[Concept] Energy Power Generators

[Kitefr]

I. Introduction

Hello.

Thank you for reading this concept post, i know it is a long read...
This one is for now pretty simple.

I know what you probably think : Another concept on energies again ?!

Mine may look similar of the others but i will try to explain how i see it.

I don't plan of modding this concept. At least, not now and so for several reasons.

1. I have too many projects i am working on right now so i will not be able to work on this one yet.
2. The modding API is not yet finished and some part may not be able to be coded as intended.
3. I don't know LUA programming. Yes, i can learn and that can be fun to do but , like as said in 1, i don't have time for it at the moment. I an a 3d animator and still learning python programming so i prefer not to do too many things at once.

So I was thinking of making this concept as an open source project.

Otherwise, this concept may remained as what it actually is : A concept.

II. Why this Concept ?

This concept was born after i realized the lack of producing, transporting and storing energies.
I want the energies to be easy to use, fun and to add challenges. But NOT to give the user a god mode sensation. For that, i though about pros and cons for each energies.

I am, for now, focusing on Energy Production.
Storage and Transportation are interesting too and will possibly be done in a near future.

For the concept to be fun, i'm doing a lot of research on every energies I can find. And after that, i'm trying to think of how implement it into the game. I don't intend to do it in a realistic way but semi realistic.

If you want to use an end-game energy machine, it will give you a lot of energy power but it comes with downsides too...

III. Energies

There will be 2 groups.

1. Simple energies : Solar and Wind.
2. Modular energies : Nuclear, Fusion, Dark Matter and Black Hole.


Simple energies

As for the simple energies, build them, place them. It's done.


1. Solar

- The vanilla one will be enhance for it to be able to use modules.
- One of the module can make it work during the night for 2% at 8% maximum (upgradable by technology)


2. Wind

There will be 4 different wind turbines. Why 4 ?
Because i want players to use them quickly for emergency needs at different phases of the game.

MK1 : Horizontal wind turbine.

Pros:

- Simple.
- Cheap.
- Can be crafted at a very early stage of the game.
- Good Productivity.

Cons :

- Takes a lot of space on the ground.
- Needs a lot of wind to produce electricity.
- Makes a lot of noises.
- Unidirectional wind only so environnement dependent.
- Takes more repair kits. _(the turbine generator is up on the structure so less accessible)_

As you can see, the MK1 is actually an horizontal wind turbine. It is the most commun one you will find in reality but actually one of the less effective.
The structure is huge and this turbine makes a lot of noise. The first wind turbine is cheap and can so be added from almost, the very beginning of the game but it comes with a lot a cons so, you will probably not used them for long !

MK2 : Darrieus Turbine
Pros :

- Can work with an omnidirectional wind.
- Turbine generator on the base of the structure. _(Needs less repair kits)_
- Medium productivity.
- Takes less space on the ground.

Cons :

- Still noisy but less than MK1
- Medium productivity
- Need a medium wind.
- Takes much time to start generating electricity.
- Can be very fragile in huge wind condition.

The Darrieus wind turbine is, started the MK2, a vertical turbine. It takes less space and make less noise than an horizontal turbine.
But the structure of this turbine makes it more fragile against huge wind conditions.
This turbine takes time to generate power which can be problematic.

MK3 : Savonius Turbine
Pros :

- Omnidirectional wind.
- Generator on the base of the structure. (Needs less repair kits)
- Good productivity.
- Small noises.
- Needs small wind to work.
- Takes less space on ground.

Cons :

- The noise is still there.
- And the productivity is still variable.

MK4 : "Voilure Tournante" or Rotary Wing
Pros :

- Omnidirectional wind.
- Generator on the base of the structure. (Needs less repair kits)
- Great productivity.
- No noises or just a very ambiant small noise.
- Can work with a very small wind.
- Takes less space on ground.

Cons :

- None.


Modular energies

Like the title says, those ones can't be crafted in one block. You have to make several parts and connect them.

Those parts are still to be decided.

Starting from here, you can get a lot amount of energies but nothing is free...
The greater the generator is, the more downsides you can get !


1. Nuclear

This one is pretty dangerous because of the vulnerability. If the electrical power shutdown for too long, the reactor will start to be instable and can finally explode, damaging all things around and making the area radioactive.

It can be avoided if the electricity can be restored rapidly.
If radioactive, everything inside will be harmed as long as they stay in the area. (Maybe a machine to reverse the process ?)
Flying robots, after a specific technologies, may move in the area unharmed !
When working, the reactor will output radioactive garbage than will harm the player if he keeps those garbage with him. (maybe a machine to recycle them ?)

Pros :

- Lot of energy.
- Very strong structure

Cons :

- Pollution.
- Output radioactif garbage as collateral. Those one will harm the player as long as he keep them with him. Moving them with logistic robots is highly recommended.
- Can explode : if it will, it will be big !

Some of the aspect cannot be added for now due to the modding API limitation. But I hope this will change in the future.


2. Fusion / Cold Fusion

(This one may not be added)

To create this one, you will need to make a circular shape with modules on the ground. The more big the diameter will be, the more power you will get !
... And the more dangerous it will become...

I explain.

