We have plenty of hacks around to turn off steam power depending on accumulator storage amounts. But that is a lot of work and will be hard for new players.
It would be much better if there was a simple slider in the electricity information of a given power network. Allowing player to set a level of accumulator energy stored percentage after which the steam power will turn off. It should be quite easy to implement, yet would benefit the players a lot.
I think default for it should be that steam power is always on. As early on accumulators are just for peak usage backup. And later on with plenty of solar and accumulators the player could adjust it to say 20 % or such depending on case. Either supported as is or make some building required to control the power network to unlock it.
Automatic steam power control with solar
Moderator: ickputzdirwech
Re: Automatic steam power control with solar
Maybe introduce a smart inserter variant that could use status of the connected electricity network as a condition? It would have a lag in turning off the steam power because the already inserted coal would keep burning, but would have no lag in starting up the boilers when power is needed.
Re: Automatic steam power control with solar
Hmmn... To make it in spirit of the Factorio. Have an advanced power network control building. It would open up various new things. Later on upgrade to allow even more controls.
Things like:
1) Power production control.
2) Priority of different building types.
More advanced ones:
3) Ability to set individual buildings at certain priority (like inserters for boilers at critical priority while other inserters are at lower priority).
4) Reserve some amount of accumulator capacity to only be used by critical priority buildings. Say you have power issues only making enough to supply critical buildings and a bit more. Lasers fire and use accumulators to less than reserved level. Then those accumulators will be charged to reserve level before any non-critical buildings get power.
Things like:
1) Power production control.
2) Priority of different building types.
More advanced ones:
3) Ability to set individual buildings at certain priority (like inserters for boilers at critical priority while other inserters are at lower priority).
4) Reserve some amount of accumulator capacity to only be used by critical priority buildings. Say you have power issues only making enough to supply critical buildings and a bit more. Lasers fire and use accumulators to less than reserved level. Then those accumulators will be charged to reserve level before any non-critical buildings get power.
Re: Automatic steam power control with solar
How about a power switching station? It would connect two isolated power networks and set conditions (perhaps schmitt trigger style) when to connect and disconnect the networks. This way you could isolate physical areas from the network if power goes down or if capacity is high enough and it could be used to achieve much these needs.
Actually, I think I want it a little different. It would probably be better if the sensor was separated from the switch so each logic requirement would need a different building and some messy wiring jobs. Light sensor to toggle power during night, capacity sensor to toggle power based on accumulators, logistics sensor to toggle power based on storage conditions, perhaps even sensors that are integrated to a transport belt and count the number of items passing through it per minute...
The sensor+controller approach would probably make for some interesting power management solutions.
Also, I'd solve the laser turret power issue differently. Something to limit transfer of power in one direction only could be used to make dedicated accumulators for lasers. Those accumulators would then never drain into the main power network.
Actually, I think I want it a little different. It would probably be better if the sensor was separated from the switch so each logic requirement would need a different building and some messy wiring jobs. Light sensor to toggle power during night, capacity sensor to toggle power based on accumulators, logistics sensor to toggle power based on storage conditions, perhaps even sensors that are integrated to a transport belt and count the number of items passing through it per minute...
The sensor+controller approach would probably make for some interesting power management solutions.
Also, I'd solve the laser turret power issue differently. Something to limit transfer of power in one direction only could be used to make dedicated accumulators for lasers. Those accumulators would then never drain into the main power network.
Re: Automatic steam power control with solar
That could work. But it would bring out cases of accidental combining of separated networks. That would need some kind of confirmation or something before it would combine connections from separate networks together bypassing the controller.
Re: Automatic steam power control with solar
Oh snap, and it was suggested less than a month ago too!FrozenOne wrote:https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=2084
I need to learn to search the forums before posting ideas
Re: Automatic steam power control with solar
The old thread is about quite different thing. More about generic logical controls over various things and not that much related to power network in any way. Could be extended to it of course.
Re: Automatic steam power control with solar
Logic is ultimate thing that solves a lot of problems, energy control included.Phantasm wrote:The old thread is about quite different thing. More about generic logical controls over various things and not that much related to power network in any way. Could be extended to it of course.
Re: Automatic steam power control with solar
Sure is... However, how long will it take for us to get a omnipotent logic system? And how complex will it be?Undermind wrote:Logic is ultimate thing that solves a lot of problems, energy control included.
That is... There are lots of things that need to be considered to make a suitable design with plenty of possibilities but nothing too complex. With very complex system, it is very easy to get everything messed up with little mistake. While if you have few separate systems designed in a good way, you can still do pretty much everything, yet not single system is too complex.