Better Power Generation Indicators

[Industrial J]

Hey, Factorio team. Great game, people! I mean it. I can't wait for the final version.

After playing the demo, I have a little suggestion regarding the electric power generation info panel. As it is now, when we open the power generation info panel, we have the Consumption bar and the Production bar below it. Yet the two figures always match each other, since the engines adjust their power generation to what is currently being used. Hence, it is just a little bit redundant to have the Consumption and Production numbers.

It would be just a little bit clearer if instead of displaying the Consumption and Production numbers you display Maximum Output Capacity at the top, Current Consumption below it, and add Unused Capacity below that. The Unused Capacity isn't really all that important, since the player can simply subtract Current Consumption from Max Output Capacity in his head. But it would be a helpful piece of data.

The main difference I am suggesting, then, is to replace Production with Maximum Output Capacity. The bar of the Max Output Capacity would fill up to show the percentage of Max Output that is actually being used. So just by looking at this one bar alone the player can tell if he needs to build another engine.

P.S. For an even simpler readout, you could even combine the Max Output Capacity (Production) bar with the Consumption bar into just one bar, where the total length of the bar shows the Max Output Capacity, while the bar fills up to show the percentage that is currently being consumed.

Just an idea.

Great job, folks. Keep up the great work!

[Takezu]

Well to be honest it wouldn't be much different, when your consumption bar turns yellow, you'll need more. And if later Accumulators and Solarpanels come into play, those bars aren't helpfull, as would your new bar.

You'll see accumulators raise the potential output even if the aren't disscharge or charging. Solapanels work only a certain time at full capacity. At that point, your indicator that you need more power is accumulator usage at times where solarpannels run at full capacity or rather the third bar energy stored, if that bar isn't full at the end of the day you should consider more solars. So your Maximum output would be fine, when you indeed would need more solars. As for the engins, if you're consumption bar turns yellow, you're under powerd and need more.

The demo is just a small glimps on what really awaits you. It's far more complex

[Koub]

The problem is that it's hard to determine the maximum output without pushing the consumption to over your production capacity, and measure how much comes out.
Example : You have a few 100s solar panels, maybe 50 steam generators ... can you determine your maximum output with that ?
Answer : no.

Do you have 14 boilers per 10 steam engines ?
Du you have 1 pump per 14 boilers and 10 engines ?
How many pipes/underground pipes do you have in between ?
Are all your burners fueled ?
Do you have hot water in tanks that can provide electricity, even if your burners are not running ?
...

[ssilk]

The devs planned, that we will have some training or tutorial maps, exactly for that. This should explain all those questions.

[SirRichie]

I think that the idea is a valid one. Just because power calculation isn't easy, does not mean it is impossible.

At any one point in time, the game knows how much power you produce, as a result of many factors. Same is true for consumption. So displaying these values in a readable way, is a good idea. The usability of the power panels is horrible.

Now for the concerns that were raised: all of them come from the fact that the current power production is not a stable value and does not answer the question: "do I have enough power to for a whole day". But again, more data can fix this: make a forecast for power production factoring in day-cycle production of solar panels, how much energy you can accumulate and how much you need during the night. It will not be accurate, but I believe that even linear prediction models can provide a lot of answers that you at this point can only answer either from experience, or by closely monitoring your factory for a day.

And while I appreciate tutorial maps on how to read the power panel, I think they fight the symptom, not the cause.

[Koub]

At any one point in time, the game knows how much power you produce, as a result of many factors.

Actually, you never produce more than you consume. You're basically asking the game to run twice every tick : once the normal game, and once a virtual game where you push your consumption to the maximum on every electric network, and measure the output, which, imho, doesn't really make sense.

I'd rather have an indicator on the entities (including the power poles) when demand starts getting higher than offer.

[Takezu]

You have an indicator on entitys, the green bar which displays the current supply
Or do you mean a second indicator besides the bar? Like a low power symbol flashing like an alarm?
I don't now, would imho a bit to intrusiv.

[Bytenex]

Maybe there is a simpler solution. Why not make some kind of calculator. E.g. you could set your energy consumers and generators and the calc will tell you the possible max outputs. It's not dynamic because it doesn't have to. It's just do some calculations about your energy. It would answer the questions "Can I handle it? What happens if my consumers will run at 100%. Will my laser towers ruin my production when fireing?" Maybe also a swith for day/night to see how much energy you have with or without solar panels.

[Linosaurus]

P.S. For an even simpler readout, you could even combine the Max Output Capacity (Production) bar with the Consumption bar into just one bar, where the total length of the bar shows the Max Output Capacity, while the bar fills up to show the percentage that is currently being consumed.

That's what the production bar does right now, if I understand you right. The graphic, but not the text. When half the production bar is green, you are using half of your potential production (I think it gets a bit messy once you have accumulators, but it works perfectly when you only have steam).
If the production bar is full and the consumption bar is halfway, you only have half the power you need.

Do you have ideas on how to explain this? Maybe if instead of just "255 kW" after the production bar it said "255 kW / 510 kW max", it would be more clear.

[ssilk]

"do I have enough power to for a whole day".

Maybe I don't see the problem, cause I played it too much, but what is the problem, to read the lines in the network power info?

Screen Shot 2015-07-05 at 13.53.43.png (389.04 KiB) Viewed 5731 times

You see here, that after night there is no more energy left in the accu. Time to make more solar cells.

How could something different tell you all that? You need some very clever AI to interpret that. Why not using the player's AI?

And you assume always, that you have one big network, but 0.12 and latest 0.13 will bring in the possibility to split your networks for some reasons.

[Bytenex]

I would rather suggest building more accus because the problem is not the rate of production but rather the maximum capacity stored for the night. But still this isn't the problem. He is just suggesting that some kind of "max energy consumed/produced" would be a nice feature to calculate with.