[0.11.x] Electricity (More Accumulators&SolarPanels) by XyLe

[Qon]

I downloaded your mod today, and I don't think the green solar panels are producing power? The accumulators work fine, but the solar panels are not raising my power level at all.

Also it is pretty awesome if the panels would work! This is exactly what i was looking for!

I'd recommend posting this in unofficial updates section.

Done!
Working version is here: viewtopic.php?f=120&t=23899

There's a working version.

XyLe, can you link to my topic until you maintain it yourself? We are getting these posts all the time now. It would be less qonfusing if the OP contained a working link instead ofa faulty one.

[V453000]

I see your point. Let me explain about the tiers. They actually go well with tiers of science packs. But i found it pretty cool to have a fusion reactor involved in this power-related mod. There's nothing like that for accumulators in my opinion. I kinda like having different amount of tiers, makes it unusual and unexpected. But I think it's not that good to have it in the "solar panel" recipe because it has nothing to do with being "solar", clearly. So maybe it should be removed. There's enough upgrades without it But you really have a good point so i'd like an advice on that.

The different amount of tiers looks rather confusing to be, to be honest ... surprising, yes, but in a bad way ... and with the colour-coded levels, it just creates that disparity in top-tier colours which is just plain ugly and inconsistent.

I think i've mentioned it somewhere about the graphics that it's just placeholders, i was intended to make it look better but it kinda feels tideous to me so i never got to do it really. I liked your graphics a lot, very pretty, especially the substation, just amazingly well done, maybe we include that in the new version of the mod? I'd also like to make more sense to the colours themselves. Maybe make Mk1 -> Mk2 etc progression follow the solar spectrum, good idea? So that would be red -> yellow -> green -> blue. Or maybe match the colours of science packs? Mk2 = red, Mk3 = green, Mk4 = blue, Mk5 = purple or remove Mk5? I'm kinda thinking maybe it could work with purple science packs and some of the modular armor upgrades... Like you made with portable batteries, could be portable panels for mk5 panels..

Yeah, placeholders, but honestly, if it's a mod and it doesn't 100% require new graphics, colorus are a nice solution, especially when done with care. I wouldn't mind making a new version which would be more than just a flat overlay colour replacement.

Regarding the specific choice of colours, I really like the progression that I made, I will attempt to explain it:
Mk2: Yellow - could even be more rusty and copper-like, just a bare basic machine (also it fits the first belt colour)
Mk3: Red - the red should probably be less intense, but in general the feeling there is that you want more raw power out of it. It is red because it is kind of "before melting point".
Mk4: Green - more civilized technology which is meant to be super stable and ecologic - that's what the solar panels are for after all
Mk5: Blue - the extreme high-tech version which has the electric feeling all over it - just like the substation mk2

The personal solar panels would't be a terrible choice indeed, I can't say I have issues with the portable fusion reactor either. Maybe in the general design, requiring alien artifacts is kind of pointless. The mod is probably used by people who don't really want to conquer large areas, so obtaining alien artifacts would be kind of boring. At the same time, you only need it for the top tier so it isn't a big deal at all. Either option is probably fine. The personal solar panel is nice that you need to split your solar panel production once more and fork it towards the personal solar panel production, which is a nice touch. I would just add some processing units instead of requiring a huge amount of personal solar panels.

Accumulators, I really like using the advanced batteries. Nuff said.

I already said that i was completely absent, and i have no idea where to post the new version... I'm gonna need some help with that, may i bother you personally? I'd ask you to tell me specifically which section i should post the mod in, and then if i can use the 1st post in this topic as a template because i'm not sure if it matches the new rules... thank you in advance.

I believe people usually edit their first post of the thread and update the latest version there, so when new people find the thread, they can just get the latest version from the first post , with description and all.
However I am not very experienced with using the forums myself, so don't take it as a rule just what I would do.

It's nice to see you back.

V

[XyLe]

XyLe, can you link to my topic until you maintain it yourself? We are getting these posts all the time now. It would be less qonfusing if the OP contained a working link instead ofa faulty one.

