On the Subject of Nuclear Reactors.... (and power balancing in general)

Started by aerojet029, April 20, 2014, 10:27:13 PM

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aerojet029

i just have a couple (hopefully) quick suggestions for Tyann [i hope he sees this]

first thing i would suggest is a simple power switch.
                 for what you may ask?
                 -if during a battle, you can de-energize turrets and turn off non- essential lights and other power to save battery power
                 -when colonist are asleep, all lights can be turned off
                 -when colonist aren't using the cooker, there should no need to power it
                 -etc...
            honestly i would love the AI just to be able to save power....
anyways on to the Nuclear Reactor


so, as far as the nuclear Reactor.....

nuclear reactors are nothing thing more than hot water heaters which generate steam to be used in turbines... we already have the turbines ( ie the geothermal generators) which again.. are just turbines utilizing the steam generated from the planets internal temperature.

way things currently are, Solar power and batteries can support a small - medium size base/colony by itself.
balanced by eclipses, Solar power is more than enough

basically you could either get "lucky" and have a geothermal vent where you need it plop a turbine and be done. or in the late game build a nuclear reactor to serve as a steam source to drive one OR two turbines.
and it requires a colonist with a minimum of X research skill (ie scieince skill) 7 maybe?
to utilize the hoppers, you could just load up uranium to minimize micro management


hopefully a simple implementation, with a couple of balance options, and recycles a bunch of assets
so that's my thoughts.. let me know what you think