Stop Belt Immunity from drawing power constantly

[Festmester]

TL;DR

Belt Immunity equipment should only draw power when on or near belts, to function similarly to other armor equipments, and save everyone some headaches, players and devs alike.

What?

The Belt Immunity equipment requires a constant stream of power, which makes it a uniquely weird part of the modular armor, hence I think it should only draw power when I'm actually belt immune, or when there's a chance I'll need it (within range of belts).

Why?

Consistency and logic:
I think it makes sense to have the belt immunity only draw power from the suit when it actually does something. This is in line with every other piece of equipment; the Nightvision only draws power at night, the exoskeleton draws power when you run, and your laser only draws power when it shoots. It states it works when it 'has power', but it does not say that it uses all 100kW at all times.

Belt immunity does nothing for me when I'm out zapping biters nests or building solar fields with my robots.

Another function; another set of issues:
I think because of the fact that it works in a unique way (always draws power), it produces a bunch of unique issues, such as
- The power armor keeps drawing power when not worn, or even when the player is logged out
- Needing additional coding to prevent the previous point, or leave as is. Otherwise need additional rephrasing to explain that it indeed works all the time
- Needing additional button in the UI to toggle on/off like the exoskeleton or personal drones.
- Amplified by the fact that the fusion reactor cannot add power to the suit while not worn, it can only be emptied. The only culprit of emptying an unworn suit: the belt immunity.

Balance:
100kW is actually a steep cost for being belt immune. Considering you're already choosing between personal lasers, a pile of exoskeletons and roboport(s), 100kW is a good chunk of the 750kW the fusion reactor gives you. That is 13% of all power, which leaves less for your robots to do some proper work, or leave your feet unpowered so you can feel the power of unboosted leggage .. shudders

Counterpoints:
You could say I could just change my armor if I don't want to spend the 100kW at all times. But then that armor will just be drained passively and be sucked dry for when I put it on again, not having enough power to actually provide immunity if all my gear has to charge at once.

Conclusion

In a game about efficiency, this is the least logically designed item I can think of. It punishes the player for a relatively small gain (QoL level), where not even min/maxing by changing suit will help you.

[Ultros]

It's been previously reported viewtopic.php?f=48&t=67149

I find it really annoying too, but apparently according to the devs there's no easy solution due to the implementation.

[Festmester]

Well yes, but I'm not reporting that issue, I'm referring to it. The one you link to states that the power drain cannot be stopped due to how armor grid works in it's current form, hence my suggestion to change it so the item (not the armor grid) in fact only uses power when the function is active.

Edit for clarity:
My suggestion is to change how/when the piece draws power, not so much on the issue it creates that it sucks armors dry because it's always on. No other equipment in factorio has this behaviour

[Chao]

Alternatively you could just heavily reduce its power requirements to be relatively negligible. It may well be easier to implement and as it takes up valuable equipment space I think that's a fair tradeoff for its usefulness considering how situational it is.