No i think i can't be bothered, coz 2.0 version is actually ready, so i think my thread will be updated very soon, probably tomorrow. There's no point in having temporary links for a few hours, the mod is not that popular

[Qon]

From OP:

Working version here: viewtopic.php?f=120&t=23899

XyLe, can you link to my topic until you maintain it yourself? We are getting these posts all the time now. It would be less qonfusing if the OP contained a working link instead ofa faulty one.

No i think i can't be bothered, coz 2.0 version is actually ready, so i think my thread will be updated very soon, probably tomorrow. There's no point in having temporary links for a few hours, the mod is not that popular

I'm really qonfused now.

But hearing that 2.0 will be out soon sounds great!

[XyLe]

The different amount of tiers looks rather confusing to be, to be honest ... surprising, yes, but in a bad way ... and with the colour-coded levels, it just creates that disparity in top-tier colours which is just plain ugly and inconsistent.

I don't think it was bad but alright, i see your point. There will be matching amount of tiers now in ver 2. The question is - 3 or 4 tiers, i'm not too sure yet. I'll probably make 4 and see how that works out for me.

Yeah, placeholders, but honestly, if it's a mod and it doesn't 100% require new graphics, colorus are a nice solution, especially when done with care. I wouldn't mind making a new version which would be more than just a flat overlay colour replacement.

I like having it colour-coded. Just changing colours for panels & accs works perfectly fine for me. But in my version it was done as quickly as possible so it wasn't good enough in my opinion )) i agree with you, it has to be done with care, your version is much better but i disagree with colour choices.

I think it would be the best if the colours matched the sience packs that the recipes require. The point here is to avoid confusion and to make the most sense as we've already established. That's also why there will be a matching amount of tiers from now on. I would like to see Mk1=Red, Mk2=green, Mk3=blue, Mk4=purple-ish. And then just go from there. Maybe it can look pretty enough. Otherwise it confuses me which panel is better. The progression of science packs on the other hand is clear to anyone who played the game at least once So in my opinion this is the way to go.

What do you say if i upload the new version with the placeholders i have and then offer you to download it and change the graphics to be more pretty? I would love though it if we could agree on the colour choices beforehand.

Regarding recipes i'm thinking your idea of using personal-batteries is really cool, i'm liking it too. Personal solar panels as a component for mk4 solar panels would make sense next to it. And they are pretty hard to get automated. So the highest tier of accumulators and solar panels will be quite hard to get in large amounts which is good in my opinion. Also i think they definitely should require alien science packs, and quite a lot of them too, because there's usually no need in hundreds of mk4 solar panels. They are too good, you just need a few, so they should be super expensive. I'm thinking about 200 alien science packs per unit.

I believe people usually edit their first post of the thread and update the latest version there, so when new people find the thread, they can just get the latest version from the first post , with description and all.
However I am not very experienced with using the forums myself, so don't take it as a rule just what I would do.

I didn't think of that. If i understand you correctly you're suggesting to edit the 1st post and then we could move the thread somewhere appropriate. That works great for me! i'll get to that asap.

It's nice to see you back.

It's even nicer to have a nice conversation with you about the mod and consider valid opinions finally. Instead of everyone quietly downloading it and being okay with whatever is in here right? ))

[XyLe]

I'm really qonfused now.

But hearing that 2.0 will be out soon sounds great!

Haha, sorry about that ))) i dunno what "OP" is. overpowered i'd assume...

Ver 2.0 has an upgraded boiler and an upgraded steam engine. Just 1 tier tho. It also has 1 advanced furnace and 1 advanced beacon. The game only had "basic" again like for panels so i figured why not...

[daniel34]

i dunno what "OP" is. overpowered i'd assume...

OP = Original poster, usually the first post of the topic.

