Electricity in Oort

[Vastar]

Since my first Beacon sieging post created a lot of discusson and encourage a lot of “follow up” threats i want to start a new thread about a new topic.

Electricity
I really liked the electricity system that minecraft had (aka redstone) and since minecraft is a legit comparison to Oort online (not in every regard but in many) i thought a system with simmilar complexity/functioniality as the minecraft one would fit pretty well in the “steampunkish” world of Oort online.

Now i want to hear what the community thinks about this topic. What “electricity” system would you like? (If you want somethink like that at all in Oort online)

[DarkRepulsor]

Ah I’m so glad you posted this. I had an idea a while back that relates to this. Let me illustrate it and I’ll be right back.

[CaptJack92a]

I cover an Oortian form of this in my topic about magic and tech. Look for Shifters and glyphs.

https://forum.oortonline.com/t/the-lore-of-magic-and-technology-a-massive-suggestion-thread-of-continuously-added-magic-and-oort-tech-lore/995

[Thorbjorn42gbf]

I think we had a thread about machinery in the old forum but i am to tired to look it up right now, (Also I am working on an exam related project) anyone who wants to find it for me?

[CaptJack92a]

Also partly covered in Amendment 4 of that same topic.

[Nyuudles]

was it this one?
http://oortonline.com/forums/topic/oort-twist-on-power-and-modern-tech/

or this one
http://oortonline.com/forums/topic/electricity-and-dare-i-say-magnetism/

[Thorbjorn42gbf]

Probably both. I will find some time at some point to plow the forum for idea about it.

[Squaremunch]

I’d be in favor of something a little easier to us. Mc’s redstone was confusing and took a lot of know how to get it to work. If we could get something a little more simple in Oort I would be happy.

[DarkRepulsor]

Okay, again, so glad you brought this up @Vastar. Here’s what I was thinking from a while back.

Pipe blocks

As a building decoration
Pipeblocks are smart and self-connecting to other solid blocks around them. They can be used to decorate builds for stuff like this:

• They look cool
• The self-connecting thing, it’s pretty straightforward right? Easy to code…? (I have no idea really)
• Possibly climbable to add another exploration dimension

As conduits for electricity/energy
Now, the first major difference from redstone is, these pipes would occupy a full block (instead of just being a decal like in Minecraft). This will impact the ability to do exactly what you can, or, said another way, it will force you to do it other ways.
However, since pipes are standalone blocks, you don’t actually need blocks to decal – which may give you far more mobility in the long run.

Additional blocks needed
Obviously you’ll need some kind of generator block, as well as things like switches.

Why I like this idea

• I think it fits really well with the Oortian magic/technology stuff • It would make builds look even more awesome and different from other voxel games • PIPES

[GodfreyHavok]

i like this idea being able to turn of lamps in the day would be so much better also how would you get the pipes through a wall say what you need to power is in a different room and maybe the same could be done for water transport

[DarkRepulsor]

@GodfreyHavok

how would you get the pipes through a wall

Yeah, great question. Maybe there are conductor blocks? Maybe pipe blocks are smart enough to know there’s a pipe on the other side?

[Grey707]

Why not pipes for water and wire for power

[Hyllfyr]

Guess with this we will have to collect types of rock or something similar to fuel the town generators, hmmm wonder how it would work for those that live by themselves?

Would the electricity also fuel majority of the crafting stations?

[Vastar]

First i want to say that i really like the idea of pipes as energy/information transportation system, the pictures that @DarkRepulsor posted look really neat and i can imagine that complex constructions with such a system could look pretty amazing. It would also fix the reality issue. (you know electrricity would need a “+” and a “-” pole and things would get complicated)

@DarkRepulsor

Obviously you’ll need some kind of generator block, as well as things like switches.

Some really basic rules and blocks (switch, button, inverter and diode / one-way valve since we are talking about pipes)could already lead to pretty complex constructions.

I also really like the idea of energy consumption / the need of generator blocks, there could be several types of generators (solar panels that give additional engery on dessert worlds, combustion engines that constanlty need fuel (like wood) to operate and maybe some “magical” Oort engines that automatically produce a small amout of energy, so you would need big batteries of those to supply large systems.

@Hyllfyr

Would the electricity also fuel majority of the crafting stations?

I dont think so, since you probably need crafting stations to craft fuel.
Defining what will consume energy and what doesnt could be hard to balance imo.

@DarkRepulsor

how would you get the pipes through a wall

Maybe you could place a solid block on the piece of pipe thats “in” the wall to fill the holes in the edges. (simmilar to how we but pipes through walls IRL)
Like that:

[DarkRepulsor]

@Hyllfyr

Would the electricity also fuel majority of the crafting stations?

Actually, I see a lot of potential in this idea, I think it’s worth exploring.

