Wires should not be consumed

[Resurrection]

Why are wires consumed when placed and not retrieved like pretty much all other items?

[Klonan]

Once they are cut to the perfect length, they can't be used for anything else, so they are thrown away

[bobingabout]

Yet placing a pole makes wires auto-magically appear, and I'm fairly sure even red and green wires appear out of thin air when using a blueprint.

Either, poles should not give free wires at all, requiring you to either wire them up manually, or consume wires when placed, so EVERY wire that is created in the world costs a piece of wire... or none should, ever.

Perhaps the red and green wires could be replaced with a red and green spanner type object (wiring tool) that is used to create the coloured wires, and regular wires could be created simply by clicking (or shift/ctrl clicking) on the pole.


I'm just making suggestions here, but I really dislike the inconsistency that exists currently.

[ssilk]

Added to viewtopic.php?f=80&t=30845 About Cables and Wires / Make Wires Free / Power Poles Contain Cables

Same opinion with Bob. Currently it breaks emergence and is not logical and a waste of time.

[Lemlin]

Small poles require wires to be crafted, so there you have the wire cost included.
Bigger poles kind of have it included too as they have copper plates in their recipe.

[bobucles]

Tsk tsk. Throwing away perfectly good copper. For shame!

I guess the argument can be made that you're building something, so resources should be consumed in some way. At the same time it is a bit strange that power poles come with free wiring, yet it costs wire to do the same thing manually.

Personally I don't like the idea of using a dozen different inventory slots for whatever color swaps of wire the player needs. IMO there should be a singular wire placing tool, which the player might adjust to their wiring needs.

[aubergine18]

I think producing wire fits well with overall gameplay, as does it being consumed when used (although this should be consistent everywhere). Making wire automagically appear whenever its needed would seem weird, and having it not be consumed would make producing it somewhat pointless after the first pieces. Maybe when producing wire, you could get a bigger yield by default from the ingredients (like create entire stacks per batch rather than single reels).

However, when wires are removed, why not make it create scrap wire, that can be smelted to copper plates? This way you at least get the copper back.

(I'm still wishing there was a way for mods to add custom wire colors)

[Albrat]

I placed a load of wiring down. Added logistics systems to the poles.. Accidentally shift clicked a power pole. Now this gives me two options :-

1. Craft a wire. Leaving a single wire in my inventory after consumption (argh!!!) .
or 2. Dig up the Power pole and quickly drop it down in the same exact space for free.

Option 2 does not cost anything or leave me with an extra wire in my inventory that I will not use untill my next mistake.

So the whole consumes wire on connection... Is avoidable by removing the pole and re-placing it. (voiding the wires are cut to length statement, sorry. )

[bobingabout]

Indeed.

Still, my opinion: Either every wiring operation should cost wire (so replacing the pole replaces the wire), or no wiring operation should cost wire. One or the other, not the mix we have now where automatic gives free wire, and manual costs wire.

[Quax]

I agree with the OP. In my opinion, placing poles and wiring should be two seperate steps. Sometimes I need poles just to run my circuit wires along, not electric energy. The way it is it sometimes creates cable mess as the poles automatically connect with useless copper wires.

Maybe there could be a "tool" to be researched that enables you to place poles and wires (copper or red or green)in one step (like the FARL mod for the railway).

[Deadly-Bagel]

It could be argued that the cost of wire is insignificant but Bob's put a requirement of rubber in his recipes which makes it really tedious sometimes =/

I agree consistency should be the aim, not necessarily balance as either way it's a bit meh.

Once they are cut to the perfect length, they can't be used for anything else, so they are thrown away

Or maybe the excess is spooled in/on the machine? That's what I'd be doing rather than cutting them.