[Qon]

I think it would be the best if the colours matched the sience packs that the recipes require. The point here is to avoid confusion and to make the most sense as we've already established. That's also why there will be a matching amount of tiers from now on. I would like to see Mk1=Red, Mk2=green, Mk3=blue, Mk4=purple-ish. And then just go from there. Maybe it can look pretty enough. Otherwise it confuses me which panel is better. The progression of science packs on the other hand is clear to anyone who played the game at least once So in my opinion this is the way to go.

But using the science pack colors is a bit arbitrary also though. And I think it is a bit weird to use science packs in recipes since no vanilla recipe does. Science packs seem to me to be exclusivly for research and breaking from that by using science packs in your recipes feels a bit off to me.

Assemblers: gray, blue, green.
Belts: yellow, red, blue.
Inserters: gray, yellow, red, blue, green.
Science packs: red, green, blue, purple.

The overall pattern seems to be something like: gray, yellow, red, blue, green, purple with some minor variations. Though I like the rainbow approach for ordering you suggested Xyle.

But recipe balance and how many tiers it has affects the game more than the color choice. For graphics to be prioritized we would need some of those specialized graphics V suggested. Otherwise it's not that big of a deal in the end, imo. But would rusty panels work as a MK2? Shouldn't that be MK1 in that case?

[V453000]

I think using science packs is absolutely excellent, makes some of your science go diverted, and late game after all researches are done you still have use for them.

Regarding colour coding with science packs, alright! I agree with the points that it is intuitive and consistent especially since you use these science packs. I would just ask one thing though, let's make mk5 the top tier which will be cyan-ish super electric as the final one "above science". It can even accept all science packs if you like, or just the fusion reactor, or something :> ... So red,green,blue,purple,ultra-electric

If you also want extra graphics for steam engines etc, I could just overlay them with some electricity and stuff, without colour coding (since they don't need it as they have just 2 editions). And to make the top tier at least seem consistent.

What is your vision for the beacon? What will it do? Better effect transmission? Better range? If you want a hint, I would consider it amazing if you would have a beacon which spreads the effect not like a binary range yes/no, but the closer the building would be, the more effect it would get. Then you could even give it a relatively big range, but all designs would always be interesting with this super variable thing. [I don't know how hard it is to code this btw : D ]

I won't be able to make the graphics extremely quickly, but just post stuff and I will supply graphics whenever I can No promises, but yeah.

V

[XyLe]

The overall pattern seems to be something like: gray, yellow, red, blue, green, purple with some minor variations. Though I like the rainbow approach for ordering you suggested Xyle.

I think you have really good points, the problem is we have to pick one approach, although i wouldn't mind posting different versions of the mod especially now that this thread already has a bunch of different versions

The pattern you're pointing out is a good find as well as the pattern in the solar spectrum, i would like to say that both are not intuitive when you're dealing with the solar panels. I'm used to it with transport belts, fine, but transport belts are not gonna be in the recipes and they only have 3 tiers which is not enough. Otherwise it kinda takes you awile to figure out this "overall pattern" and why that colouring would make sense. I would like something more obvious. And since we're using science packs there's nothing clearer than their colours imho.

Graphics was never a priority to me, i always care more about the balance. That's why the recipes are tweaked already but the graphics is still the same, i don't really mind anything.. but now there's more people here and we kinda wanna have it as good as possible at a reasonable effort. So i guess we'll come up with a good decision.

I think using science packs is absolutely excellent, makes some of your science go diverted, and late game after all researches are done you still have use for them.

I totally agree with this and i like using complicated recipes in those accs and panels which take time and can't be just crafted in a pocket. I think science packs should stay at least for now as i can't see enough people complaining about that.

let's make mk5 the top tier which will be cyan-ish super electric as the final one "above science". It can even accept all science packs if you like, or just the fusion reactor, or something :> ... So red,green,blue,purple,ultra-electric

I don't understand. We've got 5 tiers right now: basic=grey, etc. I suggest to keep the basic one as it is. The Mk2 would use red science packs and be red. Mk3 - green, Mk4 - blue, Mk5 - purpleish.

Are you suggesting to make 1 more tier? or are you suggesting to change the basic one to be red instead of grey?

