Power Diverter Upgrade

[CrashFu]

How many times has this happened to you?  You're running a little short on Energy this month, and you only expect half of your factories to stay running.  The problem?  The cristite factory you have planted on the meteor crash site decides it wants to run out of power while that fourth food farm you were planning to convert into something else keeps chugging away.  Or the smithore factory you built on that valuable three-mountain plot goes out, while the smithore factory you built on the plains adjacent to it, that plops out just a couple extra smithore per month due to adjacency bonuses, stays in perfect working order.

D'OH!

This got me thinking.  What if there was a handy little kit you could buy at the store, take to any pre-existing factory (that YOU own, naturally)  and install, that would simply give that factory priority in your energy use?  IE, any factories with these gizmos installed on them will never run out of energy BEFORE the ones without them have, giving you the option to spend a little more money and a little more time for "productivity insurance", essentially.

If you're curious as to how that would work, well.. I'm basically just imagining you'd be installing extra power cables to form detours around one power grid to the next.

Actually, to simplify things this power diversion system could be some extra function of the MULEs. So, to upgrade your factory you'd simply buy a mule and lead it, without any factory kit installed, to a pre-existing factory and use it.  ~$100  seems like a fair price to ensure that, if even one of your factories stays active when you're out of juice, it'll be the one you value the most.  Don't you agree?

[Big Head Zach]

This got me thinking.  What if there was a handy little kit you could buy at the store, take to any pre-existing factory (that YOU own, naturally)  and install, that would simply give that factory priority in your energy use?  IE, any factories with these gizmos installed on them will never run out of energy BEFORE the ones without them have, giving you the option to spend a little more money and a little more time for "productivity insurance", essentially.

If you're curious as to how that would work, well.. I'm basically just imagining you'd be installing extra power cables to form detours around one power grid to the next.

Actually, to simplify things this power diversion system could be some extra function of the MULEs. So, to upgrade your factory you'd simply buy a mule and lead it, without any factory kit installed, to a pre-existing factory and use it.  ~$100  seems like a fair price to ensure that, if even one of your factories stays active when you're out of juice, it'll be the one you value the most.  Don't you agree?

Interesting idea. What would people be willing to pay to ensure certain MULEs get priority in energy consumption? And would this need to be renewed each round, or as a permanent enhancement? Would it be something applied to the plot, or to the MULE that's installed on it (like an extra option on a vehicle)?

Or, you could just stop whining and pay that $250/unit for the Energy you need, sucker. lolopoly

[Jaradakar]

Yeah I think this all goes into the question:

"How bad do you want running out of power to be?"

If running out of power made it so your smallest/weakest plots were turned off first then running out of power is not that big of a deal (or less of a deal).

Personally I think having it be a random makes energy valuable and forces you to really want enough.  

If you don't like playing it close to the line by which I mean you're only running x2 energy collectors, might I suggest running x3 to be absolutely sure that you'll get what you need.

-Jara

[FTH]

To me this seems like too fiddly a change with too little payoff. If there were another thing that can be bought, it really should have a big effect and warrant its existence. This is more of a niche thing I'd say and would complicate the game unnecessarily.

Also, being in the energy business does not pay well enough to begin with. Taking even more of that away would not allow even for the little amount of leeway you had with that strategy before.

[CrashFu]

Also, being in the energy business does not pay well enough to begin with. Taking even more of that away would not allow even for the little amount of leeway you had with that strategy before.

Yeah, you guys have a good point there.  Sometimes I forget that people might actually try making money with energy production, rather than everyone just making two or three plants to support their personal ore-mining operation.

So nevermind. Carry on. 

[GabrielPope]

I agree it's annoying, but the worst effects of power loss (personally I couldn't care less if I lose 3 of my 30-100 smithore, but when your only farm shuts down you're in trouble) can be avoided by micromanaging mules. Production upgrades are fully refundable, so swap out low performance plots for energy and then switch back next turn since you'll likely have a surplus. If it's late in the game and you don't have time to change everything over to energy... just sell off mules or run them free.

[Big Head Zach]

I agree it's annoying, but the worst effects of power loss (personally I couldn't care less if I lose 3 of my 30-100 smithore, but when your only farm shuts down you're in trouble) can be avoided by micromanaging mules.

What if the 1 plot the randomizer decided to turn off was surrounded on all 4 sides by plots making the same thing, and 1 less powered plot meant you had one full set-of-3 less?

That's at least 10 or so bonus units you've just lost.

Which begs the question - do unpowered plots count when determining EOS and LCT bonuses? I've never checked myself, and Kroah's doc doesn't specify if a plot has to be powered to count...but I would reckon/suggest that they shouldn't, since they aren't actively producing.

[Stormdancer]

Heh. Actually, I just utterly crushed the computer players by effectively having a monopoly on power for about 3 turns. I'd sell them enough to make an obscene profit, but not enough to let them actually build much of anything.  One of them finally broke the cycle, but my victory was assured.

[Big Head Zach]

Heh. Actually, I just utterly crushed the computer players by effectively having a monopoly on power for about 3 turns. I'd sell them enough to make an obscene profit, but not enough to let them actually build much of anything.  One of them finally broke the cycle, but my victory was assured.

Did your victory include the colony making $60k? If not, I'd say you doomed the planet. At least to a tent-sleeping existence

[Stormdancer]

Heheheh!  We BARELY squeaked by.  In part because I sold cheap to 'em at the end.

But it was a near thing.

[GabrielPope]

Heh. Actually, I just utterly crushed the computer players by effectively having a monopoly on power for about 3 turns. I'd sell them enough to make an obscene profit, but not enough to let them actually build much of anything.  One of them finally broke the cycle, but my victory was assured.

Did your victory include the colony making $60k? If not, I'd say you doomed the planet. At least to a tent-sleeping existence

In addition to energy he also had a monopoly on tents.

[CrashFu]

Maybe that should be a topic for another thread in the suggestion forum.  Making energy production actually beneficial to the colony score.   As fun as it is to be a food or energy mogul, the fact that you're only taking money, rather than making it, won't make you many friends. 

At the least, they could have the amount the store pays for food and energy jump up considerably at the final auction phase of the entire game.  I mean, the ship that picks you up would surely have a much higher demand for the stuff than the on-planet store does, right?   You know what, I'm going to go start that thread now.

[Big Head Zach]

Actually, Crash, the reason you don't see Food or Energy moguls yet is because the Store doesn't seem to react to market price right now, as it does in the original. It's the 5th player, essentially, and it tells you in advance what it's willing to buy and sell at. If you can manipulate the Store, then you can achieve the really big points.

[dillpickleo]

Very true. Though, manipulating the store when playing against all computer players just so you can brag about a high score is very cheap. Doing it when you are playing against real people though is hilarious. :p

[Big Head Zach]

And you can do it now, as of 1.1. It allows the player who overproduces in Energy and/or Food to benefit from temporary shortages (similar to Smithore), by affecting the Store price post-auction.