Energy Demands
pocketmunchkin
USA Join Date: 2016-02-26 Member: 213480Members
USA Join Date: 2016-02-26 Member: 213480Members
(I apologize in advance if this has been discussed already)
How do you guys optimize your power solutions for your bases?
Solar panels are nice because in a sense you don't need to keep giving it a resource, it uses the sun. Downside they drain at night.
Then you have your bioreactors that give a bit more energy but you need to keep feeding it resources (creepvine stuff if I remember correctly)
You got your thermal plan but that needs to be placed in a hot spot and either your base needs to be nearby or you're going to make a long relay of power transmitters and hope that works.
Then you got your nuclear reactor. Outputs a lot of energy but requires (semi) rare items like uranium and disinfected water to fuel it.
On my rather large base I have a combination of all but the thermal plant since I built the base far removed from any vents. I still find myself scrambling to keep the base powered. Granted I have 2 water filtration systems so thats a major drain on the grid but still, if you were playing in hardcore and need to farm the precious resource that is fresh water you could either hunt all airsacks to the brink of extinction or de-salinate water.
So how do you guys do it? How do you keep your lavish bases with all the hatcheries, farms, moonpools, water systems, etc running without freaking out over the base loosing power?
TL;DR: how do I keep the power on in a base without having to worry too much about where the power is coming from?
EDIT: feel free to post your configurations of power sources, see if we can't find one that is both feasible (without command console codes) and effective.
How do you guys optimize your power solutions for your bases?
Solar panels are nice because in a sense you don't need to keep giving it a resource, it uses the sun. Downside they drain at night.
Then you have your bioreactors that give a bit more energy but you need to keep feeding it resources (creepvine stuff if I remember correctly)
You got your thermal plan but that needs to be placed in a hot spot and either your base needs to be nearby or you're going to make a long relay of power transmitters and hope that works.
Then you got your nuclear reactor. Outputs a lot of energy but requires (semi) rare items like uranium and disinfected water to fuel it.
On my rather large base I have a combination of all but the thermal plant since I built the base far removed from any vents. I still find myself scrambling to keep the base powered. Granted I have 2 water filtration systems so thats a major drain on the grid but still, if you were playing in hardcore and need to farm the precious resource that is fresh water you could either hunt all airsacks to the brink of extinction or de-salinate water.
So how do you guys do it? How do you keep your lavish bases with all the hatcheries, farms, moonpools, water systems, etc running without freaking out over the base loosing power?
TL;DR: how do I keep the power on in a base without having to worry too much about where the power is coming from?
EDIT: feel free to post your configurations of power sources, see if we can't find one that is both feasible (without command console codes) and effective.
Comments
In general, I like solar or thermal, because I don't need to feed them.
And only have one filtration machine. Even before this update, farming with fruits or large aquariums filled with dozens of fish, I got by just fine on one.
I'm actually surprised to hear people are using two. Right now I've got half a wall-locker of surplus filtered water.
For my smallish primary base after a fresh game restart post-farming update, I built purposely at some black smokers right on the inside edge of the grand reef with a grassy plateau and kelp forest border. Vents are about 180 to 210m down so it worked perfect for being able to use an unmodified seamoth to get there, etc. I use 3 thermal plants and my base is always at max or dropping a few then back to max again from spotlights and my water filter running. So far the speed of the thermals far outpaces the drain of my base devices. Only 300 max power too and I never ever ever ever drop below 200 even on heavy crafting.
I tried bio reactors in my last save and having 6 of them worked well, but it was a pain in the arse to keep having to stock them even with being able to farm the creepvine. It was NOT being able to farm the mushroom fragments that made it a pain, but more then that, how often it felt like I had to refill them. They need to extend the lifespan timer on the fuel input to the bioreactor to make it more viable IMO. Otherwise any base less then 200m might as well just build a solar array and have a zero effort power source.
I *JUST* got the nuclear an hour ago and have never used it yet so I'll prob give it a go here soon when I start working on a deep grand reef / inactive lava base. I'm concerned that it will have the same pitfalls as the bioreactor though, to much constant leg work to keep it fed. Which IMO is kinda strange since the nuclear material in real reactors lasts a loonnnnnnnggggg time before they have to switch their rods out.
theres 2 of them that I seldom have to replenish. Maybe once every 1 in game hour. Theres 1 that always teeters between 1 and 0 energy so its never empty? but it never lets me replenish it, and then theres 2 that every 10 minutes or so I HAVE to replenish regardless.
It's weird.
I know the exact spot you're talking about. That's my favorite spot for my Moon Pool base.
I exclusively play hardcore. My energy needs are normally met with thermal power, the spot Mndfreeze mentioned above is a fantastic spot to build a base as it's next to lava tubes and borders 3 resource rich biomes. The Plains, Kelp Forest, and the Sparse Reef. It also looks very pretty because it's on the edge of the grand reef, only downside are bone sharks. My suggestion is to find a lava vent and build near it, or close enough that you can build a line of energy connectors. Supplement it with a few solar panels and 1-2 sources of non renewable power, nuclear or bio. 4-5 thermal plants will power 8 filtration machines. I know that many is hilariously inefficient, I do it because I can. Realistically you can easily survive w/o even using a filtration machine, you just need to explore the floating island early. Marblemelons are good sources of food, possibly too good.
