Factorio Forums

The idea is to have a 1 square replacement for the power system that does not use messy wires crisscrossing each way in a flagrant electrical hazard way; if you want electrical hazard it should be in a game modifying way such as arcing to the player causing actual damage when they are within it's area of influence.

You could have very tall poles requiring battery storage to regulate down power from a lightning rod type top that allows wireless power transmission from arcing the power between poles, creating light and remotely allowing a larger area to be powered (such as with the substation) and before anyone quotes realism I'm a chemist red flask plus green flask does not produce 'science' nor does it require dangerously uncontained welding arcs within a building

Why i want this is because transmission is rough house at the moment with above ground poles, it is visually unattractive in that they auto connect instead of allowing you to specify layout, layout suffers from the constraint of spacing from the abruptly short power distribution tech tree and at the end of the day more technology means more of a game to enjoy.

I like this idea! Especially because in the mid-to-late game power distribution is not difficult with plentiful substations, leaving a cluttered mess.

The brilliance of this suggestion is making the power poles DANGEROUS to the player. A real negative.. and gives an interesting tradeoff.
That shock danger might also be used against biters. Not as good as a turret (not even close) but enough that a lone biter who gets deep inside the main base will be worn down by the shocks and evenually die.

You can tell a pole not to connect to any of its neighbors by shift+clicking it, and then place cables on it yourself.

Similarly, if you are holding a copper coil you can drag it between two poles where there is an existing wire and delete the offending wire without having to redo all of the connections.

The substations aren't bad to work with if you conform them to a grid. Things only get tangled if you let them.