Indoor Plumbing

[TheZoneWizard]

I’ve been looking into DIY off the grid living a while now. One method that could be fudged into the game is a gravity well.

Short version:
Have your living space under whatever tank or water catch you have. The water gets filtered through inline filters. You can actually do this with charcoal(the crap you make) for a shower or something. A better filter for dishes and consumption.

Truly it isn’t all that difficult unless you want to a very instant filtration of potable water.

For storage in tanks. You also add bleach depending on the amount held in the tank.

For water pressure that is a little more tricky if not using gravity. You either use a mechanical pump and manual labor. Another method is using an engine. But the less crap you have to rely on, such with an engine. The better off you are. Manual and/or gravity are best methods.

[Darkfirephoenix]

One thing that just occured to me: You could use a plumbing system to make power and/or even heat your fields in the winter.

It is rather simple: You build a plumbing system like usual, BUT if you have a lava crack nearby you could easily use that heat to run a steam engine, heat your water supply (just by the waste heat alone) AND keep your fields warm via running constant hot water pipes near/under your fields. That would make a lava crack one of the more valuable terrain features. (“free” power, hot water and warm fields all in one)

[Sanehatter]

How’d you built/transport that autodoc there? That looks rad.

[nameless_survivor]

It was already in the bunker when I moved in. Its half the reason I picked this place as a base.

[Sanehatter]

They spawn in Mil. Bunkers too? Neat.

[nameless_survivor]

Yep. I didn’t want to have to transport npcs all the way to a lab or hospital to install cbms. Having one at your base makes doing that very convenient.

[redxlaser15]

What is this ‘autodoc’ that one of you guys mentioned?

[Jcd000]

Well, regarding plumbing, running water should definitely be do-able, from a survivor’s standpoint.
I mean, start with a well, connected to a pump, connected to a large tank on the roof.
Use the pump to send water upwards, then build a pipe system to distribute this water as required.

But:

1. Existing pipe system would need to be overhauled (eg. connect to your new pipe system.
2. Water availability would be dependent on the tank - you’d have to regularly refill it (though, a water level sensor + power switch hooked to start/stop the pump could automate this i guess)

This is well within the capability of a good engineer. Pipes do not have to run inside the walls, they can be external too.

Still, from a game mechanics perspective, i cannot see an added value to limited piping systems (other than role-playing): A few standing tanks should suffice for all your related needs. Also IIRC the implementation of large connected grids within non-vehicle structures is a big hassle game engine-wise. So why bother?

[Krisu]

It’s a machine you use to install/uninstall bionics. It’s a piece of furniture and you also need an anesthetic kit. And you still need skills unless you play with safe autodoc.

[Stone]

I remember having a shower made from a garbage bag (or a barrel cant remember xD), hose and shower head back in the day, used gravity to get the water out.

[TheZoneWizard]

Just thought of Portable Showers also. Pretty much any container could be used to hold water and make use of said water in a variety of ways without having plumbing. Despite the convenience. Check out camping gear.

[LordSunder]

Just saw this thread and sorry to necro (plumbing is an area I’ve actually studied), but I had a dubious idea:

Would it be possible to piggyback off the jumper cable coding to make a vehicle part that transfers liquids between vehicles? I’m doubtful, because epower is probably handled differently, but we already have ways to move liquids around inside a vehicle (integrated funnels in the roof, etc). Either way, if the game engine currently works better with vehicles, that could be an avenue to explore that would work well enough to simulate there being pipes between appliances.