Also i think cyan is kinda blue, that's what we get as Mk4 with the blue science packs. We take blue packs and we craft blue/cyan panels/accumulators. Am i wrong?

What i think is we could just stop there, and eliminate the 5th tier above that which would use alien science packs and personal batteries/personal solar panels. Because it kinda breaks the progression a bit, alien packs are way too quick and easy to craft. and there's no purple processing units to match the colour. We have only 3 tiers of circuit boards. What do you think? Mk4 is 64 times more power than the basic one, isn't that enough?

If you also want extra graphics for steam engines etc, I could just overlay them with some electricity and stuff, without colour coding (since they don't need it as they have just 2 editions). And to make the top tier at least seem consistent.

Colour-coding is fine. For now they are yellow and i like it but i wasn't paying too much attention when i was making it. It would be also fine if we had 2 versions of the mod with your graphics and mine. Although ima grab your substation mk2 for sure if you don't mind, it's way too cool)))

What is your vision for the beacon?

Right now it has 1 extra slot and eats twice more power. So 3 slots instead of 2. I never really played with it enough to tell what i want from it. Maybe have 2 slots but larger range. Maybe just better effeciency like 80% instead of 50%, i don't know, i'll have to test some designs to see what's more reasonable. I'll probably do that today before releasing ver2. I played with dytech and there's a bunch of different beacons there which are totally overpowered in my opinion. I got to have over 10 times more plates than there's ore. Basically each 100 units of ore turn into 1000+ units of plates. It's weird i don't want that in my mod. But i like productivity oriented factories with no pollution.

[V453000]

Are you suggesting to make 1 more tier? or are you suggesting to change the basic one to be red instead of grey?

Also i think cyan is kinda blue, that's what we get as Mk4 with the blue science packs. We take blue packs and we craft blue/cyan panels/accumulators. Am i wrong?

What i think is we could just stop there, and eliminate the 5th tier above that which would use alien science packs and personal batteries/personal solar panels. Because it kinda breaks the progression a bit, alien packs are way too quick and easy to craft. and there's no purple processing units to match the colour. We have only 3 tiers of circuit boards. What do you think? Mk4 is 64 times more power than the basic one, isn't that enough?

Yeah, one tier above purple so that purple isn't the final. Solving it graphically so that it isn't too similar to blue won't be so hard, trust me there.
After all, it is just a static sprite, drawing things on top of it is really easy. Moving parts are a lot more tedious. Even the substation might eventually be even better, it would be derived from the solar panel solution.
I might try to make at least some mockups over the weekend so that you can get a better idea of the graphical solutions.

gray original
red mk2 x4
green mk3 x16
blue mk4 x64
purple mk5 x128
super-electric mk6 x512

I agree that 512 is gigantic, but at the same time ... make it super expensive & require many ingredients, and it's fine, especially if the mod kind of supports beacons with productivity, power is going to be eaten fast

What do you think about the proximity-aware beacon idea?

V

[Qon]

Beacons do not fit into an electricity oriented mod. If I wanted more of those I would click something else before I search for "electricity". Steam engines and boilers fit into the electricity theme though. Also if you go outside your electric theme you will start to have collisions with other mods focused on production of items.

gray original
red mk2 x4
green mk3 x16
blue mk4 x64
purple mk5 x128
super-electric mk6 x512

Why would MK5 be twice as powerful as MK4 when all others are 4 times more powerful than previous tier?
MK5 is supposed to be x256, MK6 is x1024. That's also how I did it in my update.

