Generators (For powering lights in mines etc.)

Same as solar panels, just concentrated.

 

Would be cool if instead of building them as a single block, you hooked up lenses or mirrors that focused the light to a single solar panel. The player would have to be the one doing the calibrating, rotating the lens until it hits the solar panel.
If you planned everything out right, you could power your entire base with one solar panel block and a lot of mirrors.
To optimize your power generation, you'll have to hook every mirror to a motor that slowly rotates them in line with the sun.
They also look really cool.

 

Oh, like in Fallout NV

 

I feel that this will end badly... E.g. OOPSY I CUT A HOLE IN MY PLANET WITH LAZOR BEAMS FROM THE SUN

 

Well it would make building a hellevator much easier if anything.

 

This isn't Terraria, and the game won't have Hell/Easy to access inner core.

 

It was a joke about cutting a hole in the planet with a lazer beam from the sun >.> And you still can make a vertical shaft straight to the core if you like, you just cant go into the core.

 

True, the wiring system confirmed does not guarantee any sort of power-source requirement. Thank goodness.

I don't think there should be power sources because they'd feel like wasted space to me. I mean, think about it: if there were two versions of the game, one with power sources required and one without, then your base could look identical in both games only the one that requires power sources would need a few extra rooms and wire connections that serve no purpose other than to fulfill a requirement. It also means you can't use powered machinery until later in the game when you can finally craft a generator. On top of that, immersion shouldn't be an issue in the first place-- consider that Sony just developed a new Lithium-Ion Battery that holds 2000 times more power than a battery of the same size created only 20 years ago (and it even recharges 1000 times faster!), it's hard to say how easy it could be to store and supply energy for you devices in a Sci-Fi setting. Also consider that Starbound has space pirate penguins and cats riding mechas.

Tekkit is awesome because of the things you can do with it, not the things you are forced to do with it.

Anyway, people have brought this up several times before and I don't really want to argue over it again. I just wanted to chime in to say that no, it is not confirmed to be in the game, and I'm glad. You can always build a cool-looking purely cosmetic generator or power core. That's my two cents worth.

 

But in Tekkit you still have to worry about how fast things are moving, whether or not your engines are going to explode in your face, you still have to power your pipes, ensure that everything is working smoothly and whatnot.
Also, without power sources, would the player be able to just place anything he wants anywhere and it works? Then what would be the point of having a base if you could just magically set up a pair of laser turrets and now you have a defensible area?
Obviously, as a prerequisite the generator would be the first thing that the player crafts, and it would probably be fairly easy to craft, if the ship didn't come with a removable one in the first place.

What if you didn't *have* to have a generator attached to laser turrets, but with a generator attached they got a buff, such as faster fire rate, more damage, greater accuracy or longer range, possibly something you could change in a turret settings UI, and the buff increases with a more powerful generator.
This would make generators feel enabling, rather than limiting, as well as upgrading your generator to a more powerful one would save you the cost of having to upgrade every single item in your base as you teched up.
If different turrets got different buffs with your generator, then as the game progressed, you would be able to (Though usually not forced to unless you're on a high-level planet) optimize your base defenses with different turrets to deal with different varieties of threats, long-range ones to pick off weak enemies so that the high-damage turrets wouldn't have to bother with them.
This way, generators would be adding depth to the game rather than just being something that must be done.

I also kinda like designing logistically complex machines, designating power (or dwarfs) to certain tasks, making sure that I have padding in case something goes horribly Fun, and engineering something that I built and understand completely what each part and power line does. Maybe that's why I like Dwarf Fortress so much.

 

Then what would be the point of having a base if you could just magically set up a pair of laser turrets with a generator and now you have a defensible area?

This is my point. The generator is just tacked on. It doesn't necessarily create any complicated systems like tekkit.

Right, because it doesn't feel limiting if you are weaker unless you do some specific thing.
Come on, the only way for it to feel enabling is if it is totally optional in a viable way. Like if a player who has no generator can create a base that is just as well-lit and well-defended as one that does have a generator, which is clearly not what you want. Even if it isn't technically required, it would still feel limiting.

