More In-depth electricity handling

[porcupine]

I haven't touched Alpha 2 yet, but with every game in Alpha 1, one of the major components is obviously electricity.

I see a lot of opportunity for "cheap" incremental improvements to these systems, based on reality:

-  Batteries should have efficiency multipliers, power in != power out.  You're always going to loose power when storing it, vs. using it live.
--  To expand on this, rapid discharge of batteries will result in quicker depletion vs. long slow discharges (when talking standard SLA batteries, which is presumably what they'd be using).  This could be calculated by considering battery capacity vs. current draw to come up with efficiency on discharge, something simplistic/linear [or exponential until short/depletion?]/whatnot.
--  Overcharging batteries generally results in bad things (fire/explosion/etc.), which could either be taken as the rapid influx of power, or the sustained charging of full units (for the later, that's no longer a "cheap" improvement since then you need a heatsink or something else to selectively vent excess power)
--  Deep cycling batteries/over-discharging could result in damage to the batteries.
-  Conduit/electrical wires should have an associated impedance for pushing power through.  If you run your solar panels on one side of the map, and the batteries/consumption on the other, you're going to be loosing power along the way, measurable amounts.
-  Potentially "expensive", but if power conduits knew how much was running through them (say with all available paths being equal), they could have rated capacities, and be more likely to short/fire when you approach/exceed capacity.  It's not realistic that a single power conduit can carry an entire colonies power after all, right?

None of these would really require a player to change the way they play, learn new behavior, etc., but would add certainly add depth, and effectively reward creative/logical configurations.

[Jones-250]

Good points. This should be taken in consideration.

[Thunder Rahja]

-  Batteries should have efficiency multipliers, power in != power out.  You're always going to loose power when storing it, vs. using it live.

But batteries already follow that mechanic. Did you notice the 50% efficiency rating when you click on your constructed batteries?

[porcupine]

-  Batteries should have efficiency multipliers, power in != power out.  You're always going to loose power when storing it, vs. using it live.

But batteries already follow that mechanic. Did you notice the 50% efficiency rating when you click on your constructed batteries?

Actually, I didn't catch that to be honest, but if that bit is already there, it's a great start =).

[ApexPredator]

While this is semi-interesting it seems like a lot of extra programing work for little to no game play change. I find it interesting how many threads seek more realistic “this is how they work in real life” approach to suggestions for a video game where multi-system space flight is a normal occurrence.

[porcupine]

While this is semi-interesting it seems like a lot of extra programing work for little to no game play change. I find it interesting how many threads seek more realistic �this is how they work in real life� approach to suggestions for a video game where multi-system space flight is a normal occurrence.

Actually most of my suggestions would be pretty trivial to implement, simply tossing in multipliers to existing behavior, etc.

[Serrate Bloodrage]

Could probably add a 1W power consumption to coduit and metal walls to act like impedance

[starlight]

I haven't touched Alpha 2 yet, but with every game in Alpha 1, one of the major components is obviously electricity.

I see a lot of opportunity for "cheap" incremental improvements to these systems, based on reality:

-  Batteries should have efficiency multipliers, power in != power out.  You're always going to loose power when storing it, vs. using it live.
--  To expand on this, rapid discharge of batteries will result in quicker depletion vs. long slow discharges (when talking standard SLA batteries, which is presumably what they'd be using).  This could be calculated by considering battery capacity vs. current draw to come up with efficiency on discharge, something simplistic/linear [or exponential until short/depletion?]/whatnot.
--  Overcharging batteries generally results in bad things (fire/explosion/etc.), which could either be taken as the rapid influx of power, or the sustained charging of full units (for the later, that's no longer a "cheap" improvement since then you need a heatsink or something else to selectively vent excess power)
--  Deep cycling batteries/over-discharging could result in damage to the batteries.
-  Conduit/electrical wires should have an associated impedance for pushing power through.  If you run your solar panels on one side of the map, and the batteries/consumption on the other, you're going to be loosing power along the way, measurable amounts.
-  Potentially "expensive", but if power conduits knew how much was running through them (say with all available paths being equal), they could have rated capacities, and be more likely to short/fire when you approach/exceed capacity.  It's not realistic that a single power conduit can carry an entire colonies power after all, right?

None of these would really require a player to change the way they play, learn new behavior, etc., but would add certainly add depth, and effectively reward creative/logical configurations.

While this adds more *realism*, I am not sure how much it would add to the depth of gameplay, except for the "Heat Sink" idea from above is nice.

With electricity, what I would really like is:
1. For lamps to have sensors so that only switch on when someone is around.
2. Or their wattage cost to be brought down - right now it seems too high compared to say a sun lamp for hydroponics.

In other words, differentiate between items that consume power at a industrial level, and those that are consumer-level.

2. As an extension of the above idea, have "rated capacities" for power conduits. They should be fine for a fledgling colony requirements say upto 2000W (just a random number, subject to balance).
If you want more power than that to be passed through any single tile, then you will need to upgrade that to a higher capacity line.

This will introduce the tiered economy progression that I believe is fundamental to any  city-builder, rpg, or any game for that matter (sword > barbed sword > large sword > large and barbed sword, etc).

It also introduces a design aspect that will challenge users that will let the truly creative people come up with designs to put on the forums / wiki for other people to use.
The other change, while realistic, do not require much intervention on the part of the user.

[Monkfish]

While this adds more *realism*, I am not sure how much it would add to the depth of gameplay, except for the "Heat Sink" idea from above is nice.

With electricity, what I would really like is:
1. For lamps to have sensors so that only switch on when someone is around.
2. Or their wattage cost to be brought down - right now it seems too high compared to say a sun lamp for hydroponics.

In other words, differentiate between items that consume power at a industrial level, and those that are consumer-level.

2. As an extension of the above idea, have "rated capacities" for power conduits. They should be fine for a fledgling colony requirements say upto 2000W (just a random number, subject to balance).
If you want more power than that to be passed through any single tile, then you will need to upgrade that to a higher capacity line.

This will introduce the tiered economy progression that I believe is fundamental to any  city-builder, rpg, or any game for that matter (sword > barbed sword > large sword > large and barbed sword, etc).

It also introduces a design aspect that will challenge users that will let the truly creative people come up with designs to put on the forums / wiki for other people to use.
The other change, while realistic, do not require much intervention on the part of the user.

Hells yeah! My current colony has some 50 odd standing lamps and about half that number in doors, so the power requirements are stupendous. I should post it somewhere, it's a bit silly.

But yes, I'd like to see more depth added to the power system.

[Architect]

Could probably add a 1W power consumption to coduit and metal walls to act like impedance

I might try that out. You'll know if the game is still fun if it turns up in BetterPower+ XD

[starlight]

Could probably add a 1W power consumption to coduit and metal walls to act like impedance

I might try that out. You'll know if the game is still fun if it turns up in BetterPower+ XD

That is a nice idea.

[Gideon]

How about alternatives to electricity for early stage colonies/times without power?

There are non-powered doors coming according to the dev blog. We need some form of light that doesn't use electricity, like candles or oil lamps. These would help during those all to common solar flares. Perhaps some combustion powered cooking, and an overall chance of accidental fire from any of these sources. Frontier tech type stuff.

[Architect]

How about alternatives to electricity for early stage colonies/times without power?

There are non-powered doors coming according to the dev blog. We need some form of light that doesn't use electricity, like candles or oil lamps. These would help during those all to common solar flares. Perhaps some combustion powered cooking, and an overall chance of accidental fire from any of these sources. Frontier tech type stuff.

There is a campfire mod going around somewhere in the releases section, though I don't know if it is just for cooking or whether it actually gives off light.