For the Fusion reactor to work, you will need constant amount of lubricant for the process to stay smooth. With a bigger diameter, you will need more lubricant and it will be more dangerous to protect it from the bitters.
To make it a Cold Fusion reactor, you will, obviously, need water ! A constant amount of water.
You will also need electricity to maintain the system. Otherwise, it will shutdown itself for protection.

Pros :

- Lots of energy.
- Strong structure.
- Do not explode.

Cons :

- Can takes a lot of space
- Need 4 pieces, at least, to assemble.
- Take time and a huge amount of electricity to start the process.
- Need a constant amount of energy to maintain the flux.
- Need a constant amount of lubricant for the machine to work at its best.


3. Dark Matter

This one is... special. You will have to make 5 parts as a cross on the ground.
North, South, East, West and one in the middle.

The part in the middle is a special part just for this reactor.

It will send something in space (no visibility needed) to collect Dark Matter and send it back to the ground to be processed and to be used in the next reactor : Black Hole.

But the disadvantage of this one is that random events can occur in space like:

- Meteor collision
- Explosion
- Mechanical problem
- Alien takeover ?
- And so on...

Of course, they will be some countermeasure to reduce, even annihilate the risk to encounter some of those events.

All this leads us to the last one...


4. Black Hole

This will be the best energy generator. Takes almost no electricity to maintain, no pollution, no big explosion.

You will need Dark Mater and a specific way to install a few parts but otherwise it is up to you ! (_Dark Matter will be constantly needed as small amount so do not worry._)

But all this comes with a downside.... And a huge one ! But you might be lucky...

When active, the black hole connects to another dimension. So things from that dimension can pass through and there is no way to control which dimension will be connected... And they are all king of dimensions !

- It can be empty...
- It can be a pacific one.
- Or it can be filled up with monsters which will make bitters as sweet as bunnies !

So be careful... Who knows where those black holes will connect you to...

- If creatures pass through, the number and power of those creatures will probably increase as the time pass by.
- The player **CANNOT** pass through to the other dimension.
- This generator is based on rough ideas. Please do not get all of this for granted. Thank you.

IV. Implementation into the game

I'd like to think at this concept as it is a part os the game from the beginning. I don't want it to give player a lots of energies than he can forget this aspect of the game afterward. I want to player to always think : Will i resist long enough ? Will it be attacked ?

You are on a foreign land with no understanding of what may be happening in the future after all !

VI. About the future

This is the tricky part.

I already said what i'll hope for this concept.
I have some ideas for the future but now, i'm focusing on concept image, drawing, 3D models, animation and so on.

Without help, i will probably don't have time to make this concept real.

VII. Conclusion

Thanks to everyone who read this concept to the end.
That was a huge read.

My concept is for now pretty basic but i think i've got some nice ideas to make it really enjoyable !

I'll try to update it as soon as i can.

If you got ideas, if you want to help me, or just to support me building this mod, you can PM me on the forum or write a reply in this topic.

Thank you,
Kitefr

[YuokiTani]

Sounds good, but i think you need more than a concept to kickstart this as mod.
In my opinion you need some basic graphics and some working things(generators?) that people can try, play and build a relationship to your mod.

[ludsoe]

Nuclear Reactors dont make pollution.

Nuclear Energy
Nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, or nitrogen oxides. However, fossil fuel emissions are associated with the uranium mining and uranium enrichment process as well as the transport of the uranium fuel to the nuclear plant.

Source: http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-a ... sions.html

You can still simulate that by making uranium take forever to mine. As for the wind turbines, I've already made some myself. Its really hacky as there's no way to make your own devices that do stuff. Also your solar power ideas arnt exactly possible, atlease I don't think so. Ill have to look at the solar power entity in detail later.

Back to wind power, some of those ideas don't exactly strike me as easy to implement into the game. At-lease without a lot of extra work, such as generating your own weather. Also im not clear on what you mean by noise? Can you explain that more.

[Kitefr]

@YuokiTani : I don't have enough time now to do must. I still intend to make all those things as 3d models but for now i can't.
@ludsoe : Yes i was mainly speaking as uranium output due to the reactor fusion.

As you can see, i've got lots of ideas but i need for that lots of time and that are many parts that cannot be done a of right now.
It was just a concept as what energies can becomes in the future.

I said that the Modding API wasn't strong enough to do all that so, for now, i'll wait for the game to mature more.

By the way, by "noise", I was talking about sounds you hear when you are near something in the game.

[ludsoe]

As you can see, i've got lots of ideas but i need for that lots of time and that are many parts that cannot be done a of right now.
It was just a concept as what energies can becomes in the future.

I said that the Modding API wasn't strong enough to do all that so, for now, i'll wait for the game to mature more.

By the way, by "noise", I was talking about sounds you hear when you are near something in the game.

Its not the fact that the modding API cant do it, its just really difficult to do these ideas. In-fact I made weather, and as i said before Wind turbines which synergy really well with the weather-mod. (Or work fine without it)




But I can respect that you will wait until its easier to do some more complex stuff. Course i wasn't that patient. ;P
In-fact while making this post I started thinking about ways to do the nuclear generator in the current API.('Including the radiation field") But I wont continue on.

[Kitefr]

Thanks for those reviews.

I will post an update later this summer with 3d models and drawings for the concept.