Brownout icon / Low power icon / Low power warning

[coppercoil]

I have a habit of checking power consumption graphs often (as well as production graphs). There are many places that can break in the factory

[jodokus31]

I have a habit of checking power consumption graphs often (as well as production graphs). There are many places that can break in the factory

You probably know, you can add an accumulator to the network and connect a programmable speaker to it per circuit wire to create an automated alarm for low power Just need the research and setup time, so nothing for the beginning.

EDIT: fix typo

[ptx0]

just use burner inserters everywhere!

[ssilk]

I have the feeling we can move this to Not Implemented.

[blazespinnaker]

I remember bad mouthing the game a bit because of it. All those inserters moving so lethargically. I thought the coders couldn't handle all the assemblers I put out. Heh, it's all kind of funny now

[5thHorseman]

We have these great tutorials now that trigger on things. I see no reason there can't be one that triggers on a network having > 0% but < 100% power, that explains that when power is low you will see slowdowns in machines.

I know it feels good to know this already, and have people who don't know it look dumb, but it's NOT obvious and it SHOULD be obvious because the only OBVIOUS thing to someone who's never played before is that stuff is running slow and it's reasonable to think it's the game, and not your inserters. It's even very possible that if you read it 30 minutes ago and have learned 47 things since, you forgot about it in the meantime. It's not like there's only a couple things to learn in your first few hours of the game.

"Things running slow? Check your power!" is all it would take.

[ssilk]

Hm, for me this is part of the puzzle: Is my Factory still powered? One of the first important things a player must learn.

What I see with this and viewtopic.php?f=6&t=93048 Toggle "Destination full" messages
is some kind of grid to toggle alarms-types and alarms on/off. That is some kind of precondition for this suggestion, because I’m 100% sure many players wouldn’t like that. As you see on the suggestions many also don’t like any blinking.

I also see, that there is a way to give a better hint, I think to the new status-lamps on the miners. I would mean, this comes also for assemblies etc.

[foamy]

We have these great tutorials now that trigger on things. I see no reason there can't be one that triggers on a network having > 0% but < 100% power, that explains that when power is low you will see slowdowns in machines.

I know it feels good to know this already, and have people who don't know it look dumb, but it's NOT obvious and it SHOULD be obvious because the only OBVIOUS thing to someone who's never played before is that stuff is running slow and it's reasonable to think it's the game, and not your inserters. It's even very possible that if you read it 30 minutes ago and have learned 47 things since, you forgot about it in the meantime. It's not like there's only a couple things to learn in your first few hours of the game.

"Things running slow? Check your power!" is all it would take.

This is a good idea. I don't know about the icon suggestion in the OP -- the power-off one is already pretty obnoxious, either because of disconnection or because of flat insufficient power.

[Koub]

I'd love to have a "low power" icon in vanilla, and not only for beginners. It would be helpful to see that at some times, laser turrets tax poxer production too high while firing, or to detect incoming brownout earlier.

Low power is far more useful than no power (like in your car, the indicator low fuel is far more useful that an "out of fuel" light would be).

[foamy]

I'd love to have a "low power" icon in vanilla, and not only for beginners. It would be helpful to see that at some times, laser turrets tax poxer production too high while firing, or to detect incoming brownout earlier.

Low power is far more useful than no power (like in your car, the indicator low fuel is far more useful that an "out of fuel" light would be).

True enough, although a circuit-driven brownout detector is possible and quite reliable. You need to know how to make one, though, and it's a bit non-obvious since it involves both edge detection and a memory cell.

[Kyralessa]

I can see where a low-power icon could be useful...but I can also see where it could be annoying. Unless I have a major surplus of power or large banks of accumulators, every time my lasers fire I'll get a low power warning.

Maybe instead, one of those little Informatron updates could appear the first time a new player has a low power condition. That way it's clear what's happening without having to show a low power icon all the time everywhere.

[Klonan]

Maybe instead, one of those little Informatron updates could appear the first time a new player has a low power condition. That way it's clear what's happening without having to show a low power icon all the time everywhere.

Oh wait, but thats what already happens

[Kyralessa]

Maybe instead, one of those little Informatron updates could appear the first time a new player has a low power condition. That way it's clear what's happening without having to show a low power icon all the time everywhere.

Oh wait, but thats what already happens

It does? Oh. Neat.

I've seen a lot of those tips, but I haven't seen that one.

I went back to go look at it, but I couldn't figure out how to see those mini-tips. How do I call them back up?

[Koub]

I went back to go look at it, but I couldn't figure out how to see those mini-tips. How do I call them back up?

Maybe you're playing the game too well and never went low power since they were added ?

[Kyralessa]

I went back to go look at it, but I couldn't figure out how to see those mini-tips. How do I call them back up?

Maybe you're playing the game too well and never went low power since they were added ?

Nope, that's never happened.

But seriously, though, is there a keyboard shortcut or something to call up that list of tips? Not the beginning-of-game tips, but the during-game tips. I searched the controls menu, but I couldn't find anything.

[Koub]

Have you tried this ?

warning dark magic

2020-12-14 21_54_40-Factorio 1.1.0.jpg (19.18 KiB) Viewed 3396 times

[Kyralessa]

Have you tried this ?

warning dark magic

2020-12-14 21_54_40-Factorio 1.1.0.jpg

I have now!

But...I didn't see anything in there about low power.

It's not that I haven't had low power in this game. Is there really an item in there for it?

[blazespinnaker]

Maybe instead, one of those little Informatron updates could appear the first time a new player has a low power condition. That way it's clear what's happening without having to show a low power icon all the time everywhere.

Oh wait, but thats what already happens

Hmm, I tried it and I couldn't get it to trigger. I gave up around 10mw on a 900kw boiler. Interesting how the long handled inserters aren't that impacted by low power, at least relative to basic inserters.

Fast replace, pipette, entity transfer and a few others showed up tho. I'd add "z" drop to the list there, btw. So handy!

How does the mark as read logic work, btw? Pipette is smartly #1 but I don't think I ever saw it show up on the tooltip, just in the tips list. I never clicked mark as read either.

I'd also have an easier way to dismiss the tips, like in the settings. the unlock tips works, but also reveals all the tips!

In some ways, the tips are good (controls / shortcuts), but in others they are spoilers. It's a tough balance for sure. I can see why you'd put low power in the spoiler list, but I have to say it really does look like the game is having a problem processing a lot of entities.

[Koub]

[...]
It's not that I haven't had low power in this game. Is there really an item in there for it?

That way

2020-12-15 21_11_03-Factorio 1.1.6.jpg (202.67 KiB) Viewed 3185 times

[blazespinnaker]

Yeah, it's there, but I think a player would see "low power" in the assembler/miner detail first before she noticed that.

The suggestion above to trigger the tip onscreen when low power gets hit for a new player was a great one and someone followed up and said it was already there. I couldn't trigger it though, so not sure if it was ever tested.