Exterior Lights

[KillTyrant]

I'm having a hard time believing that no one suggested this before but I tried searching using multiple terms in the search bar but each time it came up flat.

Its a rather strait forward idea but if at all possible, can we have light sources modeled for exterior use? A standing lamp looks out of place when its outside and I build villages rather than mountain lairs. Having a light source that looks like it connects to walls or even just light posts would be fine. I just want an option that I dont have a build a roof over.

PS

Im making a suggesting. Please dont flame me with mod links to something that resembles this. I understand that there may be a mod out there but I think this has its place in vanilla.

[patoka]

but your pawns should be asleep at night

but seriously, this isnt any more useful than colored lights in my opinion. i'd mich rather give my night owls a chem fuel driven lantern with short light radius.

[Jibbles]

Yeah, if there is a lack of suggestion then it may be cause of mods.  I made some outdoor lights for myself that automatically turn on at night, and shuts off when the sunlamps kick in.

+1 should be in vanilla

[Vlad0mi3r]

Zen garden Mod has some outside lighting options.

https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=32190.msg329347#msg329347

[KillTyrant]

this isnt any more useful than colored lights in my opinion. i'd mich rather give my night owls a chem fuel driven lantern with short light radius.

Its a quality of life change. Right now, if you want outdoor lights you either need a mod that adds said item or build a roof over the existing lamp. Perhaps a mobile light source like a torch or lantern might do the trick but its a slight inconvience when my night owls have a constant "in darkness" debuff when going building to building. Would just be nice to address it within vanilla gameplay without having to do what feels gimmicky.

Yeah, if there is a lack of suggestion then it may be cause of mods.  I made some outdoor lights for myself that automatically turn on at night, and shuts off when the sunlamps kick in.

+1 should be in vanilla

I figured as much hence why I tried to cut it off at the pass with my little PS. That being said tho, thats pretty nifty. ha ha

[patoka]

then just build torches? to be honest i never built them outdoors so i dont know if they dont burn as long if it rains, but if so, just build a wooden wall next to it and then a roof over both and you're done
save it with the blueprints mod and you can build it in seconds. sure enough it uses wood and one more space than needed, but what do you wanna do with it? i hope not lighting your crops at night haha.

but seriously, a lantern would be much more useful that pawns can grab if there is one at the entrance/exit they use, which is also where they could leave it

[KillTyrant]

then just build torches? to be honest i never built them outdoors so i dont know if they dont burn as long if it rains, but if so, just build a wooden wall next to it and then a roof over both and you're done save it with the blueprints mod and you can build it in seconds.

"Its a quality of life change. Right now, if you want outdoor lights you either need a mod that adds said item or build a roof over the existing lamp."

I am making a suggesting for something that doesnt already exist in the game. As I mentioned before, I am well aware of just "putting roofs over it" but that feels gimmicky and breaks immersion for me.

what do you wanna do with it? i hope not lighting your crops at night haha.

I mean I know youre obviously joking around but I just want a viable option for outdoor lighting that doesnt look out of place while serving a proper function.

[patoka]

i'm sorry, yeah you're right, i didnt pay you enough attention there.
hmm.
so are you looking for sth like an 18th century gas lantern?
or more like a modern street light?

[KillTyrant]

No need to apologize. We all misread and misjudge sometimes whats right before us. Im no better so no harm or foul.

Im not exactly sure really. I mean, maybe to start something closer to 18th century style where they needed to be manually lit which is tied to the "switch" priority(perhaps also another use for combustibles) then later down the tech tree something more like the modern external light fixtures. Not inherently street lamps but rather those light fixtures that are attached to the sides of warehouses.

[Yoshida Keiji]

This was suggested before under Guard Towers, and I too want exterior light. Anyone can get many raids during the night and having a lighthouse system or anything that takes enemies out of darkness cover is really helpful. It would be really cool to see raiders aiming at light towers first so that they can keep themselves hidden.

[KillTyrant]

I tried looking up "guard tower" and "light tower" heck I even tried "spot light" but nothing comes up. Do you happen to have the link to that thread?

[patoka]

i'm still unsure what to expect if this would ever get implemented into vanilla

if i understood correctly you guys want them for two reasons: to make things look nicer and to be able to shoot at enemy raiders better at night while they still cant it you as well

the first point is obvious, but the other one? we already have lights in the game, personally i use torches most of the time, but i think electric lights are just the same in radius and light strength, which is around 5 tiles and 50% lit, then it gradually but quickly decreases. i am not sure about sun lamps but i think their radius is also 5 but 100% and then has a jump to 50% and then gradually decreases (cant check right now)

so what you guys could do is install sun lamps but they eat up way too much power, or you could build way more normal lamps (and put a roof over them)
but you'd really have to build loads of those lamps because if the enemy consists mostly of melee fighters they will charge at you and you'll soon enough see them just aswell as they see you (depending on how lit you are) but if you wanna have a shoot out with enemy while standing in the dark and the enemy being lit, then you'd have to consider the range of the most common weapons. now imagine making a circle around your base with a radius of the diameter of your base plus the range of that weapon that you want to be lit the best. now you need to build like 30-60 of those damn lights, depending on the size of your base and maybe even more if you want enemy snipers and shorter ranged units to be lit aswell.
this isnt very handy. what you'd need is the perfect mix of lamps: low power consumption, cheap to build and research, and still has a large range with high enough light percentage for you to shoot the enemy noticably more reliably, but still not beig able to make sun lamps obsolete.
you essentially need those big ass lamps that are next to high ways for this purpose. light enough to see everything nice and clearly, but not strong enough to make anything grow (except day lilies and roses)

OR tynan implements those seeker lights that cops and the military uses (predominantly on helis and guard towers) with a large range (but not as far as the sniper rifle can shoot) that can lock onto specific units from afar. but i dont think that is ever going to get implemented into vanilla, if anything, then a mod.

the only thing i could imagine is something like a light tower (but towers wont get implented anyway). pretty large building that lights everything at night but doesnt let veggies and trees grow in a huge radius. you can either fuel it with wood, chemfuel or electricity. it will use up a lot with either of the ways to run it, but the range and lit percentage is lower if fuelled with wood. it would be a costly building (it is also large)
but it would be compensated with high hp.

still, i dont think any of my ideas are going to get implemented, even if they were good enough for a mod.

[Snafu_RW]

My understanding is that the low-light adjustment was removed a couple of versions ago & hasn't returned in B18 (I did check some pawns during battles & couldn't seea 'darkness' penalty to attk or def). Whether this will be reintroduced/adjusted in future builds I leave for DEVs to decide..

[Jibbles]

Is darkness cover even a thing in b18? I heard it got taken out a while back and I don't see any stats about it.  I think it looks neat which is mainly why I want it.  Seems weird to not have a light that can stand the weather conditions without a roof in vanilla.  I don't care for the torches.

[BlackSmokeDMax]

Is darkness cover even a thing in b18? I heard it got taken out a while back and I don't see any stats about it.  I think it looks neat which is mainly why I want it.  Seems weird to not have a light that can stand the weather conditions without a roof in vanilla.  I don't care for the torches.

I believe currently, the only way light matters in cover is with mods.