I do too. I'm so glad there will be logic gates in Starbound (it's confirmed!). I just feel like generators are technically nothing more than a required and-gate, since you need the power source on and the switch on as well. You could easily simulate this in the game by adding an optional and-gate to all of your switches, so that if an invader enters your base you can kill all the lights and activate all the traps, for example.

You simply don't need to have power generators to have intricate logic systems.

 

That argument makes no sense, the entire point of the generator is you would have to set up some sort base/building with power to support the turrets instead of just throwing down a campfire surrounded by turrets and nothing else. I hardly see how an entire power management system is just tacked on, like saying doors or windows are just tacked on.

If the generator cant be used to activate turrets period then it needs some sort of other use. If it cant buff turrets then there is no other reason at all for it to work on turrets. You can build one also so it isnt limiting in any way, just you deciding to limit yourself. You can chose to run defense at a standard strength if you wish but others can decide to put more resources into bolstering their defense.

Without an indepth electrical system we are back at Terraria level of wiring where you have ultra simple connect switch to object Y and that's all and I want more than that. Having a power grid means you need to think about power consumption on top of wiring. Many of us want more depth to wiring that power generation would provide in ways nothing else can. Unless you can think of anything else to add instead of generators. It also adds an aspects to PvP where if you can bring down the enemies generator you can get past a solid defense so protecting parts of your base would be a priority.

 

A campfire with a generator and turrets. Woo.

If you have to have turrets, don't make them overly complicated affairs. Try "Turrets only function within a certain radius of a generator or sensor suite." Easy to understand and apply. Prevent campfire fortresses by making large generators capable of handling a dangerous turret setup too much trouble to be worth setting up in small temporary bases. For example, a large initial investment of fuel that isn't returned when the generator is removed. Anyone who can constantly afford that is so well-off that they don't need it. (Anyone who can't can just quickly wall themselves off with blocks anyways.)

Personally, I won't miss turrets if they don't make it. Everyone knows real masculinity is doing the fighting yourself.

It's the logic that makes an interesting wire system. Handling your big number budget is a layer of unnecessary management on top. I didn't have to build the infrastructure necessary to maintain a functioning spaceship; I have a spaceship and it's going to go to space whether or not I want to build a gas pump and pipeline so I can pretend to fuel it up every time I want to fly somewhere. I bought this game about exploring to be an explorer, not an engineer.

Cue everyone burying their generators within a solid box of shielded indestructium. The Weakpoint Argument doesn't work if the weak point isn't carefully designed and placed by someone who has to keep the game's balance in mind, logical and realistic placement be damned.

 

I assume the generator is a furniture object of some sort. Plop it on the ground, connect it to the turrets, done. No walls or buildings are required, unless you are suggesting that walls should also be required to power objects. Here's an image to demonstrate:

The gray things are Turrets, the Orange is a switch, and the Green thing is the generator.

What does a generator really add to the game when you strip away all the cosmetic details? If it is on, the devices it is connected to will work. If it is off, the devices will not work. In other words, it creates And-Gates because you need both the device's switch and the power's switch to be on. You can replace that with any other system of and-gates that create the same exact functional system.

Here's an image of what I mean:

The Blue square is a screen or switch that controls the doors-- The thick blue lines are doors and the thin ones are wire connections.
The Green and Red are basically the same, only for the lights and traps (falling rocks or lava maybe).
The Light Blue square is the "generator", or it could be a screen just like the other ones.
The Orange squares are And-Gates. They make it so that unless both the switch AND the "generator" are turned on, the device doesn't activate. While it would be much more complicated, and beyond my skill and patience to draw out in MSPaint, it is also 100% possible to create a system using only logic gates that perfectly simulates requiring a certain amount of "power" to operate certain devices, or to reroute that "power" elsewhere.

