Power managmnet and use- diodes time-switches and stuff!

[fenrin49]

so i for one like to have back up systems for everything and was thinking that some way to get power to flow only one way down a line would be immensely useful -  say your main solar grid goes down and you have a spare battery set for each turret instead of having to manually send a pawn to flick a switch and disconnect that system so that your AC and light system doesn't drain the energy you need in case of emergency.

another thing is sunlight sensors or preferably clocks - plants only grow for 13 hours of a day the rest they are resting i found i could save some power and keep grow speed up by turning off my sunlamps while the plants are 'resting'. also i dont need my workbenches active for the hours my colonists are sleeping however for those nocturnal people and those with colonists on different schedules a by the hour clock switch would be perfect.plus then i can be supper thrifty and have my nutrient dispenser only active at meal time.

temperature switches for obvious reasons

now i love the wood fired generators and i have been running them without battery banks but it would be nice if i could some how throttle them to demand without sending a guy to 'flick' a few of them off and fiddle around to get good efficiency.

some sort of proximity switch would be nice too so that lights and worktables only turn on when some one is in a room- im loosing kilowatts on power just for lights and work tables while everyone is asleep!

a bypass so that i could cross 2 power lines without them connecting -or maybe a way to set channels for conduits-  so that i could send a guy to flick off all the heaters when its summer and i don't need them burning that tiny idle amount-and the same for coolers -or all the lights or the work benches- without having to make a birds nest of conduits and reconnecting things around to get all those systems on their own conduit lines to some main circuit breaker style switches.-i don't mind sending guys to flick a switch but i don't want to tell them to do it every day or for multiple objects in a room.

ways to use more power to produce goods faster like the new sewing machine. or to spend power to actually do some chores - i saw a mod with heated floors to melt snow for example. a dialysis machine to help those colonists that had a kidney shot out who usually just die the next time they get sick or infected-(probably not as forcing you to go borrow a kidney to save a colonist from a sickness is too entertaining). vacuum and hauling robots come to mind but i dont really think they fit. a room specific cleaning thing would probably balance better. some pneumatic delivery system that requires power and infrastructural but lets you move items quickly across your base-watching colonists waste time walking clear across town to get a potato and then go back again for a piece of meat to make one meal is annoying i know you can just have your kitchen and store room together but i prefer to have the store rooms farther away and the finished food closest to the dining room - so being able to ferry goods between two locations without having the crafter to walk back and forth would be great.



Any way in summery all i really need are diodes, clock-switches, temp-sensors, light-sensors(could skip and just have clock but light sensors can work around the weather.) and some way to cross conduits and maybe run a few separate parallel ones  on the same tile, and i could get all my systems in line in an orderly and efficient manner. - and that wood generator throttle i cant seem to think of a way to get my people to manage my generators efficiently although they seem quite good at prioritizing keeping the generators fed.

I cant really think of any other improvements to be made to the power system without going and integrating some logic gates to control doors generators turrets and such- which IMO would not add much to the game and would take the control away from the unpredictable colonist. Any other bits that you crave for the sake of practical use or stupid efficiency?