[XyLe]

Yeah, one tier above purple so that purple isn't the final. Solving it graphically so that it isn't too similar to blue won't be so hard, trust me there.
After all, it is just a static sprite, drawing things on top of it is really easy. Moving parts are a lot more tedious. Even the substation might eventually be even better, it would be derived from the solar panel solution.
I might try to make at least some mockups over the weekend so that you can get a better idea of the graphical solutions.

gray original
red mk2 x4
green mk3 x16
blue mk4 x64
purple mk5 x128
super-electric mk6 x512

Hm, i might need more time to think about that but right now i can't say i like it intuitively. First of all, in ver 2.0 each tier takes 6 solar panels of the previous tier to be 4 times as good. That's the price you have to pay for space effeciency. Your mk5 is only 2 times better than mk4 which is not necessarily a problem since the recipe should be different science-pack-wise etc anyways. But it kinda feels odd to me right now. You know what i'm starting to think - i'll probably make a config file which is gonna make it possible to turn on and off the 2 extra tiers. So maybe mk4 will be there for everyone and mk5/mk6 will be optional. And maybe then we make mk6 also 2 times better than the mk5 to have some consistency at least there? )) in my opinion power of 256 basic panels is way over the top. I've played with it enough to tell It doesn't even look good to have just 5 panels for your entire base! Large solar plant, i mean resonably large.. it looks cool. Solar power plants should take at least a little space! Not just 1 substation for the entire power plant))

I agree that 512 is gigantic, but at the same time ... make it super expensive & require many ingredients, and it's fine, especially if the mod kind of supports beacons with productivity, power is going to be eaten fast

What do you think about the proximity-aware beacon idea?

First of all you can't put productivity modules in beacons. I don't intend to change that. It would be crazy)) And i don't even think i can, the game probably doesn't allow that kind of modding. I'm not too sure.

Proximity-aware beacons would not be my thing definitely and i can say that because i've played so much with beacons and it's really hard enough to figure out the best designs without proximity complications. It would drive a lot of people crazy because most factorio players probably have ocd and wouldn't be able to handle something being not perfectly close the the beacon then Basically what i'm saying is making beacons depend on proximity means eliminating their range completely for me and many other people.

My goal with this is to make better productivity possible at the cost of energy, not pollution. More powerful solar plants allow for more energy and that's why i've made advanced furnaces which have 3 slots for modules. It allowes for more productivity because in 0.12 factorio resource generation is far from good. I don't like expanding constantly, i like ore patches to last. But they really don't. So more productivity modules in drills and furnaces is the way to go in my opinion. But it increases pollution quite a bit and i just don't like it. So there should be better beacons to make pollution reduction possible. How better - that's the general question which i'm gonna have an answer to before i release the 2.0 ver of the mod.

[XyLe]

Beacons do not fit into an electricity oriented mod.

Oh really? Did you know that productivity oriented factories actually spend 10 times more power on beacons than they spend on any other power consumers?

When i play factorio beacons take so much power that the other stuff just doesn't count.

If I wanted more of those I would click something else before I search for "electricity". Steam engines and boilers fit into the electricity theme though. Also if you go outside your electric theme you will start to have collisions with other mods focused on production of items.

I'll make a config file which will allow you to turn advanced beacons and advanced furnaces off. Ok?

Why would MK5 be twice as powerful as MK4 when all others are 4 times more powerful than previous tier?
MK5 is supposed to be x256, MK6 is x1024. That's also how I did it in my update.

Because "different recipe". And "because why not"?

[Qon]

I'll make a config file which will allow you to turn advanced beacons and advanced furnaces off. Ok?

Sounds good enough.

Oh really? Did you know that productivity oriented factories actually spend 10 times more power on beacons than they spend on any other power consumers?
When i play factorio beacons take so much power that the other stuff just doesn't count.

Which still doesn't make them into electric producers or transmitters.

And if your beacons use that much more power, isn't that because your assemblers are inactive and beacons use power all the time? So the reason your factory uses so much electricity on beacons is because you sprinkle beacons everywhere even when it isn't beneficial? Just checked what a single assembler with 4 productivity 3 modules and 12 beacons with 2 speed 3 modules in each draws. 2.6 MW for the assembler and 5.7 MW for the beacons. That's the very worst ratio you can get if your assemblers are working full time, right? Also if you place the assemblers in a grid when going for 12 beacons on each assembler you will use less energy. With only 4 assemblers and 36 beacons (12 in reach of each assembler) I was already using less than twice as much power for beacons comapared to assemblers. More assemblers in the grid would give me even lower power ratios. An infinite grid should give you a ratio of 1:1.107 ratio in power draw for assemblers:beacons. So even if each assembler has 12 beacons in range your beacons will not use that much power. If you use beacons on assemblers that are inactive then there's no point in having the beacons because you are either overproducing or not getting materials fast enough and less speed beacons will give the same production numbers. So you are doing something very wrong or you are doing something very good I don't know about. You should probably fix your factory so that your assemblers are working all the time.