Without an indepth electrical system we are back at Terraria level of wiring.[/quote]
That's just not true. In fact, with what they've shown in streams, Starbound will probably have a more advanced wiring system than Minecraft (and people have created working calculators using redstone in Minecraft). Generators don't make it more complicated or allow you to do new things, it's just a requirement. In fact, as I was drawing the diagram above, I realized that if Chucklefish implemented a power-requirement system, it would mean you can't use NAnd-Gates! So in fact you have fewer options!

To be clear, a NAnd-Gate is a system where the device only turns on if all switches attached to it are turned off; It's the opposite of an And-Gate. You could create an interesting base defense system where the player can only proceed if they close all the doors behind them, or one where activating the traps also shuts the doors, just to give a couple examples. Not having the NAnd-Gate would actually be very limiting in some cases.

Actually, the And-Gate systems that I demonstrated above fulfills all of these purposes just fine, and you could still use NAnd-Gates. If you really think that requiring power actually adds new capabilities, then you just don't realize how versatile logic gates are. After all, that's all a computer really is: A bunch of logic gates linking together changes between massive numbers of on/off binary bits. The fact that my computer requires power doesn't make it more advanced or complex, it's just tacked on.

 

Would you rather upgrade every turret in your base, which could be quite a few, or would you like to simply replace one object and all of your turrets are better? You can most definitely light your base with torches or something of the sort, but obviously energy-demanding systems, turrets, supercomputers, and the like would be far easier to upgrade if you only had to upgrade a single block. This would be much more convenient, and it would add a nice learning curve to the game (Differentiating your turrets earlygame would be a minor improvement, but lategame with lots of power for your turrets, designing a good turret setup would be much more cost effective. this would make the game's defenses easier to balance around. It would preventing a new player thinking "What the hell is the difference between a long/med/short range, firerate/damage-weighted turret?" or wondering why their turret defenses are so ineffective when they haven't discovered exactly what the settings did.)

In your first example, you could just replace the switch with a generator, turn the generator on or off, and forgo the switch, rendering this no more complex or tacked on than the switch. In the second example, you could just connect the generator to the switches, just like real life electronics works. Or you could attach the generator to what's being controlled, if you have multiple switches controlling a single object, or you could do something much more exotic should you so desire. This with well-designed wiring mechanics and a thoughtful player would allow for a lot of variety in how to create certain systems, some of which would be ideal in specific situations.

 

I don't think you should upgrade turrets at all, they should work just like your guns do. In fact, if I had it my way there would just be wall mounted robotic arms that literally hold and use your old weapons that you don't need anymore. Heck, you could even use the 3-D Printer to make a ton of identical turrets.

I actually hate linear development, though. Instead of more damage, new equipment should be exotic and work in an entirely new way that I can exploit somehow. I should be more versatile, not objectively more powerful. That is simply not something that can happen by just upgrading one block or furniture item.

That's exactly my point. You can do the exact same thing, only in my version it is optional and you can still use NAnd-Gates.
Think about it. Maybe the switch device itself is the generator. Use some imagination, it's a game.

It was drawn without making any assumptions on how Starbound Logic Gates will work. I just know Logic Gates are confirmed, but it may be totally possible that you don't need to pass the generator through a separate gate (the turret or switch could be the gate itself, idk). It was just one example of how significantly more complicated systems can be made with Logic Gates.

Anyway, here's the compromise: You already have 'generators' that you can make using And-Gates. They're just optional. Real generators don't add anything other than early-game difficulty and don't enable anything that properly implemented Logic Gates can't handle.

 

This was done in Isaac Asimov's Robots series... I think it would be awesome!

 

Wow this got complex fast! I'm out

 

It just sorta happens when I'm around.

 

It would also add a layer of tension to the game, during PVP/PVE.
The power cuts out at an inopportune moment, plunging the base into darkness...

 

For DuedlyLuvdisc: The generator is also a weakness in PVP.
Which, for a game, is rather oddly a plus. It opens up new challenges and tactical solutions(How do you keep other players from cutting the power during a base attack?)