Advanced Tips for the Accomplished Survivor

[DeWolf]

I do wonder how many panels and batteries you need to consistently ensure you’ll always have power to spare, though.

Batteries you’ll want at least around five to be fully charged(the big ones). As for panels I don’t know and power always depends on how much you plan to use for crafting and what not.

[Jericoshost]

I have not turned my engine on in about 30 days. The solar panels combined with all the batteries basically have left me self sustaining. and my battery is consistently between 97-99% depending on weather and my gas is at 92%.
And I use the forge and kitchen ALOT. Using the hotplate to warm stuff up, leaving the fridges and lights on and using the forge doesn’t even dent my power levels! (THEY ARE OVER NINE-ty percent.)

[DeWolf]

[quote=“Jericoshost, post:62, topic:9357”]I have not turned my engine on in about 30 days. The solar panels combined with all the batteries basically have left me self sustaining. and my battery is consistently between 97-99% depending on weather and my gas is at 92%.
And I use the forge and kitchen ALOT. Using the hotplate to warm stuff up, leaving the fridges and lights on and using the forge doesn’t even dent my power levels! (THEY ARE OVER NINE-ty percent.)[/quote]
No jokes please.

[Random_dragon]

Clearly we need some !!SCIENCE!! on the ideal minimum of panels for a average weather and usage. owo

[deoxy]

Ah well the picture didn’t attach, but seriously I have been using that to store up for winter (Winter is coming, after all.) and I can’t imagine how many batteries I would have gone through (I have like 350 dehydrated goods) without the geny.

With nearby triffids, wood is literally infinite (queens make more for you), make a few charcoal kilns, cut up some wood into skewers, and you can easily make a ridiculous amount of smoked meat instead of dehydrated (more nutrition per meat), no batteries required. I’ve made several hundred smoked meat this way in short order, even without nearby triffids (anthill makes the meat collection much easier, though - both is just silly easy).

I hear they created some kind of construct smoker in the experimental build that could make this even easier - smoking rack, or something?

Also, if you drop the meat on the ground after you make it, then go down the stairs and come back up and pick it up, sometimes the “hot” modifier gets stuck on permanently, which is a nice little bonus, if you don’t mind silly exploits.

[Jericoshost]

[quote=“DeWolf, post:63, topic:9357”][quote=“Jericoshost, post:62, topic:9357”]I have not turned my engine on in about 30 days. The solar panels combined with all the batteries basically have left me self sustaining. and my battery is consistently between 97-99% depending on weather and my gas is at 92%.
And I use the forge and kitchen ALOT. Using the hotplate to warm stuff up, leaving the fridges and lights on and using the forge doesn’t even dent my power levels! (THEY ARE OVER NINE-ty percent.)[/quote]
No jokes please.[/quote]

If you mean the over nine part sorry.
But the rest is true, my generator doesn’t seem to drop in power at all (Unless its rainy/cloudy then it may drop 2-4%).
So I would say 13 solar panels and 1 upgraded one should handle all a survivors needs.

[DeWolf]

[quote=“Jericoshost, post:66, topic:9357”][quote=“DeWolf, post:63, topic:9357”][quote=“Jericoshost, post:62, topic:9357”]I have not turned my engine on in about 30 days. The solar panels combined with all the batteries basically have left me self sustaining. and my battery is consistently between 97-99% depending on weather and my gas is at 92%.
And I use the forge and kitchen ALOT. Using the hotplate to warm stuff up, leaving the fridges and lights on and using the forge doesn’t even dent my power levels! (THEY ARE OVER NINE-ty percent.)[/quote]
No jokes please.[/quote]

If you mean the over nine part sorry.
But the rest is true, my generator doesn’t seem to drop in power at all (Unless its rainy/cloudy then it may drop 2-4%).
So I would say 13 solar panels and 1 upgraded one should handle all a survivors needs.[/quote]
I wasn’t saying that to you I was saying it to everyone else.

[DeWolf]

Now for an actual tip. For tools that use battery power I find it to be more efficient if you have the ups cbm to mod all your battery stuff with ups power. I found that the power usage rate is slower than with batteries if you are running your stuff off of you internal power supplies. But if you don’t want to do that and have rechargers available use those.

[Random_dragon]

Plus it’s less hassle to use your own bio power than to dump items into a recharging station overnight.

[DeWolf]

Plus it’s less hassle to use your own bio power than to dump items into a recharging station overnight.

