive enough.  This is the only configuration I can think of off the top of my head to explain both of these phenomenon!  But back to solar vs wind... 

[CrazyEyes]

I always use both. They each have their benefits. Solar is more reliable but useless at night, wind less reliable but (usually) keeps my batteries from draining at night. The batteries are just there to insulate against windless nights. The three are meant to be used in conjunction, and while a colony could run on only wind or solar power I don't see why there would be a reason to.

[b0rsuk]

To be fair as soon as you have 2+ batteries, Solar and Wind are interchangeable unless you're living in some extreme area like a pole. Wind is a bit more hassle to maintain (space, regrowing plants, more fragile), solar has a bigger number of events that turn it off. But either works. My bases last through an eclipse even if I only have solars.

Solars kinda work without batteries, because they're predictable and you just have a shorter workday / raid vulnerability at night. But wind turbines without a battery are hopeless. Even if you build 8 turbines, a moment of silence will affect ALL of them.

[Shurp]

It seems that every Rimworld is actually a large moon orbiting an extremely massive gas giant.  This would explain the days-long eclipse phenomenon. 

Hmmm, this actually makes a scary amount of sense.  And it explains the "solar flares" -- only it's not the sun that's frying your electronics, it's the Rimworld passing through the radiation belt of the gas giant's massive magnetic field.

Maybe Rimworld needs a "hard radiation" event too.  Everyone has to get under cover for a few days or suffer toxic-fallout like effects.

[Kajin]

It's been a long, looong time since I've bothered to use windmills. Last time I tried using them I could never get them to produce enough power to be consistently equal or better than solar panels.

I usually just make a beeline towards the geothermal and use a combination of solar and fueled until I get there.

[makkenhoff]

Personally, I like using wind power. I do have to pave the area it sits on, which makes the colonists cry a little. It doesn't suffer from eclipses and given an area gets thunderstorms, it usually charges the batteries above and beyond what solar power does. I do use solar, I just don't rely on it, because one long eclipse can mess up my hydroponics.

All of that said, if I want truly reliable power, geothermal is the only way to go - I'd rather start out with geothermal power researched than turrets on the rich explorer, it is perhaps too good.

[milon]

^ Don't pave it!  Put solar panels or gardens (not trees!) in the wind power zone.  Makes it a more productive area. 

I use both solar & wind until I get geothermal (usually the 2nd or 3rd thing I research).  I find that solar+wind is a good combo for getting started, but they're very far outclassed by geo.  Maybe there should be advanced solar/wind options too?

Anyway, the poll results seem to indicate they're very well balanced. 

[Thyme]

I started playing RimWorld when we already had the fueled generator. Never liked solar/wind much because of it's unreliaZzzt! Base production is provided with fueled generators and solar with batteries on top. To keep the stored power low, I use Time-of-day-Switch, which lets me automate dis-/connecting of batteries on schedule.
I simply never bothered about wind, they use a lot of space, which is a handicap in early game, when I don't know exactly where I'll build my stuff.

[Jugg]

I only tried using wind power twice (Once on arid desert, once on forest) and never touched it again. The only thing that mattered was its predictability, and it had zero. With solar i KNOW for fact i'm going to get power during the day barring the exception of a few events. I can then build X amount of batteries to cover the night/eclipse.

I can't do this with wind power. Both times I tried it I had no pwr gen/barely any pwr gen for days at some points. Even overcompensating with batteries there were times they simply did not cover my needs.

On top of this, solar takes up less space. My vote is always going to be solar until i get GEO.