The game is reaching 1.0 and I still have short circuits/zzzt disabled

[Ser Kitteh]

I've been turning off short circuit events since pretty much A16 and never looked back on it. I know there are mods to basically make fuseboxes but I don't care much for those for reasons I will explain later.

I never really understood short circuits. I once had a tiny hut with one solar panel and one battery, with a SINGLE tile of conduit between them and it still exploded. Short circuit to me is a mechanic that penalises efficiency. The better you are at handling your power the more power you have, the bigger the explosion. I just throw batteries in the freezer early game and usually forget about them until I want to make a dedicated battery room, more for aesthetics reasons than anything else.

Getting around short circuits boils down to disconnecting your batteries, using switches to turn off and having an "emergency" backup. Except short circuits are just annoyances, they don't ever blow up during something as stressful as a raid, the same way you barely get an eclipse during a raid attack, therefore rendering your turrets useless (and turrets usage very much varies between player to player). Lack of electricity is basically lost productivity, and while there's nothing wrong with that per se, it never combines with other events to make things more existing.

I suppose you could just integrate the fusebox mods. To those who are unaware, fusebox mods basically negate the explosion made by the short circuit, and you have to repair said fuse with a component. Which basically repeats the "machine broke down" event anyway!

@Mehni complained in the "losing flavour" thread where more is not always good, and while I disagree with that complaint specifically because I think having a medicine production line going is rewarding, having a similar fusebox mechanic will basically adding extra steps where non is necessary. It's the same complaint in spirit basically.

So tell me Rimworlders, what is your opinion of short circuits? Yay or nay?

[Canute]

They are part of the game, sure many people try to avoid them. They don't build conduits or no batteries.
But at B18 you are geting Zzzz event's even without batteries, not that worse like if your batteries would discharge, but still give some flames.

Don't forget anything at your colony is handmade. Not industrial manufactured with high precision and quality control.
You builder just create the conduits step by step, which mean it is a high chance not to be perfect.
Internal isolation between the line are to weak, external are broken and water leak in.
Crafter at the workbenches spill their water/coffee.
There are many way/risk's for short circuits.

And i think the simple and the automated fuse box are a good solution to counter them. I hope rathy's the mod author update it, but i fear not since his quantum storage are missing too.

[Gohihioh]

I used to play with zzz events disable as well.
Then I started using mods with fuse boxes and I loved it. It's either you don't build fuses and risk short circuits or you invest time(research, build) and resources in them and can easily deal with problem. In mod i used there was two different types of fuses - basic onces - which were cheap but had to be repaired with component every time and advanced once - which only needed to be flick back on if short circuit happen.

Since i discovered this mod I really enojyed that game had this mechanic.

I'm playing on 1.0 vanilla currently and it made me remember why i used to disable short circuits in the past ;p

I would really really love to have fuse boxes and mechanic to play around short circuits in vanilla game.

[Jibbles]

My first game in 1.0.. Randy or Cass pulled the short circuit event followed by raid twice I think.  So may not be so rare for it clash with other events in this new version?
I like the event with fusebox mod, don't care for it without. 

[Kubouch]

They are extremely easy to deal with. Just use power switches to connect/disconnect battery clusters to/from the power grid. Always have some charged batteries disconnected. When Zzzt comes, just select the power switch of the backup cluster, press V and you're done.

Without the event you can just build power plants, connect batteries and not worry about it for the rest of the game (except increasing W). I noticed the event makes me think about my power layout more and thanks to the batteries self-discharging, the power grid always requires some maintenance (i.e. flicking a few switches now and then).

Introducing fuses as suggested would indeed convert the event into a boring "Building Broke Down" event (if I understand them correctly - never played with that mod). IMO, fuses provide a solution to an event that is already easily manageable in vanilla plus they would remove the power management thinking process that I find interesting.

[Gohihioh]

I wouldn't call it easily managable. It's managable but I think the way you have to work around is way too annoying for most people(at least for me for sure) in vanilla. So I rather disable it than play around it.