The point is to save normal batteries for crafting things more useful. Like remote explosives.

[Random_dragon]

And waste all those batteries you’d be hoarding after converting to bio-UPS power? Madness. owo

[Jericoshost]

[quote=“Jericoshost, post:55, topic:9357”]Here is a tip I use whenever I set up a static base:
Set up a generator and hook up all your crafting stations to it!

It will save you SO much time cutting down trees and crafting charcoal by attaching a FOODCO, RV kitchen, Onboard Chemistry and Forge, a welding rig and a recharging station (Saves making batteries to boot).

Then attach an engine (Or two) and a heap of batteries (Truck, storage, car, whatever you have.) a few gas tanks, and a bunch of solar panels.

I have survived about 40 days (49 counting pre-generator) and it has only once been below 50% (And that was before I installed the panels.)
I attached a picture of mine, built it in a public works compound. (If it attached anyways)

Now some tips for the generator:
a:Attach a roof over the gas tanks! I once had a great base, tried to do some remodeling and basically nuked myself. Instant KO from falling debris exploding the gas tank.

b: Seal the engine component with a muffler away from your breathing space. For me I built some wooden walls, and plugged the hole with an opaque ‘Board’ attachment in a spare room. No exhaust fumes to worry about!

c:Protect the generator. Make sure to block windows and doors leading to it (I use wooden walls.)
You don’t want a hulk or zombear to destroy your generator, especially the gas tanks (See a: )

d:Wires. You can use wires to connect most (If not all) needed components, AND you can build through doors/windows. This allows you to have a protected engine/fuel tanks and still have solar power! Plus Wires are cheaper than frames.

e: Lights!Just use floodlights to give you all the light you could ever need, to read, craft, see zombies, etc.

f:Cameras! I haven’t tried it yet, but you could probably make a perimeter defense using these and some turrets.

g: Attach tons of batteries, and cover every engine with alternators!
Each engine should have 1 of every alternator (Motorbike, car, truck)to generate as much power as possible, and you should have as many batteries as you can spare to hold it all!

My generator has (As an example):
Battery: Truck, Car, Swappable Storagex2, Sml Storage, Medium Storage, Storage.
Gasoline Engine with 3 Full size tanks
13x solar panel, 1x upgraded solar panel
2x mini-fridge, RV kitchen, FOODCO, Welding Rig, Elec Forge, ChemLab, Recharge Station,2x Cargo space, a Water Tank and 2x floodlights.[/quote]

Ok I figured out pictures! The above is the generator and below is how it fits in the base:

[DeWolf]

One idea I have is to make foldable stationary turrets for the 50 cal and nx-17 weapons. For putting around your base.

[Random_dragon]

Yus. Or the ability to make a tripod, and in turn combine it with the relevant MG to make it readily deployable.

[DeWolf]

Yus. Or the ability to make a tripod, and in turn combine it with the relevant MG to make it readily deployable.

Main issue with the nx-17 turret is that it is a bit unpredictable. (t- 4 minutes till AP test)

[Random_dragon]

At the very least, the M2 Browning needs its tripod. The gun’s weight appears to be based off the weight of the gun sans tripod.

[DeWolf]

At the very least, the M2 Browning needs its tripod. The gun’s weight appears to be based off the weight of the gun sans tripod.

Still unfortunate that power armor is not very applicable. One use I wish it had was to allow you to fire mountable weapons freely (i.e. you don’t need uneven terrain to shoot a M2) and to allow you to put clothes over the armor (like backpacks and whatnot)

[Random_dragon]

Clothes over power armor would look ridiculous though. o3o

[deoxy]

[quote=“Random_dragon, post:76, topic:9357”]At the very least, the M2 Browning needs its tripod. The gun’s weight appears to be based off the weight of the gun sans tripod.

Still unfortunate that power armor is not very applicable. One use I wish it had was to allow you to fire mountable weapons freely (i.e. you don’t need uneven terrain to shoot a M2) and to allow you to put clothes over the armor (like backpacks and whatnot)[/quote]

Clothes over power armor is pretty much ridiculous - power armor would inherently be much bulkier than Iron Man’s magic tinfoil skin. “Strapped” layer items should be doable, though.

[Random_dragon]

Backpacks, maybe. But that should run the risk of damaging the backpack or what-have-you while dodging or moving or dong other such things. owo