[ADDON] [1.7.2] CompactWindmills

You did not understand the concept of "realistic" watermills. Such a watermill would work with a huge tank/lake being filled by RAIN. And this would be even more laggier than solar pannels (assuming you'd need more to generate the same power), if you wanna make special bloc to calculate the tank/lake size, speed of refilling etc.

Just because MC water is INFINITE, and water stills also seems to fall continuously, which makes any kind of generator based on them an exploit.

All others kinds of "Advanced" Watermills are pretty much exploits-generator that you can use anywhere. In this case, why not just adding an expensive generator that generate EU without ANY requirements ? That sounds stupid, but it's basically the wame thing.

Yeah, that's basically what I was thinking about, when I mentionned lag ^^. However, a Greg-alike method would work fine I think.

Then the system could be: make an open tank: its filling speed is determined by its horizontal size, its max capacity by height of the lowest wall on the sides*horizontal size, and the energy it would generate would depend of the difference of height between the water surface (changing when the tank is being filled/being) and the Water Turbine. The Water Turbine could be used to generate energy but also to store some as water in the first tank for 125% of the energy it could generate.

Now to avoid exploits without making it constantly checking for daylight: Lowest level of the first tank = sea level (64 ?). If you wanna get rid off the rainwater, you could:
1- store it in a tank below to reuse it again as a way to store energy
2- make it disappear, ASSUMING you do it you do it above sea level. Would maybe require an Ocean Biome (so no floods) or it could be turned into normal water by a machine with the said conditions.

And to avoid "Tower" exploits (aka reffiling faster by making severals tanks one above the previous), the tank "ground" block couldn't be placed if there is no daylight (or nightlight ^^) or if there is another tank "ground" block under.
I think such a system would work, without that much lag (because of no daylight checking constantly), and would encourage stylish, realistic construction. As for energy generation, I think it should he like: EU=30 + cubic meter of water going through the water turbine*[height of the water consumed (would of course be higher with a full tank)-height of thr Water Turbine]. And to avoid "setups in the sky" like SpwnX WM designs, there could be a rule like "to be placed, a ground block need at least 1/30 of its height in RS blocks right below the tank ground (for leaks, ofc xD). Maybe it should apply to the height of the wall instead actually.So building exploits would be more expensive.

I think the filling speed should be: from -1 to 1 mB (aka 1/1000 cubic meter) per hour without rain, i.e about 200EU/hour/horizontal ground block (^^) at the max efficiency (difference between water level and height of the Turbine), from 0.1 to 1.5 mB/min with rain and 0.2 to 3 mB/min with Thunderstorms.
For each couple of values, the lower would be desert, and the higest would be jungles. Having your tank half in a desert would't be a good Idea ^^.

The only issue I still see to such a system would be OP-ness with Mystcraft, but this mod is Op-ness itself already ^^.

Walls and Grounds block should be special blocks slightly more expensive than R-stone. (like 6 RS and 3 Refined Iron Ingots/Plates).

The Water Turbine should be kind of expensive, and GT alike (Maintenance, outputting up to 2048EU/t but only worth for setups with really big tanks). Btw, I think this would fit better with GT ^^.

I have a question about that whole water tower idea...

Since it seems to basically use the sky as a resource, why would I make that instead of solar panels?
Or, even better, why would I make that instead of windmills? Especially the compact windmills that this thread is supposed to be about.

Also, why does having a 'realistic' water generator that uses, of all things, RAIN to generate energy, matter? I really don't understand why people see realism as so damn important in Minecraft...

Yeah, I know all that. However, that still doesn't answer any of my questions: Why does it matter? Or, to put it another way; how does it add any fun or enjoyment to the game, especially when one could just plop down a solar panel instead? Does it produce a LOT of energy in the rain? Is it cheaper/lower tier then a solar panel? Is it better then a solar panel, if you compare it to how unreliable the rain is against how reliable the sun is?

Quote from SpwnX

Theorically, hydroelectric powerplants stores rainwater using dams (and a river to supply it) and in terms of energy generation, cost and availability, it is much more worth.

