regarding power requirements of fridges, automatic dispensers and smart storage bins

[Bestyan_]

from what I've seen, read on the discord server and experienced myself, many are frustrated with the way the buildings above work now.
short recap: the buildings mentioned don't generate errands if they're not powered. nothing will be delivered to them while they aren't powered

refrigerators

The way fridges used to work made a lot of sense to me. No power equals no refrigeration, but it was still a storage option. Unpowered fridges had their use-cases (CO2 pit or medicine storage) as did powered ones (ease of access, no ugly sterile pit, perfect for great halls).

The way I use fridges now is just for the ease of access in my great hall. I still have my sterile CO2 pit in the early game, except they keep their ration boxes.

automatic dispensers

The positive aspect of the change with the dispensers is that it finally gives the power switch a use case. But I dont like the continuous power draw it has otherwise. Experienced players are able to circumvent it with automation anyway, only the newbies are punished. The solution here would be to either remove the power requirement completely or only draw power when they are dropping stuff, the way loaders and sweepers handle their power draw.

smart storage bins

short recap on how they used to work: unpowered, smart storage bins worked just like a normal storage bin. The automation port would work only when powered. This led to interesting contraptions to only check the storage status once in a cycle via power shutoff.

Now they require power in order to function as a normal storage bin too. This too could be circumvented with a bit more automation, but again, it only punishes the newbies. I would like to see a return to the way they were. For now I'll just power them constantly, solar makes it possible anyway.