Author Topic: Power Generation  (Read 6407 times)

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Offline Sirce

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Re: Power Generation
« Reply #30 on: February 05, 2019, 11:42:41 AM »
I had an idea regarding power generation that could be simple to add but creates interesting choices.

Industry and research require power to operate efficiently. Normally this cost is included in the wealth cost to operate. However, a planet, or even a moon, can have a natural occurring power source. These pay for a set amount of industry as if they were nearly free. For example, Venus has a high-pressure atmosphere which can be utilized into a power source. The amount of energy is quite high and thus can handle a large amount of industry on its own without an energy grid built for it, and environmental concerns are very low.

Thus, a harsh but high energy planet might be better for the industry but not as livable compared to other planets. Players would choose which is more valuable for them to develop. Something to consider in the future without adding too much micromanagement.

Power tech will improve the bonus to natural occurring power making it cheaper to operate a factory/lab.
 
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Offline Marski

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Re: Power Generation
« Reply #31 on: February 05, 2019, 11:49:41 PM »
I could see power technology as wealth multiplier since more powerful oowerplants require less wealth spent on logistics. But beyond that? Absolutely not.
 

Offline Rabid_Cog

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Re: Power Generation
« Reply #32 on: February 06, 2019, 01:21:13 AM »
Im just throwing ideas against the wall here, seeing what will stick.

The same way planet size determines the maximum population of a planet, power level determines a maximum number of facilities (in tonnage?) on a planet. Planets have a base power level for what can be cheaply powered (solar) depending on size and environment, with an additional amount based on the size of the service sector of population (wind, hydro, fossil fuel, etc) based on the planet size and environment, and you can build Sorium Reactors that consume raw sorium (and require workers) but boost it by a big amount. Going over your power limit results in negative production efficiency modifiers.

So there are 3 "soft caps" to industry capacity of a planet
Unpopulated planet - Base cap
Scales with population (service sector) up to Base + Fully populated planet service sector cap
Each sorium reactor adds to this cap with no limit (but more sorium consumed)

Gameplay value:
No more stripmining an asteroid by dumping 1000 automines on it.
Planets with large populations are valuable as they allow concentration of industry.
Reason to spread out industry among many planets.
Little to no micromanagement as everything is automatic. You just decide to move industries offworld in bulk, which is a strictly macro-scale gameplay.
Possibility to ignore all of the above if you don't like it with a minor cost (sorium) or reduction in production efficiency.
Gives something more to explore for - planets with high population capacity/energy capacity
I have my own subforum now!
Shameless plug for my own Aurora story game:
5.6 part: http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,4988.0.html
6.2 part: http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,5906.0.html

Feel free to post comments!
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,5452.0.html
 

Offline Seolferwulf

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Re: Power Generation
« Reply #33 on: February 08, 2019, 02:08:22 PM »
I had an idea regarding power generation that could be simple to add but creates interesting choices.

Industry and research require power to operate efficiently. Normally this cost is included in the wealth cost to operate. However, a planet, or even a moon, can have a natural occurring power source. These pay for a set amount of industry as if they were nearly free. For example, Venus has a high-pressure atmosphere which can be utilized into a power source. The amount of energy is quite high and thus can handle a large amount of industry on its own without an energy grid built for it, and environmental concerns are very low.

Thus, a harsh but high energy planet might be better for the industry but not as livable compared to other planets. Players would choose which is more valuable for them to develop. Something to consider in the future without adding too much micromanagement.

Power tech will improve the bonus to natural occurring power making it cheaper to operate a factory/lab.

With this one could actually create a "high energy planet" using terraformers with Venus as en example, giving terraforming another use besides changing a planets surface into a liveable environment.

Stars could also become major power sources by collecting light with mirrors, powering the rest of the system by beaming it over as a laser, which could also double as a powerful weapon.
Light still has travel time though, so you'd rather beam it to a nearby planet or space station and then redirect it toward the invaders.
Another possibility would be star lifting.
With mirrors again you'd reflect the light back to the star, blowing off material at its poles.
While feeding back elements the star needs for fusion you filter out impurities, among which could be valuable minerals.
The rest would be sold to the civilian sector, generating wealth.
 