Why would MK5 be twice as powerful as MK4 when all others are 4 times more powerful than previous tier?
MK5 is supposed to be x256, MK6 is x1024. That's also how I did it in my update.

Because "different recipe". And "because why not"?

I don't like it. I prefer just balancing the recipes. And I have 40 MK6 solar panels that give 61 MW each. Regular solar panels would give 3 times as much power but I feel it's worth it because it's fun and convenient to have a portable powerplant. I think the price is reasonable.

If you went with 6 panels for 4 times the power then you would need almost 8k solar panels for a single MK6 panel that gives the power of 1024 as much power as a regular one. You would then only get 13% the power of regular solar panels you put in when you "upgrade". And on top of that it's all the other items you have to pay for also. Isn't that a bit too much?

Edit: it should be 1:1.107 not 1:1.07. Lost a number when writing it down. That still means you use at least 9 times more power on beacons than you should.

[V453000]

Sorry I meant to have everything x4, my mistake! So yeah, x4 x16 x64 x256 x1024 XD

I totally get your point that x1024 is absolutely ridiculous, but for ginormous bases/other mods, why not I guess - especially if you can turn it off.

How about making the top tier require a satellite? I know, it doesn't make super much sense, but I think it would be really nice utilization of it. Maybe even do the same for top tier accumulators? Or some low density structures + green efficiency modules lvl3?

With the productivity with beacons I meant productivity modules in assembling machines, and beacons to speed them up... for total of huge power hog

Beacons are kind of related, especially if you already add an extra furnace/steam engines. Just hog all that power you just produced.

Also, config is absolutely the best way to go. Allow disabling anything and the mod is golden for anybody.

[XyLe]

I'll make a config file which will allow you to turn advanced beacons and advanced furnaces off. Ok?

Sounds good enough.
Which still doesn't make them into electric producers or transmitters.

The mod isn't called "electric producers or transmitters" though. It's about extended electricity.

Just checked what a single assembler with 4 productivity 3 modules and 12 beacons with 2 speed 3 modules in each draws. 2.6 MW for the assembler and 5.7 MW for the beacons. That's the very worst ratio you can get if your assemblers are working full time, right? Also if you place the assemblers in a grid when going for 12 beacons on each assembler you will use less energy. With only 4 assemblers and 36 beacons (12 in reach of each assembler) I was already using less than twice as much power for beacons comapared to assemblers.

It's called theorycraft and i don't like it. If you're ready to share a replay of you building a real thing in a normal game i'll check it out. If you're gonna throw a bunch of numbers at me - i'm not interested, i can do that myself.

So you are doing something very wrong or you are doing something very good I don't know about. You should probably fix your factory so that your assemblers are working all the time.

Let's agree on something here: i'm very bad and i'm doing everything very wrong. Ok? That's fine by me and i'm not gonna argue with anybody to prove otherwise.

You've already showed me that you're perfectly capable of adjusting the mod the way you like so i'm not gonna change the balance just for you, i hope that's fine. What i'll do though - i'll add a config file to have some features easily disableable.

I don't like it. I prefer just balancing the recipes. And I have 40 MK6 solar panels that give 61 MW each. Regular solar panels would give 3 times as much power but I feel it's worth it because it's fun and convenient to have a portable powerplant. I think the price is reasonable.

If you went with 6 panels for 4 times the power then you would need almost 8k solar panels for a single MK6 panel that gives the power of 1024 as much power as a regular one. You would then only get 13% the power of regular solar panels you put in when you "upgrade". And on top of that it's all the other items you have to pay for also. Isn't that a bit too much?

