Factorio Forums

It would be really nice to have a tech (might be expensive) to decrease "idle energy consumption" of all things (especially lasers, roboports) for like -90% (or even -99% on the 10-th level of tech).
And it won't make catastrophic impact on the game too.

And it's just IDLE consumption anyway.

There is. It's called Power Switch.

And it works on beacons too (they don't technically idle).

Yoyobuae wrote:There is. It's called Power Switch.

And it works on beacons too (they don't technically idle).

Very funny.
So, you can use a power switch, if you wish. And some more workarounds as well.
Do you srsly think one more way will spoil the game?

Well in my opinion the only downside of lasers is, the passive energy consumption. Lower the need will change the game balance as fas
as i see it. In addition i don't see the benefit for vanilla Gameplay. What would this add?

Maybe its possible to do it in a mod?

Xelephant wrote:Well in my opinion the only downside of lasers is, the passive energy consumption. Lower the need will change the game balance as fas
as i see it. In addition i don't see the benefit for vanilla Gameplay. What would this add?

This will add one more useful way to spend science packs. And will make the late game easier. And will lessen the quantity of objects in the late game.

Xelephant wrote:Maybe its possible to do it in a mod?

It's always possible.

This wouldn't really affect the game much, though. Even with maximum efficiency modules, the idle energy drain for an assembler III is still 1/6 the running energy usage. If you're using something other than efficiency modules, it's even worse - with zero modules, it's 1/30, and with speed or productivity modules the ratio is even smaller. Stack and stack-filter inserters are at 1/132 for drain energy vs running energy. So what would that mean, you spend one less solar panel in a field of them? One fewer boiler for every dozen? Furthermore, your energy supply needs to handle your base running at a large capacity, and by definition, the idle energy is only relevant when your factory is not running much or at all. You're not going to be able to substantially reduce your energy production, unless you plan on having large sections of factory sitting idle for large amounts of time, and even then, it will be by small fractions. (1/6 at best, as pointed out above.)