I'm sorry, but the coal generator uses way to much coal. (and it's bugged)

[TLW]

I wouldn't go so far as to call it an outright bug, but yes, the coal generator not getting deliveries when disabled is... suboptimal.

My view on it is this: as-is, you have less options than if it still delivered when disabled.

If it still delivered when disabled, you could emulate the current behavior with doors / checkpoints / automation on the sweeper arm if you really wanted to.

[Moah]

Coal Generators made me use the automation/conveyor technology. Easy to learn and super effective.

 

[NoQuitting]

The real bug here is that the smart battery can make coal magically stop burning mid flame, you should have less coal, the game is giving you more coal with magic.

 

I'm sorry, but the coal generator uses way to little coal. (and it's bugged)

[Aelfled]

I think this issue is meant to be one of the intentional downsides of the building, I don't have the source, but someone said that when Klei look at buildings they should never solve all your problems without introducing a new one to manage

[NurdRage]

Not sure, but i think a single full load of coal charges 7.5 large batteries. So if you're using less than 8 batteries per generator, you're wasting power if you don't use it all before the batteries fill.

So to stretch your efficiency, you would build 8 batteries for a coal generator and set the recharge threshold to start when the batteries are empty.

For the longest time i only built 1 battery per generator and wasted huge amounts of coal. 

(If you're power requirements are larger you actually need less batteries per generator because you'll use the power before it needs to be stored. But calculating the ideal amount is complicated so i just brute force with 8 batteries per generator until i get the automation system working. However with my frugal playstyle, i only ever need 1 generator and usually find another power source or automation by the time i need more)

Bottom line, IMHO, coal is pretty balanced as it is. Gives your a good strong start, teaches you resource management, and tapers off by the time you should be swimming in other power sources. And if you're into advanced strategies, you can combine them with hatches to make nearly inexhaustible power. 

 

[Yunru]

21 minutes ago, NoQuitting said:

The real bug here is that the smart battery can make coal magically stop burning mid flame, you should have less coal, the game is giving you more coal with magic.

 

I'm sorry, but the coal generator uses way to little coal. (and it's bugged)

It's not just a pit with burning coal. Obviously it only burns a little of it's internal storage at a time. Or it stores some CO2 to douse all the flames in an instant, idk, ONI.

[xialeth]

6 minutes ago, Yunru said:

It's not just a pit with burning coal. Obviously it only burns a little of it's internal storage at a time. Or it stores some CO2 to douse all the flames in an instant, idk, ONI.

Maybe, since Oxygen's NOT included, it just instantly stops drawing in Oxygen to kill the flames? (yes, which would equal dousing it in CO2, but I couldn't resist the pun )

[Gus Smedstad]

ONI's combustion is magic, and involves no oxygen.

This leaped out at me when I was trying to explain why electrolyzers / hydrogen generators are perpetual motion. Electrolysis is H2O plus energy -> H2 + O2. Burning hydrogen is H2 + O2 -> heat + H2O. Except that in ONI, hydrogen generators turn the hydrogen directly into energy, neither requiring oxygen nor returning water.

[Nightinggale]

5 hours ago, NoQuitting said:

What if you wanted automation to prevent the supplying of coal to these generators? I'm not 100% sure it is a bug...

The main problem is that the coal generator is old. It is coded to stop deliveries when the batteries are full. The problem is that later automation was added and the delivery system can't tell the difference between full batteries and disabled by automation wire. It's a limitation by the design meaning a fix requires a complete redesign of how the battery setting turns deliveries on/off. Also deliveries needs an option to ignore the automation signal, something Klei haven't given to that component.

By my book that's a bug or perhaps something, which is only partially implemented. It doesn't look like it's by design.

[LZ96]

Anything will run out if you don't have production of the said material, this case coal... Grow a hatch ranch, you will never run out