I don't have a problem with it staying it as it is since I can just disable it or use a mod. But for me the zzzt event should get a lot more love in vanilla.

[TheMeInTeam]

This event doesn't have much effect on gameplay if you plan for it.  Rather, if you don't spam batteries it's a small event.  If you don't make conduits at all (my typical approach) you can't get zzzt even if it's enabled.

[Ser Kitteh]

It's not an issue of how difficult it is to manage, but how fun it is.

It's akin to the argument for predator hunting. Now I personally don't mind it, or the new alert, because there's something interesting when a bear sneaks up on your doctor. It's frustrating at times but that's fine. Switching backup batteries on/off is well, kinda boring.

Unlike wildlife, we don't have a tab to look at. We need to look at the batteries and see how fuel they are. There's no convenient way to turn one part off while the other charges and so on. RW isn't Factorio, it's not trying to be it, but in Factoria power management is a major part of the game whereas RW is a very background thing. Unlike the new turret system, there are a variety of turrets, you can make them out of different materials, and placing them and managing the power/steel barrels integrates nicely into RW's current system.

Fuses will turn it into a broken machine event. It's not like you need to watch the temperature, you can shove it anywhere and it works. I don't personally know how I would improve upon it other than MAYBE having more varieties of battery and maybe temperature management?

[erdrik]

I feel like the Zzzt event could use some work to make it a bit more manageable, but even then Ive never had a problem with it so long as I planned out the base to account for it.

Things I do to prevent the worst effects a Zzzt event can throw at you:
Conduits under non flammable walls, individual batteries surrounded on 3 sides by non flammable walls, doubled walls around flammable stores with the conduit under the outer wall, uninstalled fully charged batteries for backup, fueled production tables for backup...

Things Id like to see improved:
Make the Power Switch prevent Zzzt events on conduits past it when it is powered down, add the ability to switch off specific types of buildings in the Power Switch, the ability to have colonists automatically switch out batteries that are empty with uninstalled ones that are full in storage...

[Ser Kitteh]

These are some really good ideas!

Other than stone walls, maybe a firefoam popper, that's basically it. Also power switches are basically pointless unless it's for your turret grid. There should be more than just slapping some stone walls together after all.

[erdrik]

I disagree about Power Switches being pointless except for turrets.
Lights drain power, and its much faster to have a colonist toggle a single switch than go through every room and switch each light off individually during moments when you need to conserve power or push a battery pack back to full swiftly.

EDIT:
Now that I think about it I forgot another method I was to fight Zzzt events:
Section of the base, so you can use Power Switches to de-power one or more section while leaving critical areas powered. This will conserve energy during times of stress on your power network, and recharge the batteries faster after a Zzzt event.

[Ser Kitteh]

Can I see an example of your grid then? Because I rarely have a need to switch off my lights. They're always on, with maybe the exception of whether people are working in the workshop

[Broken Reality]

I used to have issues with the Zzzt event and then I stopped building too many batteries and used switches to isolate backup batteries. I think the event is fine, it punishes people who build too much stored power, just like other events punish you for things.

I you think flicking a switch and building a proper power layout is too much to combat an event what other events do you feel should go because they require you to do something to combat them? Blight is a far more annoying and time consuming micromanaging event than Zzt is for example.

[erdrik]

Sure. One second.

EDIT:
Got it.
This is my grid currently in 1.0 unstable testing.
Its not the greatest Ive ever done, but you can see where my entire bedroom area has been powered down thanks the power switch. (Hmm.. Seems Ive forgotten to reattach connection on my electric smelter. )

[attachment deleted due to age]

[Jibbles]

I disagree about Power Switches being pointless except for turrets.
Lights drain power, and its much faster to have a colonist toggle a single switch than go through every room and switch each light off individually during moments when you need to conserve power or push a battery pack back to full swiftly.

Lights were reduce to 30w in 1.0. You'll be dealing with dark debuff if you're switching them off. 
In b18 they require like 75w? Can't remember.  Still.. Turning off lights isn't the solution if you're that worried about conserving power.