Power Management Overhaul Suggestions
Greyfox643
Join Date: 2017-01-24 Member: 227177Members
Join Date: 2017-01-24 Member: 227177Members
After reviewing the upcoming changes on Trello, I felt the need to give some feedback as to how the changes could be better improved.
For those who haven't checked Trello (Or Reddit) the changes to Base Power are as follows:
Everything is multiplied by a factor of 5, all base consumption, power production, and power storage will be increased by 5 times.
Functionally, everything will remain as it was. However, this opens more room for fine-tuning power needs in the future.
To that end, I propose the creation of 5 new deployables/structures.
Capacitor Bank – Structure Only
1. This can only be constructed in the same room as a Reactor of any type
- 1. it will be connected to the Reactor in question.
- 2. Due to this physical connection, only 3 can be built for any Reactor
- 3. A reactor gains a 2% increase in power-per-minute for each capacitor, as the capacitors help to regulate the flow and consumption of produced power.
3. The Capacitor Bank will act as a staging ground for all power output and consumption
4. Reactors will charge the Bank, at half its production rate.
5. Banks can store up to 300 Power Each Bank.
6. Bases, docked vehicles, and base modules will ALWAYS consume power from Banks BEFORE any power held within Reactors and Panels.
7. Once all capacitors are charged to 75%, the connected Reactor will go into standby, and will not consume fuel until connected capacitors reach 30% power.
- 2. This is to reduce players running about scrambling for Fuel Rods and Living Organisms to power their Sea Bases
- 3. This will also reduce the minimum required amount of Reactors required for extensive Sea Bases
The trade off for being able to have more efficient power production, is how vulnerable the systems are to damage. Should any room with a Capacitor Bank flood, the system will short out and begin losing power at a rate of 1% per second for the total pool.
Uninterrupted Power Supply – Structure or Cyclops
1. This is a smaller, more economical version of the Capacitor Bank. Will not require scanning fragments, or the retrieval of Data Packages.
2. Limit one per room/cyclops
3. Gains 2% power-per-min from either Cyclops Reactors, and solar panels.
4. Can store a maximum of 200 power.
5. Modules and bases can not draw power from the UPS until AFTER main power has been lost.
- 1. The UPS will activate immediately, taking over power production seamlessly.
- 2. It takes 4 full seconds for main power to re-activate and switch on after power has been restored.
- 3. The UPS will ONLY effect all modules in the room it is constructed in. It will produce oxygen in that room, but not any other room.
6. The UPS features a water-proof container, and will not be damaged by flooding.
7. The Material that the UPS is made of does not hold up well to extreme temperatures. Care should be taken in Cyclops instillation.
- 1. Being caught in active fires risks melting the unit down into a pile of slag, able to be salvaged for the main material components.
- 2. This will remove all stored power, and an additional 200 power from the Cyclops engine due to heat causing a severe short in the electrical system.
The UPS is essentially a small backup battery that charges off of early game-power generation, that can still be utilized in endgame base building. And, like the Capacitor Bank, it allows for the storage of power-per-min in a location outside the Power Producer in question. I feel this would cut down in a player's need to create massive arrays of Solar Panels in the Early Game.
The Following two additions allow for multiple power-grid networking throughout the world of Subnautica. For them to truly work and make sense within the world, first I will propose a Nerf to Power Transmitters to encourage use of the PMM and DPMM. This will be minor for bases located very near Thermal and Solar Power, but will be incredibly harsh for bases that are located a significant distance from these power sources.
Power Transmitter Attenuation (this isn't a module, but a feature)
1. As Power is transferred over great distances, some power is lost in the process. This is known as Attenuation
2. Every Power Transmitter connected in a series, after the first 2 will begin to slowly send less and less power.
3. This will equate to a 10% loss in total power signal for every Transmitter that exists between the 1st Transmitter and the destination.
- 1. This reduction is cumulative, not additive.
- 2. Example: 100% of total power, then 90%, then 81%, then 72.9%, then 65.6%, then 59%, and so on.
4. This is calculated by number of Transmitters, not distance. This is for ease of coding as assigning attenuation to a variable mathematical factor of distance and depth is more complex then assigning attenuation to a simpler number such as the number of Transmitters.
