New Item: Spark Capacitor

Heres an idea…

Why not just get rid of the stupid spark links and make the power simply exist on the beacon… then add the spark capacitors to the beacon as complex mesh objects…

2 Likes

I thought you were going to suggest that they receive the spark from the generator via spark links then you can break them and simply place them next to a machine to act as a battery. That would eliminate a ton of spark links to lighten the server load but would maintain the realistic need to connect machines to a power source.

I would have extractors and refineries connected to my spark genny by links since I use probably 100x more spark on each of them than all the others combined. Then I’d slap a capacitor on the other machines.

2 Likes

Spark should have additional progression that makes it like wifi in a beacon. Each beacon can hold up to x number of generator hubs, and each has a “router” that can be attached to and numbered using a chisel, like LEDS. Then we can individually set each of our machines up to which spark generator we want on the beacon by “numbering” the transmitter we put on the machines. Run out of spark and have a metric ton still over in the one for mixers? Hit the transmitter with a change chisel and baam! Back to using spark while the original bank is cooking up more.

1 Like

This would definitely enable mega factories.

I’d like to see the batteries some have suggested before as well. This would allow a more consistent market to develop for spark no matter the source.

I’m not sure how they cause more performance issue than regular meshes on the server side so I’m not sure if the capacitor being able to pass through spark like the diagram above would affect that.

Some battery threads:

3 Likes

The way I see it, each spark link has to know how much spark is passing through it. So every few seconds they have to communicate with each other. I can see how heavy that is on the server. There really should be less links.

I also support the battery idea but most are just about the ability to transfer spark from one genny to another, as opposed to being a source of power.

1 Like

It enables this, easier/more consistent trade in large quantities of spark, and if you can just slap them right on a machine that would be nice too.

I’m not sure how it works but yeah I would assume the communication across chunks is part of the reason for the extra limitation. Even if the individual links don’t “know” the machine has to be able to talk to the generator.

2 Likes

100 spark links is quite a bit. You can have a lot of machines using 100 spark links. I think I’ve got I’ve got 48 machines(6 lines of 100 links) using the same spark generators. And if you design your base correctly you can double that. For each row use of machines use its own line of links.

Yeah, you can get it to work with the 100 limit but this is what dictates your design. There is very few flexibility on how you arrange your workshop.

If my thought process is “can I add enough cable to add another refinery?” something is wrong. Cable length should not dictate how we build our workshop, in my opinion.

And the spark capacitor, as it is a real block, could also be part of a wall and be used like a power plug, instead of a “loose cable that comes out of a hole in your wall”. :slight_smile:

1 Like

Maybe instead of adding a new block let us connect multiple generators with the links.

How about advanced spark generators or solar-powered ones that feed into a central battery?

A powered workshop beacon would also be awesome - any connected plot would be powered. Maybe it comes with two “charged” beacons that make electrons dance inbetween.

Advanced crafting machines would be muy bueno.

I think the power coils are more limiting for building than the spark links. Spark links are easily hidden in walls and floor. Part of the fun of building a nice workshop is figuring out your layout with in the constraints of the system that is in place. Not change the system because you want to have machines more that 12.5 plots away from your spark generators. The ability to create an awesome workshop is only limited by our own creativity. Think outside the box but work with what we have. I Know that you can make something great with what we already have. Good luck!

3 Likes

I agree but they won’t change this, or at least not yet. That would be a game design change that they have to justify to change. Game design decisions should only be changed if it improves the game.

But the 100 spark line limit is not a game design imposed limit, but a technical limit. And technical limits should be removed whenever possible.

Game design limits are there to make the game better, technical limits are a necessary evil. Never did a Wonderstruck employee mention that the 100 spark line limit is to foster our creativity, they said the limit is to not break the server.

1 Like

If the spark generators just converted fuel to batteries, then the machines took batteries in a slot, then spark links are obsolete. Unless keeping track of each machine’s spark count is harder on the server than the lines, seems like problem solved.

I would rather have wireless spark cores with good range (possibly tiered).

The links limit hits high end players who build large crafting rooms consisting of multiple machines of each type and all powered up by maximum power coils number.

So give them a chance to spend time or coins to craft expensive wireless spark cores (think chrysominter or helix coils kind of recipes).

That way the largest spark link users turn to wireless connecting and most of the server burden is gone.

3 Likes

So in a large workshop, you have to run around to each machine and check the batteries to see if they have enough charge to actually craft the material and if they do not have enough spark in the battery what do you do? Have to pull the battery and recharge it and then take it back and put it into the machine and then start the crafting? Seems like this could turn into a lot of extra steps for anyone with a half decent sized workshop.

I guess that depends on implementation.

If it was me, there’s no way in hell I would have built it in such a way that it needs calculate whether a machine is attached to a generator every time it needed to know. I’d have set it up so that when you place/remove a spark link, it parses the chain and updates some state on the machine that logically connects it to a (or more than one possible, I haven’t tested how spark is used if a machine is connected to more than one) generator. Then the machine can just check whether it’s generator(s) have spark or not.

If that is how it’s set up though, having a distinction between logically connected as different from physically connected is already a good setup to facilitate wireless spark if they did want to go that route. It would be good to save on mesh count though

1 Like

Yeah, just add a new machine like this which acts as a sending and receiving unit of wireless spark with a plot distance (or same beacon/settlement limit) limit.

This solves the server issues as well since it reduces the amount of meshes. Also allows for different buildings across town that have a single type of crafting purpose, etc.

And while we’re at it, let us hook up furnaces to it as well, make them gem or lucent furnaces or something!

I was thinking that the batteries are replaced, not recharged and would just dump spark into the machine.
On second thought, though a wireless spark system probably makes more sense but not sure how you’d manage connectivity over distance.

100 links per face, when you run out of links just start a new line.