CRAZY IDEA : Tesla coil / Power link

[Goblinounours]

TESLA COIL / POWER LINK
Elsewhere, I mentioned that I don’t like how the game is filled with so many rules that forces you to build things one way, getting in the way of your creativity.

Take power coils for instance: they have some very specific rules as to how you place them, and the more you need power, the more you end-up doing exactly the same ‘optimized’ setup as everyone else, with your machines surrounded by advanced power coils.

But what if we could add another component to the mix, that would work like Spark links?

WHY, THOUGH? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
Then, we could have a room made for housing those nasty power coils, in the way that’s most fitting for each of us, to be creative, giving us space to make them more accessible for repairs, and making it possible to display our machines in more eye-pleasing configurations.
Those would obviously be optional, as a power coil could still give its power directly to a machine.

As a side-bonus, I’m sure we’ve all seen someone use spark links coursing with sparks to decorate build. With power links, we’d have a new way to do that, with as many colors as there’s power coils!

HOW WOULD THAT WORK?
The Tesla coil could receive power from a power coil the exact same way a machine does.
The Power link would work like a spark link and would change its glowy color depending on which Power coil it gets power from.

The same rules would apply as with the power coils, meaning that:
• if you try to connect your power link to two different machines, the game would simply not let you do it.

• If you put two power coils of different types near a Tesla coil, the Tesla coil would arbitrarily receive power from one of the power coil, but not both, just like when you try to put 1 power coils for 2 different machines of the same type.

• Obviously, a Tesla coil connected to a machine of type A via a Power link would not receive power from a Power coil of type B.

• Each power link could be connected to several Tesla coils to receive their power of the same type from different places, allowing you to space the power coils out as desired.

• The unknown part in my suggestion would be “does a tesla coil automatically appears at the end of the power link? Shouldn’t it be a separated item like the Spark generator is to the Spark link? Or could the entire power link receive power from power coils, allowing the player for even more freedom in his setup?”

{starts waiting for answers to this suggestion}

[Buugi]

Red alert. I missed you.

[Goblinounours]

Uh… I missed you too, I guess? No idea what you meant there by ‘Red alert’.

[Tynker]

The game Red Alert. I waited a year for that after the initial release.

On topic, the idea looks like it would add some interesting build aspects. I like it.

[Goblinounours]

Ooooooooowh.

That makes sense. I never player Red alert. I thought he was saying something like “I’m reporting this thread with the red flag button” or something.
I guess there’s tesla coils in Red alert, then?

[a13o]

I like the constraints around machine upgrade parts, figuring out how to fit power coils and spark link and still have a pleasing build. Reminds me of cabling solutions when building a PC. So I disagree with the idea that these restrictions fundamentally limit creativity. It’s just a different kind of creativity.

Still, these tesla coils don’t seem to limit the parts I like, and they give others more freedom, so I’m not against them.

Can I simplify the concept a bit? What if the teslas attached directly to the machine and then acted like part of the machine for the purposes of counting coils? Should remove the need for running a separate wire item and fixes a lot of the edge cases around ambiguous coil placement.

Edit: another alternative is to let us add a 5th, 6th, etc machine crate onto the machines. Just to expand/route the coil attachment surface area

[Goblinounours]

So, it would be like if a machine was composed of 5 blocks instead of 4?

I mean, it’s a surprising notion to me, but I respect that you like the concept of figuring out how to fit things to optimize them.

On the other end, that wouldn’t be enough for someone like me. I would love to have my workshop neat and organized, with some space between things, with machines in one room, spark generator in another, and power coils in one more room, all connected with wires hidden in the walls.

Being able to expand a machine with more crates would create weird situations. Like, say you have 4 machine blocks of type A, 1 crafting table and 4 more machine blocks of type A. Both machines are crafting things.
If you remove the table and put a crate type A there, creating a line of 9 machine blocks type A, what would happen? Would the game allow you to do this? Would the two crafting queues merge in one?

[a13o]

@Goblinounours

So, it would be like if a machine was composed of 5 blocks instead of 4?

Yeah and you could keep going if you wanted; adding a 6th, 7th, etc to route it as if you had the freedom of spark link. It should let you do what you want, stashing the coils far away from the machines and in whatever orientation you want.

The game currently doesn’t let you place machine crates in ambiguous situations so I think there’s already protection from the scenario you describe. And since helix machines are 5 crates I think the game’s logic here will already allow for N crates.

[Goblinounours]

Though it would be costly in materials, especially since you craft them 4 at a time. It’s a bit of a waste if you only need 1 more machine block.

What appearance would these additional blocks have? If after the 4th block of a machine, it just starts repeating the same machine block visuals, wouldn’t it risk looking confusing to have a machine made of 7+ blocks next to a machine made of 4? I’m already seeing myself going “oh darn it, I thought it was the 4 block machine!”.

And aside from allowing you to make more space to connect the machine with power coils and spark links, what would that accomplish? Because it would seem better to use the additional machine blocks to make another machine to increase productivity.