My Grand Reef base is supplied by 10 thermal plants
My Underwater Floating Islands base is Bio powered
My Jellyshroom Cave base is Nuclear
The rest are normally solar.
I would say exactly, but my "exact" base match in the Grand Reef has no bone sharks. If I go straight up and over I am not sure what biome I am in. If I go northish I am fairly certain I run into the sparse reef. If I continue westish I will skim directly over the chasm where the blood oil is harvested. Beyond that is a large long plateau devoid of anything, but salt quartz, and lots of sand. My original main base.
Anyway Grand Reef base is situated at 300 meters give or take. Right next to 3 active smokers. I run 3 thermal plants. Moonpool, and fabricator don't impact my supply. Nuclear reactors are fine for bases that aren't your home away from home. Large power supply, but finite. Honestly if you are at anything less than 250/300 meters then you should just pop 8 to 10 solar panels. My "home" base has 12. Moonpool. 2 filtration machines, and my constant building plus moth recharging. 12 panels are more than adequate.
Outside of building/Terra forming to have access to thermal energy well let me say I don't find that to be time efficient. Solar/thermal/nuclear in that order.
wait does that mean you can terraform to create/reach thermal energy? Meaning I could make my own vents somewhere else?
No, you cannot do that. You could use the terraformer to cut a path to an existing vent, but you can't create new ones. Also the terraformer is slated to be removed from the game, so I'd not rely too heavily on it.
What Sid said
Thermal power is best in the long run. It runs automatic at all time and offers good amounts. You need to find the magnetite mountains to mass harvest magnetite. With farming you need only 4 exterior growbeds with creepvines for endless lubricant and it gives you nice base lighting too. So it all comes down to mass harvesting of titanium. But you'll need it for everything anyways.
If you want to save energy, use farming to get food and water. And i think plants also will produce O2 for your base in the future.
Bioreactors and nuclear reactors can be used for early power startups of new bases. Or bases that you only need for a short time, like for harvesting purposes.
Here's what I've heard. There may be an official statement somewhere.
1. Memory/performance issues - terraformer use eats up a lot of memory, will be hard on console ports
2. Game balance issues - allows you to go places you shouldn't be able to and (in the future) shield your base from creatures that would otherwise attack it by encasing it in rock
Good luck once the terraformer is out of the game. I for myself hope for lots of heat down the lava zone in the future.
You don't need the terraformer to build a tunnel - if you start building vertical connectors the game will automatically clear a tunnel around them. Unless they changed that.
Ah, forgot that one ... But I'd consider using this more as an exploit. I mean, nothing against allowing to build your base neatly into rock if it doesn't fit exactly. I never thought of misusing this feature to dig. On the other side it looks like a perfect drilling exploit tool
You could always leave the connector tube in place and have a little hallway with a hatch at the top. Then you have quick and direct access to your deep base from the surface, and your deep base would be solar powered.
You can do some really goofy stuff building through the rocks too. Like if you build a hatch into it and then try to go outside, often you'll be inside the terrain swimming around. And you can still add to your base from there.
The first entrance to the lost river just opened near the deep reef lava zone connection and guess what? The devs blocked terraforming and base building in that area. Guess they'll find a way to limit the use of breaking through terrain if they really want it and without having to remove the terraformer for that purpose. If you think about it it's simple geometry blocking this.
If I'd program that I'd do it differently and calculate a terraforming depth to the surface, starting with a natural zero and getting higher the deeper you dig. The terraforming costs would get exponential with depths, meaning you can dig flat but not too deep. That is if you can store the depth info into the surface world geometry.
So it looks like they have memory handling issues and can't store all those changes properly and savely without getting into trouble. Although it seems they try to get it done. But would they actually drop the ability of base components to cut out the necessary terrain? Right now you can fit a base between the rocks if it doesn't match exactly.
It would ruin base building if the parts were not able to do limited teraforming.
Hey! I am going to try and help out everyone.
But... I am going to "spoil" my gameplay experience.
- I started playing the game in an automated way... i have goals in my mind that i fulfill in a certain order. It is hard to get past this "automated way" since the game is still straight forward, and doesn't have other random objectives.
- I might influence anyone or everyone gameplay experience and turn it into a dull and boring experience, which i don't want to do it, and it isn't my intention. We are supposed to have fun while exploring the game.
Please keep those reasons in mind
Only here to help.
This is my basic and simplest way how i did play the game, before.
It is still effective, but outdated.
+ Starting a game +
- I am depending of the life pod energy.
- I start to get resources and store them in the life pod, or in a nearby cave or "small cove".
+ Explosion - Unlocking Blueprints is a goal! +
- When i get seamoth it's when i start build my base where ever i want.
- My preference when building a base is staying near a "volcano or thermal font".
+ First Energy Demand - Solar power!! +
- I always build 4 solar panels.
