/tg/Station 13

I’ve been seeing people calling the current power system uninteresting and boring, which is fair enough not much detail in yellow wires. But what are the current major issues and annoyances with current power systems?

i remember when the old wires were called too complex

The main thing about power is that either it is present or it isn't.
Either the Supermatter is on, and every department is pretty much fine, or it's not and people are upset because their department stopped working.

The Supermatter is an overcomplicated device which uses atmos mechanics to generate additional power: something you literally never need to do and which people have no interest in learning.
Making the additional power more important would suck because people don't want to learn how to use atmos with the supermatter, however as it is we have this really complex device with a bunch of sandbox interactions which are largely totally pointless.

Generally speaking people learn by rote the sequence of actions to take to turn the engine on, and a little bit of troubleshooting for midround damage, and leave it at that. This is why the one on Birdshot which requires a very slightly different sequence tends to explode.

So there really isn’t a solution?

The sm is complicated but that’s a huge chunk of why engineering is enjoyable for engineers who desire to know the ins and outs of engine mechanics. The whole fun of the supermatter is making over complicated unnecessary designs for pretty much no reason.

If I’m understanding correctly it’s a bit of a catch 22. You could:
Make new complicated power sources but have the majority of the player base not care.
Or
Make a stupidly easy power source but loose a not insignificant amount of players who enjoyed the complexity.

As for the power being a is there or isn’t there issue, I can’t see any way to make that more in-depth to be honest. That’s generally how electricity works, it’s there or it’s not.
Sorry if I got any of this wrong!

I mean there are solutions, there's no EASY solution.
You basically are going to have to choose to sacrifice at least a little bit of something if you want to change any of that.

Jacquerel wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 5:04 pm The Supermatter is an overcomplicated device which uses atmos mechanics to generate additional power: something you literally never need to do and which people have no interest in learning.

That is not a "problem" unique to engineering. You can say the same thing for kitchen, which has hundreds of food options to make, that are all made irrelevant by ordering pizza, or you can look to mining, which needs only to collect materials with a pickaxe and ore box yet is flooded with superfluous content, or even a janitor who overcomplicates his job by using a mop and cart when a soap bar and spray bottle is simpler and more effective. People are willing to engage with these jobs because they are fun for their own sake, there is even a singleplayer job Bitrunning that gets players all the time just because it is fun, even though it contributes nothing to the round that mining didn't already.
The reason people don't engage with the supermatter is not because it is uninteresting, but because it isn't safe to if you don't already know what you are doing or have someone to show you. A minor mistake with the supermatter will probably end the round for everyone early, and it may even get you banned. Realistically its not worth playing around with(yet some people still do anyways).

Jacquerel wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 5:04 pm The main thing about power is that either it is present or it isn't.

Brownouts are a thing you know.

The supermatter is the best piece of non-combat-related content in the entire game, and I will die on this hill.

Imitates-The-Lizards wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2024 7:59 am The supermatter is the best piece of non-combat-related content in the entire game, and I will die on this hill.

the Bar would like a word with you

Jacquerel wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 5:04 pm The Supermatter is an overcomplicated

no it's not you can run it on a space heater and a portable scrubber

the supermatter is poorly documented but all of that """complexity""" actually reduces to

1. have nitrogen
2. keep it under 400K

the rest is cruft. more terms on an equation don't equal complexity if they go to zero in the limit

make power more complicated

I think you just said what I said but with different words

Jacquerel wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 3:58 am I think you just said what I said but with different words

nah

DrOof wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:57 pm I’ve been seeing people calling the current power system uninteresting and boring, which is fair enough not much detail in yellow wires. But what are the current major issues and annoyances with current power systems?

annoyances none really
issues none really either
it's serviceable with relatively little knowledge and skill but has room for people to get way off in the weeds with it producing gigawatts and singulos - there's depth there, but it's mostly its own reward for those who find it fun to play with


if you wanted to improve the overall place of power in the game space, you might
1. give APCs higher cap cells so it's less sudden of a hard gate on other depts.' gameplay
and
2. add things to do with power in excess of demand

i.e. add expensive 'orbital shielding' that when fed blocks certain events or midrounds, gets more expensive the more you run it, and cannot be rebuilt easily

or

add power exports, where engineering can beam away (or is required to send) a certain amt. of power in the round to either get benefits (like say extra MODs, money, or some benefit to the station) or avoid consequences (like meter-checking pirates, or cargo getting delayed due to brownouts on the suppliers' end, or wires occasionally popping due to oversupply - the way skyrat did it was by making APCs arc and shock folks if overcharged, but there was no reward for doing anything else with the power)

just some thoughts, idk

you can have 400MW in the powernet but my baton still powersinks the room