Offline Whitecold

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Re: Power Generation
« Reply #34 on: February 10, 2019, 05:25:05 AM »
Im just throwing ideas against the wall here, seeing what will stick.

The same way planet size determines the maximum population of a planet, power level determines a maximum number of facilities (in tonnage?) on a planet. Planets have a base power level for what can be cheaply powered (solar) depending on size and environment, with an additional amount based on the size of the service sector of population (wind, hydro, fossil fuel, etc) based on the planet size and environment, and you can build Sorium Reactors that consume raw sorium (and require workers) but boost it by a big amount. Going over your power limit results in negative production efficiency modifiers.

So there are 3 "soft caps" to industry capacity of a planet
Unpopulated planet - Base cap
Scales with population (service sector) up to Base + Fully populated planet service sector cap
Each sorium reactor adds to this cap with no limit (but more sorium consumed)

Gameplay value:
No more stripmining an asteroid by dumping 1000 automines on it.
Planets with large populations are valuable as they allow concentration of industry.
Reason to spread out industry among many planets.
Little to no micromanagement as everything is automatic. You just decide to move industries offworld in bulk, which is a strictly macro-scale gameplay.
Possibility to ignore all of the above if you don't like it with a minor cost (sorium) or reduction in production efficiency.
Gives something more to explore for - planets with high population capacity/energy capacity
Except I also need to ship sorium along. Frankly I don't see why an automine should not also contain any and all infrastructure to satisfy its own power demands.
Also, why bother why gigawatt scale conventional thermal powerplants or solar/hydro when you can build sorium reactors that have orders of magnitude more power generation?

The only thing I could agree on is preventing strip mining with 1000 automines, but I would rather model that with diminishing returns for mines above a certain limit per body, representing that eventually mines are getting placed in suboptimal locations.
 

Offline Rabid_Cog

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Re: Power Generation
« Reply #35 on: February 10, 2019, 05:50:11 AM »
You don't NEED to ship Sorium along, you have the CHOICE to ship Sorium along if the basic industry cap of, say, 100 automines is insuffiicient for you.

Why bother with gigawatt scale conventional plants when you have Sorium reactors? Answered in your previous sentence. They dont need sorium. Sorium is rare and expensive and its cheaper to build a massive solar power facility which functionally costs nothing as it is part of normal development than it is to provide a consistent supply of Sorium for a reactor.

I'm not trying to 'solve a problem' with this power idea, just thinking what value could be added with the mechanic without adding too much complexity.
I have my own subforum now!
Shameless plug for my own Aurora story game:
5.6 part: http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,4988.0.html
6.2 part: http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,5906.0.html

Feel free to post comments!
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,5452.0.html
 

Offline Whitecold

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Re: Power Generation
« Reply #36 on: February 12, 2019, 12:07:06 PM »
You don't NEED to ship Sorium along, you have the CHOICE to ship Sorium along if the basic industry cap of, say, 100 automines is insuffiicient for you.

Why bother with gigawatt scale conventional plants when you have Sorium reactors? Answered in your previous sentence. They dont need sorium. Sorium is rare and expensive and its cheaper to build a massive solar power facility which functionally costs nothing as it is part of normal development than it is to provide a consistent supply of Sorium for a reactor.

I'm not trying to 'solve a problem' with this power idea, just thinking what value could be added with the mechanic without adding too much complexity.
I don't see the value in exactly this. Unless you are really desperate for sorium, there is no reason ever to not pay the additional cost. Which means it should be automatic.
Every other industry is already capped by worker requirements. Automines are specifically there to get around that requirement, so they are the only ones truly affected by a new cap. Unless a planet is unable to power his regular industry, at which point it is just annoying micromanagement.
If too many automines bother you, give them diminishing returns, and don't bother with power generation.