Issue with Connecting Multiple Thermal Generators
Sorein
USA Join Date: 2015-05-01 Member: 204015Members
USA Join Date: 2015-05-01 Member: 204015Members
Before I make a post in the bugs section I just wanted to make sure that I'm not simply missing something.
For my seabase at the Lost River junction I had a power line that connected a pair of thermal generators to the base. Prior to the most recent update this setup worked without any issues, but following the Voice of the Deep update the power line is now flickering between the two generators thus preventing them from accumulating energy. Additionally the maximum power stat fluctuates wildly which would indicate that the thermal generators are in fact disconnecting rather than it simply being an issue of the power transmitter's effect not being shown.
In addition to the setup shown below I have also tried using a Y-Junction in the power line, however, that only resulted in erratic rerouting of the power line between the different transmitters.
Initially upon construction both generators are connected
But then one disconnects
Then it reconnects and the other disconnects
For my seabase at the Lost River junction I had a power line that connected a pair of thermal generators to the base. Prior to the most recent update this setup worked without any issues, but following the Voice of the Deep update the power line is now flickering between the two generators thus preventing them from accumulating energy. Additionally the maximum power stat fluctuates wildly which would indicate that the thermal generators are in fact disconnecting rather than it simply being an issue of the power transmitter's effect not being shown.
In addition to the setup shown below I have also tried using a Y-Junction in the power line, however, that only resulted in erratic rerouting of the power line between the different transmitters.
Initially upon construction both generators are connected
But then one disconnects
Then it reconnects and the other disconnects
Comments
Report it.
I went ahead a posted a new thread in the bug reporting section of the forum that can be found here: https://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/152159/bug-issue-connecting-multiple-thermal-generators#latest
If you have the time please attempt to replicate this bug and make an additional post in the bug reporting feed so that the developers are more likely to notice it and take action.
Have you tried deconstructing and recreating them? And is there just a single beam from there to the base?
After further testing by removing some power-draining items in the base the thermal generator's power line stabilized after the generators accumulated power. I suspect that changes to the power draw of base due to the latest update resulted in the base drawing more power than in the past and this resulted in it consuming more power than was being produced.
Apparently an empty generator now entirely disconnects from the power line, which results in the maximum power reading inside the seabase also changing which created the illusion that the power line was unable to simultaneously connect multiple generators.
To avoid this confusion in the future I would recommend that generators be programmed such that when the generator is empty it will still remain connected to the power line such that the maximum power reading in the seabase is properly displayed and so that the player can confirm that the generator is still connected to the base but is being overdrawn from.
When only a single thermal generator is in the power line even when that generator is empty it stays connected to the power line
So I went out and tried to set up the 4 Thermal Plants I've done in my past game. Got them sited but I can't connect them. Before, 2 Power Transmitters was enough. Now, 4 can't hook them up.
1. When placing Power Transmitters, the view is too close and it's very hard to see the possible power connections of the proposed spot.
2. Once the Power Transmitter is placed, I see no power beam.
3. When I went to place the 2nd Power Transmitter, I had to put it in a lot closer to see any proposed power beam. And again, when placed, the beam went away.
4. The max range from Power Transmitter to Power Transmitter is now much shorter.
5. AND I STILL CAN'T HOOK UP THE DAMN THERMAL PLANTS The Thermal Plants near the -100,-30,-450 location geyser keep showing 0/250 charge on mouse-over, so they're not working for some reason.
I put in 4 Power Transmitters. The 4th one shows a connection from the line going to the Thermal Plants just prior to putting it into the Foundation all my Solar Panels are on. Put it in. Base still shows 3000 power, which it should for 12 Solar Panels. But with 4 added Thermal Plants, it should show 4000.
Currently Experimental 50052. Something is not right at all. Submitted an F8 feedback.
EDIT: Another batch of fabrication drove down power to low levels, so I went out and added 6 Solar Panels to bring them to 18. Showed increase power for base but still went into brownout and as the Sun set, blackout. Added another 6 Solar Panels to bring them to 24 but even next day wouldn't go out of brownout. And my panels are on a Foundation that puts the panels half out of the water.
I even removed the last Power Transmitter as that was redirecting the power beams from the panels in case it was the problem. But that didn't help.
Don't know why this isn't working. 2 Water Filtration Machines are going but they could previously be powered by 5 panels each. There's 1 Glass Corridor, 2 Moonpools, and 7 MPRs. with 3 levels of Alien Containment. I don't think this is a big base, and prior to my current big runs of fabrication drawing down the power, I didn't have an issue with the exact same base. But ot appears if I draw down the power too much, it goes into brownout that won't stop.
I will wait until the 2 Water Filtration Machines shut down when full and see what happens.
EDIT: Only one of the Water Filtration Machines could run at a time. And even when one was finished, the other was enough to hold the base with 24 Solar Panels in brownout.
After the 2nd WFM shut down, the base came out of brownout. Recharge was very fast up to about the last ~88 charge, when it slowed down.
Discovered Batteries not at 100% in a brownout Battery Charger can't be charged higher. Except by the Swim Charge Fins using the Seaglide. Did an F8 report.
And while the base was still in brownout, I went and use a Fabricator I'd added to the Cyclops. And discovered such an added Fabricator doesn't consume Cyclops charge. The Cyclops Upgrade Fabricator does. But not an added one. And here I was using the base Fabricator to avoid what I thought would be a big draw down of charge on the Cyclops.
EDIT: Observed an WFM. One WFM takes about 10 charge to create 1% of a Large Filtered Water in about 9-10s. So one WFM with Salt already made (don't know the impact of salt) will take about 2000 charge to create 2 Large Filtered Water in about 1800s to 2000s.
After the base came out of brownout, it was recharging much faster than 2 charge/s. I have no idea why the base was still in brownout during the day with 24 Solar Panels.
EDIT: And with 6000 charge, 2 WFM should have been able to run to completion, but they've driven my base back into brownout.
BTW, mouse-hover over the 4 Thermal Plants show them holding 0/250 charge. They're in 48-50 Celcius water. Will have to check again after base comes out of brownout.
Unless of course the devs plan creature attacking and destroying external power plants, forcing the game to get connection info dynamically. But even then only a destruction event would need to enforce a recalculation and then never again.