There's a problem with that, though; Most hydroelectric plants rely on MASSIVE drainage basins, covering hundreds of square miles at least. (And I'm not referring to the lakes or rivers themselves, mind you. Google drainage basins if you need explanation.) Although they do generate a lot of electricity, they require a very large area to be draining into them. There is no way to simulate drainage in any form in MC, so the only way to truly simulate this would be to make it require MASSIVE tracts of land, making it basically an alternative solar panel that's MUCH less reliable. Or you could make it produce more energy per square meter then it would realistically. Which is the whole reason you even want this system, as opposed to the current one.

The way I described it was kind of made to reflect that, even though of course it can't be as efficient in MC as it is IRL.

But maybe, to represent it with a bit more realism, a tank located in a River Biome could have a natural (with sunny weather) speed of refilling of let's say, 3mB/hour instead of one. Mountain Biome could increase that as well.

And the system I described would at least fit with some aspects:
It would be able to store energy, because the amount of water you'd get for a rain would be enough to run the Turbine for like 10 times the duration of the rain.

And you would also have to manage when you use the energy, because of the system beingmore efficient when the water level is high.

And this would be far different from Solar Pannels: aprt from the storing capacity, which would makes it more a auto-refilling Fuel Gen than a Green Gen, it would also be a lot cheaper than Solar Pannels for massive setups, but it would take huge amounts of room. And it wouldn't be worth for small energy generation, because of the price of the Turbine + obvious geometrical laws (^3 increases faster than ^2 ^^).
Also, despite the fact it would be a bit OP, it would be so long to build, and so huge, that it wouldn't work at all in PvP, and would be hard to duplicate with UUM, because of needing (and making useful) a lot of work for building.

It would also basically be "room for EU", because of generating way less energy per square meter than Solar Pannels, but at a cheaper price.

Quote from SpwnX

Not possible (without exploits) due limitation of laws of physics. You can't get more energy from pumping water than you used to pump that water in first place.

To extract water, pumps use redstone engines which are perpetuum mobile's on their own (remember the principle of their work?) or TE liquiducts which cost even less resources and energy (just wrench them and they'll be supplying water). Thus it's no more of an exploit than the aforementioned devices are.

Quote from abculatter_2

Or, to put it another way; how does it add any fun or enjoyment to the game, especially when one could just plop down a solar panel instead?

Solar panels require access to the sky. I've been trying to design watermills that do NOT require any access to the sky.
That means they will work at any height of 0-255, completely sealed (provided you've placed pumps properly over a 3*3*1 (I prefer 3*3*2) pool).

Quote from MatLaPatate

The Water Turbine should be kind of expensive, and GT alike (Maintenance, outputting up to 2048EU/t but only worth for setups with really big tanks). Btw, I think this would fit better with GT

Do you realize that 2 water mills are made in GT with a generator and 4 aluminium plates and my basic engines use no less than 4 of them? First make an Industrial Blast Furnace then heat it to 1700 K (aka make 12 Reinforced Machine Casings) then smelt 8 aluminium (for a total cost of 102 400 EU) then you'll get a water mill outputting either 1-5 or a constant 4 EU/t (and don't forget to make a pump in the latter case!)

Do you think he realized playing with GT was also meaning "playing a game that will last much longer and won't become annoying after 50 hours of game", aka "nerfing green gens" ?

So many people keep saying that but one of the main GT point is to nerf GreenGens as well as UUM, because it makes the game almost creative after 50 hours for a bad player ...

What I tell about your Watermill is that they are Zero Point Energy Generator ... And that cost is extremly low for 4 EU/t you know ? Try making the same with a Biofuel Factory + Semi Fluid generator, and realize how much time you spend harvesting plants, not even couting the price of this generator ...

Hello,

I want to ask, if I can include your Mod "Compact Windmills" in my ModPack?

ModPackName: BakermanLP ModPack 1.6.2
Distribution via: ATLauncher
Minecraft Version: 1.6.2
MainPage (DEV): https://github.com/BakermanLP/Minecraft-ModPack-1.6.2
Licences: https://github.com/BakermanLP/…2/blob/master/licences.md
Homepage: http://www.bakermanlp.de

Thank you for reply.

Michael (aka BakermanLP)

Oh man those mills just look, look NERDGASM!!

You should try the incoming versions of IC2 experimental, given it will have news Windmills ... (Yeah, I hope they won't be exploitable anymore! Take that SpwnX xD)

Yeah I know, but I find it more realistic than "your" windmills setup.