IF adding 4 more machine blocks to a machine = +30 slots in the crafting queue and the ability for the machine to craft two things at once, THEN, I’d be all over for that, though. Otherwise, it would feel more like a waste.

The power link I’m proposing would cost pretty much the same thing as spark links, and aside from the main idea, it would also be a cool decoration item for some builds.
There’s already spark links in the game, so it wouldn’t be that far of a stretch to make them work. Maybe a quick texture change to distinguish one from the other…

[a13o]

I like the idea of routing different kinds of cables to my machines, appeals to the same PC cabling urge I mentioned before. So I have no problem with either approach.

I think there’s a benefit to reducing overall complexity and not requiring two new items be added to the game, just to make less concepts for a new player to get confused by. So I was looking for ways to get the same effect as a new spark link but without introducing more items to the game.

Another totally different idea is to let power coils connect via adjacency to one another just like spark generators do. That also gives you more freedom in how to place them without each one having to touch the machine.

[Goblinounours]

@a13o

Another totally different idea is to let power coils connect via adjacency to one another just like spark generators do. That also gives you more freedom in how to place them without each one having to touch the machine.

NOW that I can get behind!
I actually already thought about that myself in the past.

And I agree that the game doesn’t need 2 items to make my idea work, which is why at the end of my original post, I wrote that maybe the power link itself could receive power, which would avoid the need to also craft a Tesla coil item to stick at the end of the power link.
Though, a Tesla coil item would also be a cool block to add to the game, decoration-wise. I could totally see people placing them on walls in their shops and all.

.In the end, if I can organize the power coils in a way that suits my design style, any solution would be fine by me.

[Marrs]

Love the illustrations

Anything which allows more solutions lets people be creative. Your “power station” could be a separate build from your “factory”.

I wonder if we could have “wireless spark links”, too?

[Goblinounours]

Wireless? But how would that work, then?
Are you thinking of something like how you can connect a door to a lever in Creativerse and such, with a wiring tool, and the connection between the two only appears to the builder when he has his wiring tool in hand?

That kind of thing?

Because it could also be super cool if power links were not cables, but more like little rings with the energy going through it like this:

A better depiction of how that would look would be the bad guy from Iron Man 2:

- YouTube

[Goblinounours]

So I just wanted to make sure this thread doesn’t end-up being forgotten.

To explain why this is important to me, here’s how my workshop currently looks:

You can see that from the outside, it looks quite nice, with no more than two blocks per machine being visible.
But below, where I placed my spark-links and power coils, the more power I need/add, the messier it gets:

I’ll be honest, I’ll take any QoL improvement on that front. If a power coil can give its power to an adjacent power coil of the same color, that would make things waaaay more easier.

[Goblinounours]

So, as an update to the previous message and screenshots, I’ve finally resigned myself to redo my workshop, which now looks like this :

I’ve pushed every machine down one block to give myself more space for power coils per machines.
So below, my power coils are now set-up as such :

I am legit sad. I feel like I’ve sacrificed the look of my workshop for litteral power.
And now, when I look at it, it looks… basic. Like what A LOT of people have.
I’ve seen someone else with, incidentally, the same setup with just the little colored nub above, just a few hours ago.
I’d love to see the circular saw of my workbench again. But it’s hidden somewhere between those power coils!

So I’m bumping the thread again, because I still have hope that the devs might add something simple to help out after the farming update.
Maybe just a recolor of the spark-links?
Something that would allow us to space out power coils from machines as much as we want.

I’d be curious to know, how does your power coil setup looks like?

[bregma]

I do not like this idea because I would end up laughing daemonically each time I entered my workshop.

BWA HA HA HA! IGOR! PULL THE SWITCH!

I would then have to change to one of my alts and limp around.

YETH MASTER

Then I’d have to switch back to my original alt.

HA! HA! HA! HA! IT LIIIIIIVES!!!1!!!one!!eleven! BWA HA HAAAA!!lim x->0 sin x/x!

Nope. Just too much dang grind in that.

[Goblinounours]

I mean… well… yes… tesla coils, electric arcs, frankenstein’s monster, it’s aliiiiive, etc. I get why you’d make a connection, there…
Buuuut I mean… aside from that… uuuh…

[FireAngelDth]

@Goblinounours

I’d love to see the circular saw of my workbench again.

You can still see it. Break one of the hidden blocks and replace it. Will change the display of the machine. Not sure which one you’ll have to break and replace to get the saw on top floor tho. Trial and error!

[Goblinounours]

Yeah, I know I can do that. That’s what I used to do. But it’s also important to have the colored nub on top. Its animation and color make things more obvious. And the circular saw model is like a table, with feets, which means that you can see waaaay more obviously under it if you punch a hole to put the other machine parts.

The point is that there is NO efficiency puzzle about power-coils because most people tend to do the same design where your machine is in a line (either horizontal or vertical) surrounded by power coils. Some people might also make them in a 2x2 square formation, but they’d still be surrounded by power coils. It’s boring.

There should be no need to have parts of a machine surrounded by power coils which tend to make the machine’s art less visible.