[MOD](Alpha 9) Powerless (2015-3-15)

[craigp]

Powerless

Description:
This makes electricity the most valuable resource in the game. By a lot.

This completely changes how the game feels to play without requiring a complex overhaul. It makes setting your base up take a lot longer, and makes managing your base a much more thoughtful affair.

This mod makes the game a lot more difficult.

Zero Power Add-ins
The wood stove: a cheap stove which requires no power and can be placed outside. Not quite as efficient, unfortunately!

The torch: a source of light for folks that want to save on lighting bills. Burns out and needs replacing pretty regularly.

Power Tweaks
All vanilla power sources have had their prices dramatically increased and their power outputs cut (except the solar panel, which just had a price increase). Price increases make them very difficult to build, even for an established colony.

So I added the steam screw: a cheap, extremely ineffective new way to harness power from steam vents!

Compatibility
This mod is compatible with all mods except those that tweak vanilla power sources. In fact, it gets along very well with other mods, since they tend to introduce power-hungry new turrets and workstations.

I've tested it with a lot of mods, and they seem compatible. Recommend you use either crash landing or careful prep for extra challenge!

Mods which introduce new power sources will probably blunt the effect of this mod, though.

Advice and Notes
The core approach here is to charge up a battery or two, then turn things on only briefly. The amount of power provided isn't really enough to continuously run all the toys you tend to build. Obviously, heaters, coolers, and sun lamps are a huge expense that you'll have a tough time achieving.

Leave things shut off. Automatic doors and lamps are very expensive, dwarfing the tiny trickle of electricity you get from a steam screw. So don't use them.

Look around your map for gold and plasteel deposits. These will be needed if you want decent power sources. If you don't have any, don't panic: once built, the comms console will notify you of passing ships even if it's turned off. That said, don't leave it turned on!

As for my half, the original plan was for the wood stove to take 10 food and a WoodLog to produce a meal. Unfortunately, that seems to break the WorkGiver, so instead I just made it take 3x as long.

Also, I couldn't find any way to make the torch not have a big bustling flame over it and still burn out. Those are really the only two things I want to update.

Author
Craig P, I'm on Twitter: https://twitter.com/craigperko

Download
All assets are CC0 (public domain). Feel free to use or reuse for any purposes.

http://projectperko.com/Powerless.zip
(Attachments may also be available at the bottom of the post. It's not a big mod, but I don't know how attachments work out on this forum.)

How to install:
- Unzip the contents and place them in your RimWorld/Mods folder.
- Activate the mod in the mod menu in the game.


Special thanks to the forum manager, since I borked my account up yesterday.

[attachment deleted due to age]

[Ykara]

Looks interesting, but I think it's too hard for lategame. My current colony with only 26 colonists has serious power problems and I have 12 solar generators, three steam generators and countless wind turbines. I don't even if there is enough space to power that colony with your mod, but I'll give it a try on a new colony ^^

[craigp]

Really? How are you using all that power? Do you just have leagues of turrets that you leave on all the time?

[MsMeiriona]

Man, I'd just like the stove and torch without the tweaks. Any possibility of that? If I just want to install just that part would it work or?

[Ykara]

Really? How are you using all that power? Do you just have leagues of turrets that you leave on all the time?

Well, kinda ^^ Many sunlamps, many turrets and many lights and doors ^^

[craigp]

Man, I'd just like the stove and torch without the tweaks. Any possibility of that? If I just want to install just that part would it work or?

Well, for now you could just delete ThingDefs/Buildings_Power*

The new buildings are in the furniture and production files, the tweaks are in the power files.