Battery system sucks, esp with welders

[Jimbo_Jamerson]

It is such an up hill battle to set yourself up a fully functioning car garage and build/maintain awesome vehicles when the only way (at least that i know of) is to charge your welder with batteries. Myself i’ve never seen anyone powering a welder with batteries (yes i know this is the future) but here in reality you just hook it up to a generator and feed it petrol. Out here in rural WA (Western Australia) generators are as common as flies (and all farms have a large cache of petrol/diesel as well), if cataclysm happened here i know i’d be grabbing one for sure.

Also most generators are REALLY NOISY, which means zombie attraction, which means !FUN! (you can buy quiet ones but it’s not like cockies [farmers] give a damn about noise when they’ve got 100 Hectares)

I’ve been dicking around in the source but i’ll be buggered if i can work out how to give an item the ability to power an item (and only when it is in a certain radius of the generator) then remove the charge when the generator is off.

There would be no need for power cables because i think we can use the fact it’s the future and say that we can make tesla coils without cooking everyone with microwaves, but a corded system would be more flexible (allowing the generator to power items some distance away (Electric fences!! Fridges, lights, security perimeters, cookers, traps… oh what fun could be had)

[Stevensonz]

Electric fences… mmmmm (tries to climb normal looking military outpost fence and gets electrocuted)

[Bladerock]

I think it’s been said that they don’t want to provide power sources that you can take a charge from. It’s why you can’t recharge your flashlights at your solar powered car.

[Jimbo_Jamerson]

I think it’s been said that they don’t want to provide power sources that you can take a charge from. It’s why you can’t recharge your flashlights at your solar powered car.

Thats why i said removes the charge when the generator is off, you cannot recharg an item with it, only power it WHILE the generator consumes fuel.

So that way batteries do not become obsolete but rather a (much more) mobile power source

[halberdsturgeon]

Batteries are easy to find in massive quantities. That aside, why not just make them powered by gasoline? If you’re dead set on a generator system though, look up the code for the UPS, it functions more or less as a portable generator. Shouldn’t be impossible to make vehicle crafting require a welder and x charges from a gasoline-powered UPS clone.

[Jimbo_Jamerson]

Batteries are easy to find in massive quantities. That aside, why not just make them powered by gasoline? If you’re dead set on a generator system though, look up the code for the UPS, it functions more or less as a portable generator. Shouldn’t be impossible to make vehicle crafting require a welder and x charges from a gasoline-powered UPS clone.

You can never have enough batteries. I have to keep on the move cause i use every battery in every object, then i use every single tin can and aluminium can i can possibly find to make more batteries, then i need to move town cause supplies (for making more batteries) are low throughout the whole town (run out of cans).

How you ask? Massive death machines that flatten houses. They soak up so much damage when a roof falls in that massive repairs are mandatory, and you need a powered welder to do things like change a tyre or windscreen (probably a bug) and i havent even begun to experiment with the high level electronics crafting, power armor or bionics, all of which will be wanting to use my precious battery supply, but i have no batteries cause i am addicted to welding and making all kinds of vehicles for different types of missions.

Cheers for some direction with the UPS i’ll check it out

[Bladerock]

It’s hardly the game’s fault that you are a resource hog and irresponsibly driving your vehicles through buildings.

[Jimbo_Jamerson]

It’s hardly the game’s fault that you are a resource hog and irresponsibly driving your vehicles through buildings.

Nothing is anybodys fault, but it’s fun driving like a nut and in real life that is the way you power a welder among other things, a generator is part of most people survival gear out hear, they are used on a day to day basis for everything and they would be extremely useful and fun.

I’m not having a go at anybody but i reckon it’s an area for improvement, yes i know there are many areas that need improvement but that is why i am posting about it in this section of the forum AND i’m attempting to make progress on it myself so it’s not like i am just demanding things, im asking for help.

I’ll bet there are a lot of other people who play the game, love modding out vehicles and if your gonna drive at 200kph you can expect to need to fix your car a lot, i’m just trying to help others achieve that dream

[kenoxite]

About batteries, a good resource are labs. Depending on how thoroughly you scavenge and some luck you might end up with somewhere between one and two thousand. Turrets have a chance of dropping batteries when exploding (up to 3 or 4 stacks), there’s always some hotplates and flashlights around that you can unload (and disassemble for scrap metal, etc), and battery packs in shelves, crates, desks… Not to mention lots of ammonia to make your own.

