4kW Conductive Wire tier

[sktzofreak101]

I know this has been requested in the past, but with today's update focusing on transformers and wires I thought it would be a good time to suggest this again. I would like to see a 4kW conductive wire tier added to pair with the 4kW transformer that we already have. A "Super Conductive Wire" if you will.

For balance I say that it would be twice as expensive as current conductive wires. As it is, wire and conductive wire are the same cost (if using refinery for metal conversion), which is a good balance for putting in effort to get the refined metal. Adding a "Super Conductive Wire" that carries 4kW costing 50kg refined metal would follow that same balance. It costs double, it carries double, and still doesn't compete with heavi-watt wires.

The current 4kW transformer is limited in use due to its ability to draw above what our best standard wire can carry and running heavi-watt circuits off of them is crippled by the 4kW limit. I feel as though a 4kW wire was intended in the transformer's re-design in the first place. I would prefer this make it's way in as a feature than to turn to mods.

[DarkMaster13]

That, or just make the large transformer give 2k to fit with normal conductive wire and be done with it.

[Sasza22]

22 hours ago, sktzofreak101 said:

For balance I say that it would be twice as expensive as current conductive wires

That`s boring. Long conductive wires already cost a lot when you are just starting refining metal and the cost won`t matter once you got a large stockpile of metal refined. It doesn`t really work as a higher tier imo.

Instead make it cost extra plastic on top of the refined metal. It could be called "insulated wire" and would be gated by the availability of plastic, which usually comes later than refined metal.

[sktzofreak101]

2 hours ago, Sasza22 said:

That`s boring. Long conductive wires already cost a lot when you are just starting refining metal and the cost won`t matter once you got a large stockpile of metal refined. It doesn`t really work as a higher tier imo.

Instead make it cost extra plastic on top of the refined metal. It could be called "insulated wire" and would be gated by the availability of plastic, which usually comes later than refined metal.

I would agree with adding plastic but it would have to be minimal to make any sense. Costing an additional 5kg Plastic for example would be reasonable, but asking for something like 50kg of plastic would equate to a ladder in every wire.

Lets be real here, every cost is "boring" when you reach the endgame and the only thing that would be a minor challenge for end game is if they made the new wire cost only processed rare space materials. Refined metals, especially for wires, became trivial when lead became a thing. Plastic is easily farmable and I can honestly say I've barely touched a polymer press. I suggested a simple metal cost increase because based on the balancing done by Klei it's very in line with their own scaling. As I mentioned, conductive wire and regular wire already cost the exact same if using the refiner, and twice as much with the crusher. Doubling that cost for the higher tier compounds that without making it unobtainable.

[Sasza22]

14 hours ago, sktzofreak101 said:

I would agree with adding plastic but it would have to be minimal to make any sense. Costing an additional 5kg Plastic for example would be reasonable, but asking for something like 50kg of plastic would equate to a ladder in every wire.

Lets be real here, every cost is "boring" when you reach the endgame and the only thing that would be a minor challenge for end game is if they made the new wire cost only processed rare space materials. Refined metals, especially for wires, became trivial when lead became a thing. Plastic is easily farmable and I can honestly say I've barely touched a polymer press. I suggested a simple metal cost increase because based on the balancing done by Klei it's very in line with their own scaling. As I mentioned, conductive wire and regular wire already cost the exact same if using the refiner, and twice as much with the crusher. Doubling that cost for the higher tier compounds that without making it unobtainable.

You can look at it this way too. Early when havin low resources you can`t afford the better wires. It would work as a balancing mechanism. But for me it`s more interesting when it requires an additional resource, tech and infrastructure setup to get it. We also need more plastic sinks. You mentioned yourself that you barely use the polymer press. Outside transit tubes there is little reason to produce more than 2000kg of it.

That said 50kg per segment would be excessive. More like in the range of 15-25kg. This way it`s both expensive, requiring you to get large amounts of plastic as well as possible to build short circuits just with a few drecko sheers. 15kg would be 10 segments per sheer, lets say you need around 30-50 segments for your minimalistic inbase electrical system (just the living zone), that`s easily doable off of just dreckos but connecting outlying facilities like distant pumps would require a polymer press setup to get it in a more reasonable time.

[sktzofreak101]

9 hours ago, Sasza22 said:

You can look at it this way too. Early when havin low resources you can`t afford the better wires. It would work as a balancing mechanism. But for me it`s more interesting when it requires an additional resource, tech and infrastructure setup to get it. We also need more plastic sinks. You mentioned yourself that you barely use the polymer press. Outside transit tubes there is little reason to produce more than 2000kg of it.

That said 50kg per segment would be excessive. More like in the range of 15-25kg. This way it`s both expensive, requiring you to get large amounts of plastic as well as possible to build short circuits just with a few drecko sheers. 15kg would be 10 segments per sheer, lets say you need around 30-50 segments for your minimalistic inbase electrical system (just the living zone), that`s easily doable off of just dreckos but connecting outlying facilities like distant pumps would require a polymer press setup to get it in a more reasonable time.

15kg is fair, expensive for sure, but fair. I wouldn't go higher than that, at some point it just becomes a material sink for the sake of being a sink rather than usage.

I haven't messed with transit tubes which would be why I've never needed a press. I prioritize plastic beds, then ladders, then floors, and since I tend to be lazy and/or busy I generally don't get to the latter two until I've accidentally obtained so much plastic I can do it all in one go. Tubes would help my builds considerably but I'm also the person who is at cycle 1000 without breaching space. I definitely agree that we need more uses for plastic. 

[Xaekai]

I want 2 tile thick heavywatt passthroughs (upstream, not from a mod) so I can thoroughly insulate my generator rooms from my cool areas with doublewall. If I had that the current 2kw wire would be just fine.

[iamleejn]

I propose a material based solution. Just like overheating temp, metals change the maximum wattage a wire can carry. It'll also add another dimension to building power grids; balancing the conductivity bonus of a metal with it's melting point. Different metals would have different wire properties:

• Copper, Aluminum, Gold: conductivity bonus, lower melting temp.
• Iron, Steel, Tungsten, Niobium: no bonus, higher melting point.
• Lead: conductivity penalty, lower melting temp. However, no refining needed.
• Thermium: conductivity bonus, high melting temp.

Just my two cents.

[Gwido]

Super conductive wires

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supra conductive wires

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hmmm ... just change 2 characters, and add a need for a very low temperature, and it would be very fun.