I think this system is not realistic, as in real life generators doesn't produce a fixed amount of electricity, any load applied to generator terminals will slow the generator down, and the governor detected slowdown, increasing amount of steam delivered toward steam turbine
Instead, you need to match the production towards consumption, which I think its worse than old packet based system which is more intuitive, and realistic as per above
Realistic = annoying to use. See Minecraft Joules and Railcraft Boilers. EU has always been "clean" and intuitive and should stay that way
I'll have to agree with a lot of people on this thread, the new system is definitely worse than the old system. I'll admit the first time while playing IC2 that I realized I could send a billion 32 EU packets down a single copper cable I was like "lol that doesn't much sense", but I got over it pretty fast because it just came down to "don't put more voltage on a machine then it can handle" and I was happy.
While I agree the new system is more realistic, it simply isn't fun which is the most important thing in my mind.
I definitely thinks that there needs to be some sort of solution that limits the amount of EU through a cable, but it absolutely can't impact the mod in a way that is frustrating or tedious, which the new system does.
I think the best way (as some have suggested) is to limit the amount of EU/t that can go through a cable. However I also suggest that if a wire is delivering more EU/t then it can handle, that it will start to get visibly hot & smoke. If you leave it long enough (say 30 seconds maybe), it has a chance to catch fire (which could set other things on fire) and after say 60 seconds it simply burns/melts away.
In this way you are forcing people to distribute their power grids in order to prevent overheating wires without the frustration and confusion of randomly exploding machines just by adding 1 extra coal generator. It also gives the player a chance to notice their screw up and "fix the problem" before some of their wires burn up, rather than all their wires just suddenly disappearing/exploding for no apparent reason.
Display MoreI'll have to agree with a lot of people on this thread, the new system is definitely worse than the old system. I'll admit the first time while playing IC2 that I realized I could send a billion 32 EU packets down a single copper cable I was like "lol that doesn't much sense", but I got over it pretty fast because it just came down to "don't put more voltage on a machine then it can handle" and I was happy.
While I agree the new system is more realistic, it simply isn't fun which is the most important thing in my mind.
I definitely thinks that there needs to be some sort of solution that limits the amount of EU through a cable, but it absolutely can't impact the mod in a way that is frustrating or tedious, which the new system does.
I think the best way (as some have suggested) is to limit the amount of EU/t that can go through a cable. However I also suggest that if a wire is delivering more EU/t then it can handle, that it will start to get visibly hot & smoke. If you leave it long enough (say 30 seconds maybe), it has a chance to catch fire (which could set other things on fire) and after say 60 seconds it simply burns/melts away.
In this way you are forcing people to distribute their power grids in order to prevent overheating wires without the frustration and confusion of randomly exploding machines just by adding 1 extra coal generator. It also gives the player a chance to notice their screw up and "fix the problem" before some of their wires burn up, rather than all their wires just suddenly disappearing/exploding for no apparent reason.
As it has been SAID QUITE A LOT OF TIMES, especially by Player, the E-Net is current WIP and bound to change later. Soon enough, you can have your billion BatBoxes to another BatBox. However, once you put down a CESU, you're dead.
As it has been SAID QUITE A LOT OF TIMES, especially by Player, the E-Net is current WIP and bound to change later. Soon enough, you can have your billion BatBoxes to another BatBox. However, once you put down a CESU, you're dead.
I am afraid I don't understand the point of your post? Are you saying that the new E-net will now behave inconsistently between voltage levels?
If that is the case, that is even worse then before!
Okay, just to make this clear, there are 4 E-Net systems as of now: the one from IC1, then the one from pre-Experimental IC2, the current Experimental E-Net, and the future E-Net.
The pre-Experimental E-Net behaved such that a machine needs to accept the voltage of the power source with the highest output. (I.e. you can attach any number of power sources that output 32 EU/t or lower (Solar Panels, BatBoxes) to a BatBox). The current system behaves such that machines have to accept the total voltage output of all power sources. (I.e. BatBox + 33xSolar Panel = boom!) The future E-Net will behave like the pre-Experimental E-Net, but in a different manner.