Power Management Module – Deployable Only
1. Unlike the Transmitter, this module can Send and Receive energy from multiple sources.
2. Stores 1% of all power that passes through it.
3. Maximum storage is 100
4. Resets Transmitter Attenuation back to 100% of power.
5. Can only be connected to Transmitters and Dedicated Power Management Modules
- 1. Multiple PMMs can not be connected to each other. Nor can they directly be connected to powersources.
Dedicated Power Management Module – Base Only
1. This is constructed into a wall, it will SIGNIFICANTLY reduce total Base Structure.
2. This reduces total Base power by 10%, as a portion of storage banks must be utilized for the optimization and conversion of base power.
3. The DPMM SENDS power out of the base.
- 1. Only one powerstream per DPMM
- 2. Sent power is equal to 25% of Base's Generated Power-per-min
4. Limit 4 per seabase
5. Total Base power penalty is additive, not cumulative.
With these two modules hand-in-hand, Players can begin the process of “One-Upping” the precursors and creating a system of sustainable energy that spans biome, and possibly the entire play area. When utilized in tandem with Thermal Plants, one could potentially utilize the Active Lava Zone to power a majority of installations across the world!
Uranium-Ion Rod
1. Definitive End-Game solution for Nuclear power.
2. Requires 5 times the Uranium as normal Rods, in addition to Plasteel Ingots, and Diamond
3. Produces 5 times the power of normal Nuclear Rods, and for 10 times the duration.
4. The depleted rods can either be carefully disposed of, or reprocessed to regain some of the spent materials
-1. 1/5th of the total materials can be reclaimed in this way
- 2. Depleted Uranium would not have a current use, but could be utilized for future upgrades as it is Ultra Dense and provides radiation shielding, despite being Toxic
-1. Modern-day uses include:
-- 1. Ammunition
-- 2. Ultra-Dense Military-Grade Armor-plating
-- 3. Radiation shielding for advanced Scientific Scanning Equipment
-- 4. Airplane Construction: as Trim Weights
-- 5. Sailboat Construction: as Keel material
-- 6. Submarine Construction: As Ballasts
As Nuclear Power is frequently passed up for the ease of Thermal Power, I figured that it was high time that Uranium be given an Ion upgrade as well. These new rods would last longer, and produce far more power than the original base Nuclear Rod. This, in turn, will allow for more freedom in constructing massive bases, and even give a viable alternative to the construction of a main Power Plant somewhere in the world for players to utilize for their various outposts and bases.
Thank you for reading this post and considering its contents.
Comments
I count 4 new buildable structure, I don't see your 5th
- 2 are basically battery (base/cyclop),
- one is energy buff and interface with outside
- one act as a relay for transmitter
- You add energy transmission gameplay.
- Nuclear rod thing is just using it as resources and making it more powerful.
You expect building used purely for energy production and long range sharing
My humble opinions:
Although I would love to see more survival aspect given to infrastructure, your suggestion is very lacking (in dev time efficiency & gameplay integration) especially for a game nearing release.
I'm strictly against the idea of LONG RANGE power transmission as it destroy the reasons to use power-source adapted to local constrain, we must avoid any meta-game that allow to nullify those. The distance are huge anyway, it would require more resources than building a close-by generator.
Your modules are very redundant, sure it give you things to fill your base but their size/link limitation will make them frustrating to use and reduce design variety.
From your wording I get that you would force player to build "reactor" to be able to stack energy. Sure it give you reason to dedicate room to those but it also make any scaling/change a long and frustrating process.
Another 'power-supply' for the Cyclop is pointless, just prepare spare Power-cell.
My personal variation of your idea:
(I would remove energy-storage from all energy-source)
- ditch the first two modules, rework powercells charger code to act as base-capacitor (making power-storage scalable and extremely modular)
- make the "power management module" efficiency-boost something gated for late game, as an anti-frustration feature. You appreciate managing power early game but later you want to be less bothered by power.
- Size the PMM to fit inside a room with (or without) reactor.
- add a switch to active "outside energy transmission" feature to the PMM.
goal:
- scalable/modular energy storage
- only 1 new structure for late game energy-buff
- allow base to share energy between separate building (short range)
If any "oxygen generator" structure is added, it will not conflict/be redundant with any of these.
If nuclear power is made radioactive, it will be compatible
ps: with no shame, here is a link to my own suggestion.
https://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/151993/using-the-powercells-charger-as-the-main-base-battery/p1?new=1