Better Luminator range

Quote from Peter110

We all know the luminators and their smart placing, don't we?
Even if it uses EU, it is still quite cool and gives the game a bit of industrial realism.
But we also know that their reach is as big as the RedPower2 lamps, a torch or some glowstone. This means it doesn't come with any further benefits, other that looking good.
What I feel we really could need is a little expansion to it's range. If I make a big industrial workshop with CF-walls and a 4 block high ceiling, I would need a tremendus amount of luminators to prevent mobs from spawning, which aren't too cheap and still cost energy.
With a little more reach the problem would be solved. No more mob-fighting inside the house, no more creepers breaking luminators and other machines! Wouldn't that be nice?

*sigh* Another person who doesn't know Minecraft's lighting mechanics.

The maximum light level possible is 15.
Luminators emit light level 15, which is the same as RP2 lamps, lava and glowstone. They only appear to emit light level 14 as the blocks directly adjacent to it (not diagonal) are light level 14.
Torches emit light level 14.
(You can find this by looking at the bl value from your Minecraft debug screen. The sl and rl values stand for sunlight and real light respectively).

The only way luminators can emit more light is using Factorization's method, which is to add "glowing" air blocks that emit light level 15 around the luminator.

Quote from SpwnX

Thats what i have suggested earlier (somewhere) but got ignored. I'd like if luminators spread light a bit farther than factorization wrath lamps, so it can compete and be really useful to light huge areas, for a few EU.

I strongly support this. The way luminators currently work gives them no benefit over any other light source. The way i see it, they'd need to be upped to the level of a wrath lamp or beyond (since they aren't an infinite light source but require energy). And the creator of factorization probably wouldn't mind if the same system was used in IC2.

Or you could give them some mob repelling quality much like the equivalent exchange interdiction torches used to be. (should i post this as a seperate idea?)

Luminators just need some kind of benefit because, let's be honest, who uses them right now dominantly over any other light source?

There actaully is a mod that adds floodlights that use an intangible lit block system and illuminates a large area. It also includes an IC2 compatability block, the electric floodlight, which accepts IC2 power. This really hould be in vanilla IC2. Additionally, Factorization Wrathlamps perform a similar funtion. And you're telling me that long-range light is impossible? Luminators as of now are 100% USELESS. We need them to have more use. I SUPPORT THIS SUGGESTION.

Quote from engineer404

[...]And you're telling me that long-range light is impossible? Luminators as of now are 100% USELESS. We need them to have more use. I SUPPORT THIS SUGGESTION.

I'm pretty sure nobody ever said long-range light was impossible, just that it would have to use magic tricks -- and I'm fairly certain your two examples use exactly those magic tricks that were brought up in the very first reply to this thread. As for your other point, I agree fully: luminators are currently useless, and we need them to be useful -- this suggestion is a good way to make them so.

Would it be possible to use special luminators that you can place all over the room and are powered wirelessly by a "luminator control" with a range limit and some configurable loss? That would probably remove the hassle of having to energy-crystal all your luminators or run wires to them.