• In Minecraft, crafting is more or less instantaneous, as long as you have the materials. This makes you focus more on exploring and mining. Which is fine – it just means you rarely think about crafting, since there’s very little “friction” there.
• Skyrim was pretty similar, except that crafting better armor wasn’t just about materials, it was also about your smithing skill – it meant you spent a lot of time at the forge if you wanted to make your own stuff. So the crafting process was a bit thicker there.
• How does this work in other games like WoW and GW2 and stuff? @Zouls?
• Lots of F2P games have this idea of crafting times, where you dump the materials in, but have to wait a certain amount of time for the item to “cook” before it’s finished crafting. Some people probably think this is annoying, but I thought it made the game a little more immersive and gave me more reasons to come back and play again later.

Okay, so that being said – what if only some kinds of crafting required electricity/energy? And the crafting station had to be powered?

And if “electricity” = “magic energy”, then maybe it’s all about crafting magically-infused items. You can craft a sword at a normal forge, but if you pipe in some electricity and hook it up to the forge, now you have the ability to craft advanced swords with enchantments and stuff. Fits with the whole Oortian magitech thing pretty well I’d say!!

• Powered forges for enchanted weapons / armor
• Powered workbench for enchanted items / consumables
• Powered furnace for special/enchanted refined materials

And, going back to @GodfreyHavok’s comment for a sec:

i like this idea being able to turn of lamps in the day

Yes!! You could wire up all the lights in your house and link them to a switch by your front door!! I love that!!!

I dont think so, since you probably need crafting stations to craft fuel.

I don’t think you should “craft” fuel, more like something you find in the environment – coal or crystals or ether pods or whatever.

@Vastar Maybe you could place a solid block on the piece of pipe thats “in” the wall to fill the holes in the edges.

Yeah…something like that? No idea how hard to implement that would be – it sounds complicated.

Some really basic rules and blocks (switch, button, inverter and diode / one-way valve since we are talking about pipes)could already lead to pretty complex constructions.

I also really like the idea of energy consumption / the need of generator blocks, there could be several types of generators (solar panels that give additional engery on dessert worlds, combustion engines that constanlty need fuel (like wood) to operate and maybe some “magical” Oort engines that automatically produce a small amout of energy, so you would need big batteries of those to supply large systems.

Yes yes yes!!!

Edit: maybe “pipes” is the wrong word at this point – “cables” might be a better descriptor.

[Zouls]

Darh…i wanted to avoid this discussion, but since you dragged me into it guess…

in my eyes the idea of power is pretty great, but i dont like that you call it electricity. too modern, and in my eyes, doesnt fit the theme. i can give my 2 cents on how i would like to see if it it were to happen.

(Dark. you pulled me into the discussion, i hope you can illustrate my point better than i can)

okay just quickly leaving this here. it should all stay in blocks, would be much more visually impressive if they made it like this.

you would start with an iniator block

pretend the thing in the middle is an oort shard, crystal, or whatever.

those lines would come, then there would be blocks to transfer the power.

This one would transfer the power upwards.

if it is not connected to an oort shard block, then the lines will be outlined but not filled, when they are filled they might pulsate slightly. like this

and

(in the sense of the light, and it owuld most likely be pink)
there would then be different lines (kinda like pipes as mentioned) there would be transfer blocks and ‘‘end blocks’’ meaning that it has the shine on top, if you place the thing you want up top of that block, it will get power.

whether or not it would drain can be discussed, but yeah, this is how i would like to see it if they actually make it, not too much for all of the cords, pipes and what was discussed, would look out of place for me.

Also Dark, for your question, all of those games you mentioned have placed stations, since there is no free placing, i dont think i have ever played a game where you actually needed to power your creations. but it could be used for other things, like lighting up a furnace before you use it.

on the point of timers i have already written about it.

https://forum.oortonline.com/t/automated-timesinks/645

[Hyllfyr]

Like we gather wood for fuel to power our stoves, ovens and campfires for people that cook. Lol

[Zouls]

Yeah basically something like that.

[Squaremunch]

Yeah for an electricity system We should definitely have a power block, and a couple interacting blocks (buttons and switches). I like the idea of pipes- I’m certain they could interact just like redstone did in mc, but with a third dimension. This would simplify the process of moving power vertically. Aesthetic wise, I’m not sure if “pipes” should be small like wires, or big like actual pipes for water. If they are big we could potentially also use pipes for water transport- Like the devs were saying with diverting naturally occurring sources of water. The difference between an electrical pipe and a water pipe could be made using crafting. Simply adding an oort shard to a pipe in crafting might be a good recipe for it. Pipes can add a cool steampunk aesthetic, and they can also be just as easily hidden from view. It would add a new layer to building in terms of designing utility spaces, which I think would be very very cool.

[DarkRepulsor]

Okay, I hadn’t even thought about water pipes. That would amazing – you could literally pipe water from the nearby pond up into your second story bathroom, and have a switch for turning it on and off. Love it.