With a gun it’s a cakewalk. Particularly a 9mm SMG in burst mode. As someone mentioned in another thread, destroyed turrets will give you more 9mm ammo than you’ll ever need, and burst mode will balance the lack of power of 9mm rounds.

[Stevensonz]

well a gas powered generator would still be a good idea for convenience. but it has to eat gasoline more than batteries as well

[Jimbo_Jamerson]

well a gas powered generator would still be a good idea for convenience. but it has to eat gasoline more than batteries as well

Agreed, it should be quite costly to run, but it would be worth it with all the benefits

[i2amroy]

Generators have been suggested in a few different forms on the git already [issues #1329 and #1189], and eventually something will probably go in (though it might be a while, we’re currently focusing on other things).

As for batteries, you can currently make them out of acid (harvested from acid rain with a funnel) + scrap metal + empty can/canister in the dev version.

[Stevensonz]

I want to be able to build a refrigerator furniture that can run on said generator :l just to keep a stock of spoil-able materials

[i2amroy]

I want to be able to build a refrigerator furniture that can run on said generator :l just to keep a stock of spoil-able materials

Agreed.

IIRC it will take a bit of a rewrite of some code, but I agree that we should eventually be able to set up working refrigerators and other electric appliances.

[JimQuaid]

Just thought of this myself, haven’t tried it out yet. If you’re not above modding your game for your own convenience you could do something like this:

• add a new tool “generator”; make it heavy and bulky, no ammo
• add a new crafting recipe for it: lawnmower motor + electric motor + steel frame + 2 rubber hoses (as cable between the motors) + welding costs, etc.
• add a new crafting recipe: uses tool “generator” and some gasoline for 20 minutes or so to get a (100) battery

It’s a roundabout way for now but the general idea of converting gasoline to electricity is there.

[Stevensonz]

[quote=“JimQuaid, post:15, topic:1797”]Just thought of this myself, haven’t tried it out yet. If you’re not above modding your game for your own convenience you could do something like this:

• add a new tool “generator”; make it heavy and bulky, no ammo
• add a new crafting recipe for it: lawnmower motor + electric motor + steel frame + 2 rubber hoses (as cable between the motors) + welding costs, etc.
• add a new crafting recipe: uses tool “generator” and some gasoline for 20 minutes or so to get a (100) battery

It’s a roundabout way for now but the general idea of converting gasoline to electricity is there.[/quote]

adding those is easy, but the hard part is balancing for skill on building/crafting a generator and then battery to gas convertion rate and finally hard coding of the functions applicable to them.

[Bladerock]

Why would you use rubber hoses as cables when you have copper wiring?

[Stevensonz]

Why would you use rubber hoses as cables when you have copper wiring?

copper wiring won’t be able to transfer the gasoline as it’s a piece of copper wire covered in plastic found in electronics and power cords for appliances. Hence the rubber hoses as connectors. but then would still need wiring for finishing the product.

[Bladerock]

Lawnmowers usually have their tanks directly attached to the motor, you wouldn’t need an external way to transfer gasoline. (And i think the lawnmower in the game is electric and not gas powered. Been a while since i touched one.)

[JimQuaid]

^ ^^ ^^^
I was thinking of using the rubber hoses like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_%28mechanical%29 with english not being my native language I sometimes can’t think of the appropiate term. But yeah, you use them as belts between the motors. Lawnmower motor is a 1 zylinder gasoline powered engine. And of course the electric motor wouldn’t be used “as is” but would need a little modification to it but that would be included in the crafting time/costs

My suggestion was just a quick and dirty fix “for now” using only the json mod friendly files. The “real” version (generator that acts like a trap that can be set up in the world and provides energy continously) would have to be coded in C++ or at least the actions related to it would be. But since I haven’t touched c++ since my introductory course 9 years ago I’ll limit my suggestions to the easy stuff I can understand