I think I know why it was put into place, to limit the mesh amount in a small area, but it makes building large workshops with many machines that all need to be on the same spark gen a tad messy.
I can still manage it, even added 22 more machines by rearranging the lines and by placing one of the spark gens in such a way I could run another line from it but sjeesh, if you see how it all looks down there it’s a fricking maze!
Would love to make it a bit more fitting my OCD like symptoms!
the limit is there for (server) performance, each time a pipe/machine/spark-core is added/removed from the network there is a not so cheap update that occurs to keep the network state maintained, and the longer the pipes are, the more expensive that becomes. 100 is a limit to ensure that its definitely never too slow, but if we investigate we can probably increase it; however if we increase it too much… we cannot later reduce it without complex migrations, so its better for us to under-set it and be able to raise it later.
I always wanted to try to build a central power station on a city-wide scale to provide a spark utility service to citizens in a settlement, but the cord limit dramatically reduces the viability of that project.
What if there was an alternative method to deliver spark to a machine or area without long spark cords? Some sort of area power generation like a Tesla coil, or point-to-point power with some sort of quantum entanglement module? Even if it had other drawbacks to utilize them over spark cord, if it reduced server strain and allowed players diversify their powered builds, it could be a worthwhile development.
Yeah, that I get. But it’s such a mess right now under the main floor it’s crazy and with longer lines I think I could actually reduce the total amount of spark line elements…
Especially in the last picture you can see I now have to run multiple lines in the same direction in order to be able to connect them all while making one long line in that direction would use way less spark links…
Maybe canned power? Something you can link up to a generator with cord, to allow charging of battery-like items which can then be put in a distant generator /discharger for local use? (If we dont want to touch the 100 limit but extend single generator reach…) would this help at all, or make it worse if you’d have to reload the discharger (pretty much same as feeding a new spark genny)
I had to put in another generator array because of this. It’s a bit tedious and kind of ruined my central spark setup, but all in all, not really that big of a deal to just use a few more spark generators imo. If this did increase, I would be hoping for at least double. The more the better. I know when I first started playing I imagined cities being wired from a central spark generator array, with citizens being able to use it like an outlet.
So a spark wireless network have a spark generator and then a place a spark adapter piece on the machine you want to power. The generator would obviously have a limit on distance so say one generator has a 8x8 block distance for a small medium 16x 16 and large maybe 24x24. I think the spark line should be used for larger power requirement like a say in terms of broadband. You have dialup, cable, dsl, and t3 as an example. Dialup is slow and can’t pass much information through as you move up the connection types the information is increased. This could be the case with spark line and wireless spark the wireless spark would have limitations per tier and how much spark can be passed through wirelessly 200 small 400 medium 800 large. Once you hit the limit then you would have to start hard wiring machines. I really think the lines themselves and the generators could be tiered as well small medium large generators and spark lines. A rework of the spark lines would be nice so it’s more cosmetically appealing in different builds.
Being able to attach one block to another ‘invisibly’ has a lot of useful applications and is something that Wonderstruck should really pick up and run with if possible. It could allow for:
Longer distance Power transfer, so you can have many small networks instead of one large one.
Giving builders the luxury of hiding elements that make their builds unseemly.
Activation of interactive elements (pressure plates, buttons, levers).
Personally I’ve always wanted a redo of the power system anyway. @Havok40k had told me about some of the early day conversations where power was more localized to the machine. So each machine had it’s own engine or could be linked in a small form factor type design.
Since people have talked about wanting something like Redstone from Minecraft or other automation capabilities I’d really like a full redo. In the long run that seems better for the game instead of just trying to make 100 = 120 for people. We need more content and systems redone.
In the end of the day it isn’t too much trouble for people to create more “spark generators” right now and just use the 100 limit design to handle things. Generators aren’t that hard to make. It just takes a bit of work on the layout. Plus 100 - 120 now will just make someone later complain that they want 140 or whatever.
A full revamp with some of the ideas I heard brought up before would enhance the game play for sure. Maybe @Havok40k can share some of those ideas at some point or find the old conversations and re-up them.
Spark and spark generators have always worked more or less the same as now, but we used to be able to have larger chains of generators and longer cords. This was changed to optimize performance in beta to roughly what we have today.
I was personally building my own engines onto my workshops tables as a design flourish, but it had no added functionality
Well it was latching on other parts of machines, etc… Power was more localized. Either way, I think we need work in the whole system instead of just adding a few more spark cord to the row.
Little portals that ‘connect’ the power cables from A to B.
Spark Gen > Portal-cable A
Portal-cable B > Machine
There’s no visible connection between Portal-cables, maybe you link them with a spanner, set them like you set LED blocks. Cycling through letters that connect to likewise letters elsewhere within the same beacon.
I have no idea how of even IF that’s possible. But I’m fairly sure that’s all I do here is post WHAT IF’s most of the time
