Solar Panels

Robik · 2014-03-01T13:37:15.000Z

Well, after I ended in middle of nowhere, I can safely say that default solar vehicle designs (Electric Car) are worthless… and they should be redesigned accordingly.

John_Candlebury · 2014-03-01T13:46:44.000Z

The other solar car (with 13 panels) is slightly better, in a sunny day, it recovers at approximately 4 power units per hour. It still takes a day to fill half a tank though.

Soyweiser · 2014-03-01T17:45:40.000Z

Robik:

Well, after I ended in middle of nowhere, I can safely say that default solar vehicle designs (Electric Car) are worthless… and they should be redesigned accordingly.

Well, solar cars are designed to run off the electrical grid. Which mostly failed after the cataclysm. The solar panels are only a last ditch measure if you get stuck in the middle of nowhere, and a cheap way to refill your car partially. At least that is the explaination im running with.

Robik · 2014-03-01T19:11:26.000Z

Soyweiser:

[quote=“Robik, post:30, topic:5099”]Well, after I ended in middle of nowhere, I can safely say that default solar vehicle designs (Electric Car) are worthless… and they should be redesigned accordingly.

Well, solar cars are designed to run off the electrical grid. Which mostly failed after the cataclysm. The solar panels are only a last ditch measure if you get stuck in the middle of nowhere, and a cheap way to refill your car partially. At least that is the explaination im running with.[/quote]

Yea, problem is that solar panels are so useless now, that last ditch measure is not working… they are not able to move the car at all. Also, with such inefficient panels it might be more helpful to skip them and save on the weight.

I have no idea how the electricity / gas consumption is calculated in game though. Does weight / speed actually matter? If not, maybe switch from large electric motor to normal would help, top speed will be lower but vehicle will move. If weight matter, maybe using light frames instead of steel?

The_Lone_Badger · 2014-03-02T02:05:16.000Z

Fuel / electricity usage is defined by motor, acceleration/speed is defined by motor output and mass.
(Non-large) electric motors won’t move a car. They struggle severely with a small motorbike.

I think a good fix would be to halve the electricity usage and power output of large electric motors. Makes electric vehicles slow commuter vehicles, and if you want performance you go gasoline.

Robik · 2014-03-02T05:45:23.000Z

[quote=“The Lone Badger, post:34, topic:5099”]Fuel / electricity usage is defined by motor, acceleration/speed is defined by motor output and mass.
(Non-large) electric motors won’t move a car. They struggle severely with a small motorbike.

I think a good fix would be to halve the electricity usage and power output of large electric motors. Makes electric vehicles slow commuter vehicles, and if you want performance you go gasoline.[/quote]

Thanks for the info!

I had small el. motor powered 3x3 light-frame vehicle with my previous character, and while top speed and acceleration were shitty, it was working nicely (there might be bug with battery recharge though, with 6 panels it could drive infinitely long with 0% battery, but when battery was not empty, it still drained it down to 0%)

There are 2 el. motors right now, small with 1 power consumption and large with 3 power consumption. Maybe third could be added… a normal size motor with 2 power consumption?

I think that default game design of el. car should be able to move with clear / sunny weather, albeit slowly, using smaller motor than it is using now.

system · 2014-03-02T05:50:11.000Z

Where are all the hybrid cars? I mean most electric cars have an engine for when battery gets low.

Robik · 2014-03-02T06:52:41.000Z

gtaguy:

Where are all the hybrid cars? I mean most electric cars have an engine for when battery gets low.

I would love that feature. It would also recharge battery while driving on gasoline.

I know we can have more motors installed, but we cannot start just one of them, if I am right?

HunterAlpha1 · 2014-03-02T07:16:41.000Z

Robik:

[quote=“gtaguy, post:36, topic:5099”]Where are all the hybrid cars? I mean most electric cars have an engine for when battery gets low.

I would love that feature. It would also recharge battery while driving on gasoline.

I know we can have more motors installed, but we cannot start just one of them, if I am right?[/quote]I’m wondering about that too. Does having engines of multiple types mean that power is drawn from each equally? Or how does it work?