The reason why packets were temporarily removed because they were causing too much lag, especially by players spamming solar panels and geothermal generators. Until the E-Net can resimulate voltage, vanilla IC2 machines and cables will not fizzle/explode/do any negative damage when fed too great an output. However, GregTech machines will still explode because Greg is sadistic.
What is so troubling about only dealing with eu/t? The voltages are easy to remember:
32
128
512
2048
8192 (that one is a bit hard, I admit)
Now, the only thing you need to check is if your generated eu/t exceeds these limits at your weakest cable / lowest machine. Best is, you only use cables which voltages you actually use (e.g. don't use glass fibre cable in a place you could use tin cable). Then, when adding a generator you just see "Hm, I already have 3 and they each produce 10 eu/t, maybe I shouldn't be doing this.."
Also, transformer upgrades if a transformer in front of every machine is too bothersome for you. I really would like if they found a way to revert the transformer behaviour. That's the only thing I can say. You can also paint cables..
You could even write the eu/t you produce on a sign and wouldn't even need to calcute the eu/t everytime, only add the ones from your new generator.
How is that not more intuitive to a new player, maybe one that doesn't really care about the science behind it, than the old system.
"Okay, here I have 1000000 individual solar panels producing 1000000 eu/t." "Ah, so that's how IC² works."
Ten minutes later..
*BOOM* "What the hell did you do?!" "I just connected this MV solar array, it doesn't even produce 1000000 eu/t, why did it go boom?"
/rant
The future E-Net will behave like the pre-Experimental E-Net, but in a different manner.
Are there any details available about this "future E-net" so that I can read about it, or is it still too early in development for that?
Are there any details available about this "future E-net" so that I can read about it, or is it still too early in development for that?
It is being a bit delayed though. The only confirmed information from Player are:
You should be safe with not exceeding the voltage rating, i.e. connect as many batboxes to another batbox as you want, but don't feed it from a cesu
As I stated multiple times already the energy net is nowhere near its final state and voltage isn't implemented yet. The simulation does already use the correct algorithms, but the voltage values are being ignored atm.
Machines still explode by receiving too much energy at once, but right now current == energy and currents sum up. Later on the voltage will make machines explode and higher currents just mean more throughput at the cost of higher conduction losses.
UU isn't finished either, we're not even close to think about balancing it. It's not that hard to find iridium or dungeons btw.
Later on the voltage will make machines explode and higher currents just mean more throughput at the cost of higher conduction losses.
That sounds good to me and definitely makes more sense to me. 
The new systems seems to be fine from what I am reading from these post. Single packet additive EU is simpler and would probably cause less problems in the long run, specifically, the lag. But still, the sudden explosions of machines and other stuff without any warnings sucks. You can't expect that most players, especially casuals, will compute everything right to the exact EU every time they place a machine. Maybe adding optional protective mechanisms of some sort should suffice? Tripping when overloaded and turning off all machines on the line it is connected to? Maybe fuses for early game and then re-settable circuit breakers for later on? I think that would be newcomer friendly... And also fun? Imagine isolating the problem and looking for what line did the circuit breaker tripped given the multitude of transformers to be used in these new system... It'll be like a real power grid... 
The new systems seems to be fine from what I am reading from these post. Single packet additive EU is simpler and would probably cause less problems in the long run, specifically, the lag. But still, the sudden explosions of machines and other stuff without any warnings sucks. You can't expect that most players, especially casuals, will compute everything right to the exact EU every time they place a machine. Maybe adding optional protective mechanisms of some sort should suffice? Tripping when overloaded and turning off all machines on the line it is connected to? Maybe fuses for early game and then re-settable circuit breakers for later on? I think that would be newcomer friendly... And also fun? Imagine isolating the problem and looking for what line did the circuit breaker tripped given the multitude of transformers to be used in these new system... It'll be like a real power grid...
Please, stop reviving this goddammed post. It has caused enough trouble and discussion already.
