How do you use your power?

[SeniorPuft]

There are so many ways to make lots of power now, most of them for free essentially. I typically build my bases to use minimal power to the point where I can run 90% of everything with a petrol gen's worth of power most of the time and for everything else there's solar, etc, etc.

So I was curious, how do you use electricity forum? Are there any pragmatic reasons to use a lot of power or do you just burn it in fun and creative ways? Do any of you ever get close to maxing out a 20kW Heavi-Watt Wire?

 

Thanks for your insights!

~SP

[ChrisPBacon000]

Hmm, radbolt generation is a big one. I can pull several kW just by turning on my generators when I need to fuel a rocket or launcher. Research radbolts used to take a lot but I have largely completed needed research so that's less an issue. 

 

Honestly I do agree overall, there's no big, useful energy sink that comes to me off hand. Even aqua tuners are reasonably efficient because you can recapture energy from the heat. 

[NeoDeusMachina]

I am with you on that one. I have 700 tons of lumber accumulated from wild arbor trees in my pip ranches and i was debating if I should make an ethanol generator, but I don't need the power so it would sit idle most of the time anyway. Currently running solar and geothermal on my main asteroid, solar, nuclear and coal as backup on my water planet mining outpost.

I think for me to need more power it would mean I would need to come up with projects just for fun, not because my colony needs it. And that's usually what end game is anyway.

[SeniorPuft]

Yea tonnes of coal, and lumber. I am currently running my petrol gens purely on ethanol from wild arbor trees. I should get rid of my solar panels tbh. I am ranching pufts for slime to feed my colonies and need the pDirt from the ethanol distilleries.

I guess I haven't looked at the interstellar launcher, that might require a lot of power. and I can start throwing down tubes everywhere those demand a decent chunk of power too. Optimizing dupe travel and labor time might be a good next step.

[Sasza22]

Generally i`m in the same boat, using minimal power. But at one point i want continous refined metal/steel production as well as glass production, then some plastic prodution and cooling for all of those. It eventually adds up but it usually isn`t something 2 tuned up petrol generators can`t handle.

[SeniorPuft]

1 minute ago, Sasza22 said:

Generally i`m in the same boat, using minimal power. But at one point i want continous refined metal/steel production as well as glass production, then some plastic prodution and cooling for all of those. It eventually adds up but it usually isn`t something 2 tuned up petrol generators can`t handle.

Yea, and I find that metal refining is mostly power positive...as long as I am using Iron or Steel. Honestly haven't had a need for any AT cooling yet. The cool salt slush and cool slush geysers have been keeping things cool.

[NeoDeusMachina]

3 minutes ago, SeniorPuft said:

Yea tonnes of coal, and lumber. I am currently running my petrol gens purely on ethanol from wild arbor trees. I should get rid of my solar panels tbh. I am ranching pufts for slime to feed my colonies and need the pDirt from the ethanol distilleries.

I guess I haven't looked at the interstellar launcher, that might require a lot of power. and I can start throwing down tubes everywhere those demand a decent chunk of power too. Optimizing dupe travel and labor time might be a good next step.

I also wanted to start doing that, but at some points your dupes have so much athletics that they travel faster on plastic ladders, poles, and plastic/metal tiles than they do in tubes anyway... So I just gave up on that! I would only do it for the giggles at that point.

[SeniorPuft]

You know what I typically don't do, is recreation rooms. Could set up something with that. I don't generally bother because I have more than enough morale between room bonuses, decor, and food but may be a good use for power.

[NeoDeusMachina]

4 minutes ago, SeniorPuft said:

You know what I typically don't do, is recreation rooms. Could set up something with that. I don't generally bother because I have more than enough morale between room bonuses, decor, and food but may be a good use for power.

I think that's kind of what I meant earlier. Typically, you can fulfill your colony's needs with a fairly low amount of power. Then, it is kind of up to you to add things because you can, make big side projects because you can, but not because you need it. That's usually the point where I like to start a new game and try different things and use what I have learnt to improve my gameplay. Some people thrive in that stage and come up with crazy ideas of things to do that they don't need, but they still want to do regardless.

I never made a sour gas boiler, I would like to try, but then I really don't need any of what it produces (power, water, etc.). So if I do it, I would literally just to it to say I did it. It would be there and would not be used probably XD But if you want, you could try making one of those! I guess that would not solve your issue of how to spend your power, since you would end up generating even more power haha.

[SeniorPuft]

8 minutes ago, NeoDeusMachina said:

I never made a sour gas boiler, I would like to try, but then I really don't need any of what it produces (power, water, etc.). So if I do it, I would literally just to it to say I did it. It would be there and would not be used probably XD But if you want, you could try making one of those! I guess that would not solve your issue of how to spend your power, since you would end up generating even more power haha.

Hah, right? Seems like some of the more complex projects all end up generating insane amounts of power. Klei just needs to add a death laser or space invaders defense mechanic that requires a lot of power. Though I feel combat goes against a lot of what ONI is about.

[degr]

Pretty difficult to tell what I did exactly, but from time to time diagnostics window show my colony use 67KW in spikes, totally produce-generate around 23kj of energy. I have 2 electricity networks, both of them powered by own sour gas boiler.

 

 

[SeniorPuft]

4 minutes ago, degr said:

Pretty difficult to tell what I did exactly, but from time to time diagnostics window show my colony use 67KW in spikes, totally produce-generate around 23kj of energy. I have 2 electricity networks, both of them powered by own sour gas boiler.

 

 

 

Wow! Impressive! What are you using all that energy on

 

[oosyrag]

Besides refining materials like metal, glass, oxygen, plastic, lox, lh, and the related cooling, the other thing that used to eat up power was bunker doors and regolith cleanup that is no longer applicable. Now I guess radbolt generation could potentially  use a lot of power.

But then again if you build for minimal power use you really can run a colony on very little power.

If your colony is that efficient that you have nothing to do build sunlamps and chairs so your dupes can bake all day (or the other recreation buildings). Now that gives me the idea to make a resort asteroid to fill with useless dupes who have nothing but downtime... See how many I can support...

[SeniorPuft]

1 minute ago, oosyrag said:

Besides refining materials like metal, glass, oxygen, plastic, lox, lh, and the related cooling, the other thing that used to eat up power was bunker doors and regolith cleanup that is no longer applicable. Now I guess radbolt generation could potentially  use a lot of power.

But then again if you build for minimal power use you really can run a colony on very little power.

If your colony is that efficient that you have nothing to do build sunlamps and chairs so your dupes can bake all day (or the other recreation buildings). Now that gives me the idea to make a resort asteroid to fill with useless dupes who have nothing but downtime... See how many I can support...

Not a bad idea! Themed asteroids sounds like fun. I know it's sort of a limitation with the engine, but it'd be great if they added player built space stations. Maybe just a "space station" asteroid so you can setup a refueling point for rockets or create a resort.