Zireael · 2014-03-02T10:07:17.000Z

That’s a good question.

i2amroy · 2014-03-02T18:56:50.000Z

For now it would draw from all engines simultaneously, yes.

system · 2014-03-04T00:55:44.000Z

Can we disable fuel flow? I mean seriously, I want a hybrid.

kevin.granade · 2014-03-04T02:27:35.000Z

Starting/stopping individual engines is something I’ve wanted to add for a while

HunterAlpha1 · 2014-03-04T03:42:27.000Z

Feckless · 2014-03-06T00:10:20.000Z

Sick additions, Soy. I haven’t yet toyed with solar power yet.
I guess for much the same reason as why I haven’t toyed with advanced mechanical devices in Dwarf Fortress.
This makes me want to give solar power a go now. Cheers! n_n

DudeGuyMan · 2014-10-09T09:52:49.000Z

Random de-lurk and necropost to whine about getting halfway into building a solar farm, then googling up this thread and finding out that I’ve been wasting my time. Of course standard solar panels are worthless and electric cars don’t actually move. Anything else wouldn’t be “realistic” even though this society is so insanely advanced that it builds teleporters.

/relurk

jcd · 2014-10-09T12:32:06.000Z

[quote=“DudeGuyMan, post:45, topic:5099”]Random de-lurk and necropost to whine about getting halfway into building a solar farm, then googling up this thread and finding out that I’ve been wasting my time. Of course standard solar panels are worthless and electric cars don’t actually move. Anything else wouldn’t be “realistic” even though this society is so insanely advanced that it builds teleporters.
/relurk[/quote]

i gotta say you are wildly wrong here…
i always run a completely solar car. the last one was 15 tonnes and going up, and it was self sufficient for every need, be it crafting or moving around…

the trick is to cram as many solar panels and storage batteries as possible, then wait for them to charge to at least 50%.
After that, you are fine if you are not driving 24/7

Also, switch to upgraded and quantum solars if you can craft/find 'em and it becomes much better…

Imo solars are still OP.
I mean, who can reliably cook, build whole cars, move 15 tonne trucks around, all of it with as many solars as will fit in an RV roof?
Also, who can reliably store the power to do all that in a car that contains much more than batteries?

Abbysynth · 2014-10-09T12:45:00.000Z

[quote=“DudeGuyMan, post:45, topic:5099”]Random de-lurk and necropost to whine about getting halfway into building a solar farm, then googling up this thread and finding out that I’ve been wasting my time. Of course standard solar panels are worthless and electric cars don’t actually move. Anything else wouldn’t be “realistic” even though this society is so insanely advanced that it builds teleporters.

/relurk[/quote]

Haha ouch, zing

But really though, what you’re looking at with “standard” solar panels in-game is today’s advanced solar panels. Take a look at the Venturi Eclectic, which is what your usual solar car (with the 4 cells) is probably most like:

30mph for 30 mile range, so limited to city driving. In a near-future you’d probably find tons of these practically useless things littering the roads - even a few scratches on the panels would make it very difficult to charge. You’d need a whole lot of surface area to get reliable performance. Have you actually tried your solar farm yet? It should be able to charge up pretty quickly if you have a good array of panels. Improved or (especially) quantum panels can run large electric motors just about indefinitely as long as you’re not using them constantly; recharging small rechargeables can be done without breaking the bank no problem.

johnden · 2014-11-11T13:35:24.000Z

John Candlebury:

The other solar car (with 13 panels) is slightly better, in a sunny day, it recovers at approximately 4 power units per hour. It still takes a day to fill half a tank though.

John I’m absolutely agree with you, the other solar car is better.

KA101 · 2014-11-12T04:59:27.000Z

johnden:

[quote=“John Candlebury, post:31, topic:5099”]The other solar car (with 13 panels) is slightly better, in a sunny day, it recovers at approximately 4 power units per hour. It still takes a day to fill half a tank though.

John I’m absolutely agree with you, the other solar car is better.[/quote]
Should be, John put it in xemself.