Reasons:
- I build 2 multi-variety rooms, and i only build them vertically, placing 2 solar panels on top of each one.
- 100 daylight regenerative power, useful when starting up a base.
+ Moonpool Objective - Seamoth has low energy; Consequence: higher energy demand +
- I try to avoid to the maximum, building a power cell and/or even replacing the power cell that seamoth has originally, when its energy is lower than 50 its when i go hunt for the moonpool fragment.
- Consequence when building a moonpool and recharging seamoth: The 4 solar panels can't keep up with seamoth's energy drain.
+ Fixing the Seamoth's energy drain - Thermal-Reactors is a go! +
- After recharging seamoth, I will go and unlock the thermal reactor.
- Get 4 or more magnetites - Carefully, Reaper is nearby
When building the thermal reactors:
* I try to get as close as i can to the "volcano or thermal font" - higher temperate = higher regenerative power - build the temperature gadget and install it in the suit to help out.
* flatten up the surface with the "base support" - I either leave it or take it - If I leave it, it might be easy to place the thermal-reactors, but if I take the "base support" it might be troublesome.
* Build 2 thermal reactors additional 100 permanent regenerative power.
Conclusion:
This is my basic, straight forward experience that i experienced during my gameplays.
100 daylight regenerative power + 100 permanent regenerative power = 200 in total.
Positive Notes:
The energy is completely regenerative.
You have more time to dedicate to your own things
It is sufficient for recharging seamoth completely.
Negative Notes:
Only 100 power is permanently regenerative, the other 100 might be lost during a "night recharge"
1 Water filtration machines slowly depletes the energy completely. Until you get the annoying warnings all over again until the water filtration stops working.
But this next one is my best configuration so far, I play with this configuration in the new update- Farming update [Feb.2016] -
+ Starting a game +
- I am depending of the life pod energy.
- I start to get resources and store them in the life pod, or in a nearby cave or "small cove".
+ Explosion - Unlocking Blueprints is a goal! +
- When i get seamoth it's when i start build my base where ever i want.
- My preference when building a base is staying near a "volcano or thermal font".
+ First Energy Demand - Solar power!! +
- I always build 4 solar panels.
Reasons:
- I build 2 multi-variety rooms, and i only build them vertically, placing 2 solar panels on top of each one.
- 100 daylight regenerative power, useful when starting up a base.
+ Moonpool Objective - Seamoth has low energy; Consequence: higher energy demand +
- I try to avoid to the maximum, building a power cell and/or even replacing the power cell that seamoth has originally, when its energy is lower than 50 its when i go hunt for the moonpool fragment.
- Consequence when building a moonpool and recharging seamoth: The 4 solar panels can't keep up with seamoth's energy drain.
+ Alternative Energy Drain Fix - Bio-Reactors +
- After recharging seamoth I go and unlock the "new farming recipes" and start farming kelps: Get the seeds and the samples from them.
- I build 4 of them, near my farming zone. [I think they give 100 power each not sure - correct me if my calculations are wrong]
- I manually activate them whenever i need additional energy.
+ Water Filtration NEEDS MOAR!! Thermal-Reactors +
- After unlocking and building a Water filtration, the thermal reactors are a better option.
- Get 4 or more magnetites - Don't get eaten! -
When building the thermal reactors:
* I try to get as close as i can to the "volcano or thermal font" - higher temperate = higher regenerative power - build the temperature gadget and install it in the suit to help out.
* flatten up the surface with the "base support" - I either leave it or take it - If I leave it, it might be easy to place the thermal-reactors, but if I take the "base support" it might be troublesome.
* Build 2 thermal reactors additional 100 permanent regenerative power.
+ Optional Energy source - Nuclear-Reactors +
Being honest, never built them, never tested them. But it goes has my last objective since the other energy sources are much better than this one.
Main Reason:
- Uranium, you need to get it from chunks which have a rarity+chance to get it, it isn't respawnable.
Even though it has a higher energy accumulation, it isn't that rewarding when comparing to the other ones. But i leave it as an optional late game goal, since by that stage you will have a few or decent amounts of uranium just locked away in a closet. - Lol
Conclusion:
This is the most elaborated gameplay experience that i had with this game. Much more rewarding.
100 daylight regenerative power + 400 Manually-Resource requirement Energy source + 100 permanent regenerative power + *Optional Energy* Manually-Resource requirement Energy source = Well... to be honest i work with 500 power in my base following a "similar" configuration like this, It is so much better.
Positive Notes:
You can stock up to higher energy amounts
You have a variety of Energy sources
It is sufficient for recharging seamoth, and works well with 1 water filtration machine.
Negative Notes:
If you need. You have to dedicate your time to the Manually-Resource requirement power sources.
While 1 water filtration machine will work well, it will still deplete your available power.
All i can say in a conclusive way, without spoiling details and other stuff, is that if you build and maintain every power source that the game has to offer, you will not have any problems at all!
In the end it just depends in which stage of the game you are in relation to power needs.
Don't over think it like me and enjoy the game xD