Trying to establish power/Electricity?

[TwoBeer]

Hey loving the game.

One thing I cant get my head around is the power that all the buildings need. How do i conduct power to them? Batteries? Cables? Struggling to get electricity lol.

Please help

Thanks

[Argus]

Try going through the menus and actually reading all of the stuff there. You'll eventually need to use almost all of it anyway, so you should learn about it regardless.

Under Structure, look at Power Conduit. That's what you need to conduct electricity between things. First off, you'll need a source. Currently, there's only two options: solar generators, and geothermal vents. Solar generators can be placed anywhere outside, but only generate electricity when the sun is out (eclipses seem to happen fairly frequently, side note). Geothermal vents generate electricity constantly, but can only be placed on top of geysers in the ground. Most maps will have 1-3 geysers somewhere. For best results, find a geyser that's partway into a rockwall and then dig into the wall for your base.

Once you've got your source, you need to lay down power conduits like water pipes going from a water tower. I find the easiest way to do this is to have a 3-wide hallway (assuming you're digging into rock) and lay down the conduits in the center, branching off where you need to to give rooms power.

Doors act as power conduits in terms of transferring electricity, meaning you can lay conduits from outside all the way up to the door and then lay conduits inside the door and it will transfer power inside. Constructed walls I believe are similar.

Most things that draw power (nutrient paste dispenser, lamps, comm center) actually don't have to be directly on top of a conduit; they can be something like up to 5 tiles away and still draw power from it. You'll be able to tell, because they'll have a little cord that stretches from the item to the nearest conduit.

Batteries come into play when you're dealing with solar power or in case of emergency. With solar power, they generate no electricity at nighttime, meaning that all of your stuff will shut off at night unless you charge batteries during the day to provide power during the night. For emergencies, you can have banks of batteries to provide emergency power in case something happens where your electricity generator (solar panels or geothermal vent) get blown up or otherwise destroyed. Batteries can be connected to conduits anywhere in your electrical system and will gain charge as long as your electrical generation is greater than your electrical consumption. However, when batteries are connected to a power grid, there's a chance of some things short-circuiting, which could damage them. It's not terribly common though, I don't think.

Be aware that anything that draws electricity should not be placed outside; in the rain, it will short-circuit and catch on fire. That's why you should always place things like your nutrient paste dispenser etc either in a dug-out cave or in a constructed enclosed room.

[EightBitRanger]

I read/saw something yesterday about doors/conduits that suggested only using doors to connect inside from outside, and to block off private bedrooms. Otherwise, use power conduits to bridge the gap between walls in all other openings where you would have ordinarily put a door. Not only does it help speed up colonists a bit who would otherwise have to wait for the door to open and close, but if the power should go out for whatever reason, then your buildings are really going to screech to a halt as colonist then have to pull open and push closed the doors by hand.

Also, go with geothermal whenever feasible. It costs more metal than solar, but puts out way more energy and doesn't stop producing at night. I've typically found that finding the nearest geyser to my crash site and trying to relocate everything there right away is worth the extra slow time than trying to build a small, temporary outpost just go get me started.

[Galileus]

Alternatively, if you're not interested in going pro league in competitive gaming, you can just build solar panels whenever you want and be very happy with them

[Coenmcj]

Until they get hit by lightning and/or catch fire.

[Fred999]

I read/saw something yesterday about doors/conduits that suggested only using doors to connect inside from outside, and to block off private bedrooms. Otherwise, use power conduits to bridge the gap between walls in all other openings where you would have ordinarily put a door. Not only does it help speed up colonists a bit who would otherwise have to wait for the door to open and close, but if the power should go out for whatever reason, then your buildings are really going to screech to a halt as colonist then have to pull open and push closed the doors by hand.

But inside doors also block raiders to easily walk into your rooms when they pass the first door.. I'd personnaly make a lot of inside doors (and protect your batteries )

Fred