I went with 6 panels for mk2-mk4, i never said anything about mk6 and i don't even know which recipe it would use and what kind of power generation it should offer. That's what we're trying to decide right now. So i don't know where you're getting your information.

And no, it is not a bit too much. I honestly appreciate your opinion and i'm grateful for your time and effort, finally having such a long discussion is exactly what i always wanted, i understand that you want this mod to be better, i'm glad you like it. I promise to consider your point, it's good and you clearly have your personal taste but you're also capable of adjusting the mod however you see fit. That's why in the end i'll have the balance which i like and my personal taste will be the highest priority here, i hope you can understand that and still enjoy the mod, even if it's not gonna be done the way you've suggested.

Cheers)

[XyLe]

Sorry I meant to have everything x4, my mistake! So yeah, x4 x16 x64 x256 x1024 XD

I totally get your point that x1024 is absolutely ridiculous, but for ginormous bases/other mods, why not I guess - especially if you can turn it off.

How about making the top tier require a satellite? I know, it doesn't make super much sense, but I think it would be really nice utilization of it. Maybe even do the same for top tier accumulators? Or some low density structures + green efficiency modules lvl3?

With the productivity with beacons I meant productivity modules in assembling machines, and beacons to speed them up... for total of huge power hog

Beacons are kind of related, especially if you already add an extra furnace/steam engines. Just hog all that power you just produced.

Also, config is absolutely the best way to go. Allow disabling anything and the mod is golden for anybody.

I totally agree with all of the above, i like consistency. Although you could have x4, x16, x64, x128, x256 without a problem. I don't see why not, it's reasonable, what do you think? Of course it wouldn't take as much panels then: mk5 = 3xmk4 + some extra stuff.

Regarding satellite i'm not sure, there's a mod which does something with it, probably it's more reasonable. Modules are a good idea. Right now ver 2.0 uses modules in crafting adv furnace and beacon. I'll figure something out soon enough. I'm on it

Config files while good are gonna add some work for me and i can't make everything configurable. I'll see what i can do..

[V453000]

Honestly, I wrote it as x2 as pure accident, but the more I think about it, the more it feems like a good idea actually.
I must admit that 512 and 1024 are just insane and probably result in tiny plants, which as you said is not the desired effect either.

Using modules in the recipes might be totally great as well... since the idea of the mod is to produce a lot of power and put it into productivity/beacons, it makes a whole lot of sense to motivate for module production.

How about putting productivity modules into furnace recipe, efficiency modules into solars/accumulator/substation mk2 recipe, and speed modules into beacons? The steam engines are probably not so advanced so I am assuming there is something else you have in mind.
The satellite is cute but automating the rocket is kind of meh, modules have a point and use.

[XyLe]

Honestly, I wrote it as x2 as pure accident, but the more I think about it, the more it feems like a good idea actually.
I must admit that 512 and 1024 are just insane and probably result in tiny plants, which as you said is not the desired effect either.

I have already decided to put it in the config. Default value will be x2 for mk5 and mk6.

Using modules in the recipes might be totally great as well... since the idea of the mod is to produce a lot of power and put it into productivity/beacons, it makes a whole lot of sense to motivate for module production.

Already using

How about putting productivity modules into furnace recipe, efficiency modules into solars/accumulator/substation mk2 recipe, and speed modules into beacons?

Adv furnace uses 2 speed modules i think. Its crafting speed is 2.5; normal electric furnace's speed is 2. So productivity doesn't feel right. it's just faster.
Substation - i can't remember, probably effeciency modules. check with the mod it's there already in ver 1.0
Beacons use productivity modules now. It feels right to me coz it's exactly what they are - more productive, not more effecient. i guess

The steam engines are probably not so advanced so I am assuming there is something else you have in mind.

Steam boiler mk2 uses more pipes and a steel furnace.
Steam engine mk2 uses engines. I kinda like the recipes. It's 4 times the power compared to basic versions.

The satellite is cute but automating the rocket is kind of meh, modules have a point and use.

Agreed!