Solar Power Incremental Increase

[Maglyo]

So this was posted on Reddit a little bit ago, and I really liked the suggestion.

What if there was incremental efficiency increases for solar power like there is for mining? Like mining, it could be 1% increases per level, and be infinite. I feel like that would be a solid balance between not having tiers and still being able to increase your solar output for those that want to invest. I have no programming background, so I have no idea how difficult this would be to implement. With it already being done with mining, I have to think the framework is already in place for it and could hopefully be migrated to solar without too much workaround.

What do you guys think? Is it worth something like this being worked on when the game world is infinite?

[eradicator]

Mining productivity is relevant because resource patches are limited, and mining operations need to be moved when a patch is empty. So Mining-productivity solves the problem of spending too much time on reconstructing mining-outposts.
Solar panels on the other hand can be placed anywhere and never need to be moved or replaced. Thus what you're suggesting does not solve any relevant problem.

Now you're probably going to say something like "but it saves space/but placing new solars requires time too". Well...as far as i can tell the consensus in the factorio community usually leans towards "space is infinite, so space cost is irrelevant". I can't say i agree with that at all times but for solars it's probably true (And there's many mods that add expensive high-power solar panels). As for the "placing solars takes time" there's bots and blueprints.

+Welcome to the forum The search engine is your friend. And don't get sad just because not everybody likes your ideas. Just throw them out and eventually you'll have one that other ppl like.

[QGamer]

Now you're probably going to say something like "but it saves space/but placing new solars requires time too". Well...as far as i can tell the consensus in the factorio community usually leans towards "space is infinite, so space cost is irrelevant". I can't say i agree with that at all times but for solars it's probably true (And there's many mods that add expensive high-power solar panels). As for the "placing solars takes time" there's bots and blueprints.

Just for sake of discussion: suppose you were playing on a non-infinite map? On a finite map space is valuable. But the original poster did mention "when the game world is infinite." If solar power isn't good enough, try going nuclear. If that doesn't work, you could use steam power with solid fuel (which never runs out, unless you're short on oil). There are many ways to get around the "not enough power" problem.

On the other hand, I do think it would be really cool to have solar efficiency research, but at some level, are all of the science packs you're pumping into the lab really worth a 1% increase? A 1% increase would increase power output by 6kW per panel. It wouldn't really be worth it until you had a boatload of solar panels already in place. Perhaps a 1% increase might not be enough, and it should be more...

[FactorioParadox]

You have to remember though that Solar Energy production involves both Solar and Accumulators (unless you use basic steam or nuclear for nighttime power). The effect of an increase in solar panel productivity to save space would be partially countered by the fact that you still need to use accumulators to take advantage of that extra productivity at night.

[Xeorm]

You have to remember though that Solar Energy production involves both Solar and Accumulators (unless you use basic steam or nuclear for nighttime power). The effect of an increase in solar panel productivity to save space would be partially countered by the fact that you still need to use accumulators to take advantage of that extra productivity at night.

I'd think this would counter most of my interest in such an upgrade. Getting more production would be cool, but the hassle of worrying about a different setup to actually take advantage of such an increase would make it pretty moot.

Increasing battery efficiency at the same time would work, but would feel silly.

[Zavian]

Well increasing battery storage capacity as well would be feasible (just look at the increase in storage capacity of real life lithium ion batteries). Alternatively you could potentially use a solar blueprint that was ratio perfect at some known level of increased solar efficiency. If that inefficiency worried you then you could easily supplement it with a few additional solar panels until you get the research done.

[Maglyo]

You have to remember though that Solar Energy production involves both Solar and Accumulators (unless you use basic steam or nuclear for nighttime power). The effect of an increase in solar panel productivity to save space would be partially countered by the fact that you still need to use accumulators to take advantage of that extra productivity at night.

Honestly? I hadn't even thought of the accumulator aspect of it. Yeah, there would definitely need to be some sort of tie-in with that as well. I had seen the mods about the different tiers, but I was looking more for science research than more expensive materials. Since space is infinite, I guess it isn't a very big issue. Eradicator is correct as well, in that it doesn't solve an issue. I was just thinking it would be a nice QoL (for me at least) possible upgrade.

Also, since the game is about efficiency and getting more out of less, I thought maybe it would be a good fit. Valid points have been brought up on both sides i think, and that's always a good thing.