Uses for extra energy generation

[evilkyle24]

Right now, engineers can flood dozens of megawatts into the grid. However, the station is remarkably energy efficient. It only needs about half of a megawatt to function. The supermatter, running on its lowest bitch-baby factory default setting is enough to power the whole station indefinitely.

I suggest we add uses for the extra power that can benefit the station. If possible, the devices listed should not consume power that could be used to charge APC's. I know the Goonstation Power Transfer Laser will actively dial its consumption down so that it only drains excess power.

Atmosia: Gas miners refill the atmospherics gas reservoirs at a rate based on the power flow.

Cargo: A mining laser that pumps materials into the station's ore silo. Can't mine more than one type of material at a time, and rarer materials take longer to dig up. Upgrades increase the rarity of materials it can gather and allow it to gather more than one at a time. Requires a lot of power to produce anything meaningful. The reason for this is that miners really don't like mining, they want to explore lavaland and kill shit/find artifacts. Mining is boring as hell, and if the miners aren't doing their jobs or not finding certain resources a lot of science content gets locked out. Cargonia can also use this to get money by selling shit.

Science: Bluespace Research Network. Pumping more power into the system gets you a stronger communication link with remote rnd servers, allowing for coordination with the other stations. In other words, it boosts the speed you get research points.

Traitor Engineers: Add or re-add those gloves that let them electrocute people if they're standing on a wire. Do they still have those?

The control console for each of the devices is located in the department head's office.

[Super Aggro Crag]

i got one for you

security: plug the disablers directly into the power grid turning them into tesla cannons

[deedubya]

https://tgstation13.org/wiki/Radiation_ ... _Collector

Already exists. Just don't be lazy and set it up properly.

[Screemonster]

https://tgstation13.org/wiki/Radiation_ ... _Collector

Already exists. Just don't be lazy and set it up properly.

that is literally the opposite of what this thread is about

[oranges]

I suggest we start by just turning the energy output of the SM down

[gallowsCalibrator]

Turning down the default energy might be a good place to start. Do you think the basic setup should give enough to power the station, or should it require solars / extra measures too? If not, maybe adding other ways to tinker with the SM might be a good idea too.

As far as the actual main idea, this is something I suggested on the discord a while ago, but reposting here too- for some of the functions (mining / power transmission for $ especially), maybe we could just have one big macrolaser that has multiple functions? And stuff from science could upgrade it or add more features. :>

[deedubya]

https://tgstation13.org/wiki/Radiation_ ... _Collector

Already exists. Just don't be lazy and set it up properly.

that is literally the opposite of what this thread is about

Science: Bluespace Research Network. Pumping more power into the system gets you a stronger communication link with remote rnd servers, allowing for coordination with the other stations. In other words, it boosts the speed you get research points.

>set 4 or 5 rad collectors with trit/oxy tanks to generate research instead of power
>remaining 1 or 2 rad collectors is still plenty to feed power to the station with a competent SM setup

[Garth Radar]

TEG is safe, simple, takes up very little space, and provides enough power for several space stations. If Supermatter (huge, dangerous, relatively weak output) is nerfed, then wouldn't the TEG will need a much larger nerf?

[BeeSting12]

I suggest we start by just turning the energy output of the SM down

Yeah but for everything or else they'll just buy teslas from cargo.

[gallowsCalibrator]

Maybe rather than a straight nerf, it could just be made more complex? Though, I also don't want it to go too complex either. Setting up the engine needs to be fun as a priority, I think, and that's probably something we could do better to start with.

[Swagile]

Tying the excess power into other departments is a great way to incentivize people making more power.

For example, cargo can order Industrial Energy Cells, which work like the power sink, except they take x amount of energy out of the cables then stops taking energy. It can then be sold based on how full it is; can be used as a ghetto powersink by smart traitors as well, opening up another avenue for stealth antags.

Maybe a power director item that allows engineers to direct power to certain areas for more things to happen. You can already max power to get better research, why not redirect the main power grid to, say, chemistry so they never run out in their machines due to the extra power?

Heck, maxing power and redirecting it to certain departments could work like ghetto upgraded parts. For example, x amount of power to a department might make all of the machines in that department work like they all have T2 parts, so if your really good at making epic engines you could overpower certain departments like medical to have all their machines work like they have T4 parts before science even has it researched, which would make partial sense; more power, means the ineffecient parts can do more, considering T2, T3, and T4 parts just do more with less.

Just a few ideas I got.

[gallowsCalibrator]

Those ideas are pretty good, Swagile, I like 'em. Especially the stuff about power redirection and being used to improve certain equipment- I've been thinking about the process of upgrades / R&D recently, and I think the system could be a bit more elegant? While that's really its own topic, I'd love to see this stuff tie into it.