How do I get into firmly-sealed gas tanks at gas stations?

[Eric]

I tried electrohacks but nothing ever happens. Am I just unlucky?

[pisskop]

Shoot them.

afaik you dont. its the gas from the ground. Or rather an external representation of it. That Zombies can destroy

[hobophobic]

I’ve always assumed these are the main storage tanks. “Getting in” to one of these means putting a hole in it, which means all the gas leaking on to the ground, unrecoverable. Or you can just collect cash cards and get the gas out that way.

[iceball3]

[quote=“hobophobic, post:3, topic:11421”]I’ve always assumed these are the main storage tanks. “Getting in” to one of these means putting a hole in it, which means all the gas leaking on to the ground, unrecoverable. Or you can just collect cash cards and get the gas out that way.[/quote]Wouldn’t it make sense to be able to put a hole of sorts in the top, for siphoning and whatnot?

[Malkeus]

Oh for the days when cars and giant tanks of fuel leaked filled fuel cans…

Anyway, I’d love to see some sort of construction using the mechanical pump which would allow directly siphoning one of those big tanks. Of course the ‘theres too much fuel’ crew will pitch a fit, but…meh. Expect fuel efficiency to go waaay down soon…

[pisskop]

Well, there IS a lot more fuel than is needed.

But, part of everyone dying is that theres a lot of crap left lying around for free. Im more upset that cars can spawn without engine blocks so regularly than the fuel.

Honestly, did a mobile chop-shop come into town before the game started?

[hobophobic]

Wouldn’t it make sense to be able to put a hole of sorts in the top, for siphoning and whatnot?

Of course, the functionality just needs to be added in by a modder or maybe even officially included by a dev. Til then, cash cards and siphoning off random parked cars works well enough. However, as already mentioned, being able to access massive quantities of fuel so easily would require changes to fuel efficiency for balance reasons.

[noname1208]

If it makes it easier to not touch fuel efficiency, the spawn rate of those types of fuel stations could just go down maybe.

[iceball3]

[quote=“noname1208, post:8, topic:11421”]If it makes it easier to not touch fuel efficiency, the spawn rate of those types of fuel stations could just go down maybe.[/quote]Though, we’re neglecting the possibility that a survivor would unearth the buried gas tanks that go to other gas stations. What with being able to dig between Z levels, and the like.
Though, in that case, the gasoline you get from it is probably worth the effort, given that digging underground is already pretty tough business.

[Litppunk]

Solution: Over time gas stations can slowly degrade in initial amount available. Would take a good bit of modding, but gas stations along the outer edges of town/places not completely surrounded by zombie hordes can be “pre-raided” by various factions, especially raider faction. This would likely involve a ‘proximity to nearest settlement’ calculation during initial spawning/ occur whenever it enters reality bubble, much as food rotting now does (good job guys) Or to keep it simpler, especially during initial, temp nerfing, it could just be a steady % or time based subtraction of max available fuel within tanks. (with a hard limit on how low it can go)

Later, especially if oil wells dericks are added or something the fuel could be made to go bad after so many years without being interacted with, added/subtracted from etc… This would force VERY late game survivors to start creating own fuel/ crudely refining oil to get more fuel.

[eternalflame]

If you are skilled enough, you can hack the terminal to direct all gas to your pump of choice for free.

[Miloch]

I don’t know if it’s really possible… but someone in the book The Stand was able to get gasoline out of a gas station tank. I don’t really remember the details.

[Litppunk]

common apocalypse book methods to get fuel out of underground takes is:
a: hose to bottom of tank attached to pump & generator. Noisy.
b: rag and golf ball or similar stopper attached at far end of hose tied to string or wire that goes through hose. Hose is lowered as far in as it can be, and then string is pulled, squeegeeing the fuel through the hose and into whatever container you have at top. Then repeat.

For something like b to be done, garden hoses, or similar long hoses should probably be implemented.

c: There is probably some way you could set up a one-way valve or something near the top end of the hose, and then bike pump, or similar manually operated pump, without filling the pump up with fuel. Especially if the container was made to be air tight, and the underground tank was left to be open air, allowing the vacuum from pulling air from above ground container to pull fuel from underground tank. Though I am worried the weight/vacuum pressure might not be enough in that situation. Similar to hold up 10 gallons of fuel with your lungs alone.

[deoxy]

Rope + bucket = lifted liquid

This method has been used literally for millennia. There’s no reason it wouldn’t work here.

It would have some waste (opening the top to get the bucket in and out would let vapor escape, and more gasoline would evaporate to replace the escaped vapor), and it would be slow, but it would work just fine.

(For the record, “buckets” can be made of soft materials, such as hide, and still be usable, so the size of the hole is not a real impediment, unless it’s just silly small.)

[Litppunk]

I am pretty sure they are ALOMST silly small. Just big enough for one of those 3-4 inch trucker hoses if I am not mistaken, though they may have a larger maintenance hatch for cleaning them out once every 15 years or so. I like to work off the assumption they don’t, because that is a more fun problem to solve, plus I don’t want to bring up buckets, and then have to pour and repeat. Though it is better than a lot of my ideas so far. But it has brainstormed me to a better idea, maybe.

d: bucket + rope (deoxy)

e: (golf-ball + rag) x3 + long cord + ~ 1/2 as long hose = watermill of fuel.
Just lower into hole & pull on the string at your end. Same as B, but without having to re-thread hose every-time. much more efficient.

[Rot]

I saw a guy use a rubber hose and a bicycle pump to suck up fuel like a syringe and pour it into a container.

[deoxy]

I am pretty sure they are ALOMST silly small. Just big enough for one of those 3-4 inch trucker hoses if I am not mistaken, though they may have a larger maintenance hatch for cleaning them out once every 15 years or so. I like to work off the assumption they don’t, because that is a more fun problem to solve, plus I don’t want to bring up buckets, and then have to pour and repeat.

That’s exactly the hole I was talking about, and no, it’s not “silly small”, or even close. It’s quite large enough to put a soft-material bucket through. With patience, I suspect a one inch hole would be enough, actually, though you’d have to siphon the gas out of the bucket at the top, which would be very time-consuming.

[Litppunk]

hm… bucket siphon. Thats a good fall-back plan. Makes it so you don’t have to rely on such a strong vacuum force to keep fuel coming up since you lessen the distance, and thus the weight of the fuel coming up at any given time.

[Malkeus]

All you really need is the hose and your thumb. Feed the hose into the tank as far as possible, cap the end with your thumb and pull out the hose full of fuel. Cap the other end as it comes out, transfer either end to the container and release. Really awkward and tends to be wasteful, but perfectly serviceable.

Edit: for tanks that are low, this becomes much less effective and you won’t ever be able to empty the tank

[Litppunk]

^ thus the thought experiment on how to ‘elevate’ the fluid