Wanted: coal-powered Assembling Machine f. early game
Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2014 1:05 pm
The game seems obsessed with rushing the player to electricity as quickly as possible.
Sometimes it's nice to play more slowly, stay in the Coal Age for longer time, before making the great leap forward to electricity.
But two things impede this. One is Research, you can't do that without electrical power. I actually think that is reasonable, though. The other impediment is more annoying: That you can't do automated production at all without Electricity, since the Assembly Machine requires electrical power, and you must also have power in the first place in order to be able to research it.
I think the early game would be made more flexible, and ultimately more fun, if it was possible from the get-go to build a Primitive Assembler Machine, or perhaps call it a Burner Assembly Machine to be consistent with established game jargon. It could require fuel to function, Coal or Wood as fuel input, and require a Stone Furnate as part of its creation (similar to Burner Mining Drills).
And - crucially - it should be much slower than an electrical Assembly Machine. I'm thinking 40% or 33% the speed. In terms of efficiency, it should also burn something like 150% as much energy compared to if you put the fuel into a Boiler and ran it through a Steam Engine. The Assembly Machine requires 90 kW, so this Burner Asembly Machine should require 135 kW.
Sometimes it's nice to play more slowly, stay in the Coal Age for longer time, before making the great leap forward to electricity.
But two things impede this. One is Research, you can't do that without electrical power. I actually think that is reasonable, though. The other impediment is more annoying: That you can't do automated production at all without Electricity, since the Assembly Machine requires electrical power, and you must also have power in the first place in order to be able to research it.
I think the early game would be made more flexible, and ultimately more fun, if it was possible from the get-go to build a Primitive Assembler Machine, or perhaps call it a Burner Assembly Machine to be consistent with established game jargon. It could require fuel to function, Coal or Wood as fuel input, and require a Stone Furnate as part of its creation (similar to Burner Mining Drills).
And - crucially - it should be much slower than an electrical Assembly Machine. I'm thinking 40% or 33% the speed. In terms of efficiency, it should also burn something like 150% as much energy compared to if you put the fuel into a Boiler and ran it through a Steam Engine. The Assembly Machine requires 90 kW, so this Burner Asembly Machine should require 135 kW.
