I’ve seen quite a few posts regarding the confusion as to why we need 2 sources of power with the spark core and power coils.
I have a simple solution to rework the spark core into a more primitive form of energy… think in terms of trains… more importantly what came before diesel and electric trains… yep, the steam train!
The whole physical setup can remain as it is, and the coal requirements to power it can also remain, but just add a water reservoir to the core, which you can fill with buckets of water (returning the empty buckets into an empty slot).
The steam is there to make components more malleable.
Awesome idea! As soon as power coils came out I was wondering why we had to have two sources of electricity. My initial assumption was that power coils were the advanced replacement to spark. I learned that was incorrect and then I assumed getting a power coil would give more power and like spark it would build up. I got the power coils and discovered they only provide 100 power which doesn’t build up and everything I believe requires something like 1000 or more power. So, it’s useless to have one power coil and I shouldn’t have bothered. I thought about buying advanced power coils since I assume you only need one. However, I hate taking shortcuts at least the first time through, so, I decided no buying and I’ll have to find a way with my three characters. So far I don’t have time to try though as well as that sounding too much like work. lol
Steam makes sense and fits in better than this high tech stuff in my mind. I have lived in cabins and stone houses as well as tipis with no electricity or running water. All this high tech in stone or log type buildings and in caves is weird to me. Steam fits as the perfect solution with coal fuel.
I don’t think power is meant in the electrical sense. They were going to be called engines, implying they give some extra raw mechanical power of some sort, allowing you to make more complex things.
I saw “power coils” and immediately pictured “electrical coils” as I have worked with many of those. Steam would make more sense. I’m not sure what kind of coils there are in the real world other than electrical. Adding buckets of water would be awesome. I sure wouldn’t have built far from water though! lol
They were going to be called engines, but the current name and game asset definitely depict them as non-mechanical, and purely electrical in nature.
Which is where a lot of the confusion comes from as people see power coils and the spark core as providing the same thing… an electrical current to a machine.
Making the Spark Core a Steam Generator just makes more sense to me in terms of progression as it’s the same path us humans took to get to where we are today
I get the ‘powering it up’ aspect of the coils, but the having to place them all just right, and worse, repair them all separately from the machine…
I think I’d have preferred that when opening the machine, there was another tab where we could ‘slot’ upgrades. Heck, then there could even be other kinds of upgrades rather than just power coils. Also, it could all be repaired by repairing the machine and not the machine and 24 coils…
In a gameplay side of view they provide the same thing…points that enable you to craft certain things (whether thats electrical current, mechanical torque or unicorn farts is imo irrelevant).
So I don’t think there is confusion regarding the underlying mechanic but rather about the necessity of the redundancy of having two so similar mechanics. (If my post is what you are reffering to)
Not Relating to your post. There have been quite a few people asking why there are 2 sources providing an electrical current. They’re seen by a lot of people as the same thing… just electricity, hence the confusion.
I do see the requirement for them, in the form of continued progression (albeit requiring a few rounds of balancing). My suggestion was to give them both a reason to exist, without them seeming like the same thing.
This sounds like a unique mechanic, but we’d need unicorns and taming to be in game first, to make it viable
So call them “spark amplifiers” or "“electrical amplifiers” or anything that doesn’t sound like simply another source of electricity. Heck, as is I half expect nuclear reactors to make an appearance someday to provide a third source of electricity for whole towns or guild areas. lol Personally, the steam idea is awesome picturing in action. See the steam and pistons doing their thing!
