Posts by Zanoab

I think multi-block solar panels would be a really great idea if balanced.

I'm thinking placing solar panels in a 1 block height cuboid shape should multiply efficiency. A solar panel could have a base efficiency of 20% and every (working) solar panel in the multi-block adds 1% efficiency. If the multi-block isn't cuboid, the multi-block won't form and every solar panel will be stuck at 20% efficiency.

The solar panels will require maintenance in the form of solar modules. If a solar panel is missing a solar module, the solar module is broken, or there is no direct sunlight, it won't produce power and there will be a 2% efficiency reduction. The solar modules won't break over time but anything walking on the solar panel or rain will cause damage. This will make solar panels expensive to maintain in most biomes and players will need to find ways to keep mobs from spawning on the multi-block.

The reductions don't seem like much but when you have a solar grid of 80 solar panels for 100% efficiency, a single mob or griefer could easily slash the power produced and leave you to check each and every solar panel until all the broken solar modules are replaced. Just 10 broken solar modules can reduce power production down to 61%.

Of course the numbers can be tweaked for balance depending on the recipe costs for the components. Hopefully encouraging the use of solar panels en masse as a multi-block will count down on lag (instead of 80 individual solar panels spitting out power, it would just be the multi-block and some simple math).

Name: COV Scanner (Configurable Ore Value Scanner)

Purpose:
The COV Scanner is a fully reprogramable OV Scanner. The COV Scanner maintains a private list of blocks/ores to detect with customizable ore values. The COV Scanner is also capable of negative ore values which deters miners from mining certain blocks including when the blocks are in the way of a desirable block. When calculating ore value around a player, negative ore values are excluded unless enabled by the player. Because of these higher level features, the range of the COV Scanner is reduced to a 7x7 area and additional power used based on how many ore value entries are currently stored. Scanning blocks into the COV Scanner's memory will also consume power.

How to use:
The COV Scanner automatically adds the ore values from the OV Scanner used in the recipe. When right-clicking while holding the M key, the player is presented with a list of usable commands to configure the player's COV Scanner. When right-clicking a block while sneaking (holding shift), the block's id and metadata is added to the COV Scanner's internal ore value list and the player can then enter the ore value and optionally remove the metadata. This means after construction of a COV Scanner, players will need to track down all the physical ore blocks they wish to include. Ore value entries can also be copied from COV Scanner to COV Scanner. The recipe for transferring entries is two COV Scanners in a vertical stack. The receiving COV Scanner is placed on top and the COV Scanner being copied from is placed on the bottom. Copying entries consumes power based on how many entries the COV Scanner being copied from has (capped at COV Scanner's max power storage).

Commands:

• /covs [help]
  Displays the list of commands for configuring a COV Scanner
• /covs help <arg>
  Displays instructions on how to use the said command.
• /covs select <index>
  Selects <index> in the COV Scanner's ore value list for quick editing. Default is -1 which automatically selects the last ore value entry added. When a new ore value entry is added by the player, the selected index is reset to default.
• /covs list [<page>] [<amount>]
  Displays a list of <amount> ore value entries starting at <page>*<amount>.
• /covs set [<index>] {id | meta | value} <value>
  Sets the id, metadata, or ore value for the ore value entry at <index> to <value>.
• /covs clear [<index>] {meta | value}
  Deletes the metadata or ore value. Deleting the metadata would only have the COV Scanner match the block id. Deleting the ore value simply sets it to 0.
• /covs remove [<index>]
  Removes the ore value entry.
• /covs reset [yes]
  Wipes all ore value entries on the COV Scanner. Omitting "yes" tells the player to reenter the command with yes added at the end.

Recipe:
I honestly haven't got a clue for a balanced recipe. I'm thinking something like this:
= OV Scanner
= Glowstone Dust
= Gold Cable

If the devs feel this is a tier 3 tool, I won't complain having the recipe use a lapotron crystal and glass fiber instead.

Windmills are working fine for me.

After a quick decompile, I noticed the formula has been changed. The altitude is reduced by 64 so you will need to go higher for decent results.

Have you tried removing the drill and putting it back in? Miners seem to permanently stall when they can't continue and need to be manually reset before they will try again.

I have a small flower of windmills with a maximum branch depth of 3 for a total of 25 windmills connected together. Just recently, I noticed that my average intake from the windmills dropped drastically and remained that way for several minecraft days. I went up with my EU reader and learned that the center and the first branch level is producing power but the remaining 20 windmills are producing 0 EU/t.

I haven't tried anything yet to find the problem but I'm going to assume the windmills just broke or the wires need to be repaired because of a bug. The whole flower is using tin cables so it couldn't be from generating over 5 EU/t.

Any ideas on what the problem could be and how to avoid it in the future? I'm in the middle of planning for a heavy expansion (possibly quadrupling the windmill count) and noticing these drops in EU/t will become more difficult without regular maintenance.

EDIT: I tried replacing some of the cables for one of the windmills with no success.

EDIT2: Half of the windmills mysteriously started generating ~2 EU/t again but it seems to be random windmills so I am completely clueless on what is going on.

EDIT3: Everything seems to be back to normal. I probably just had a long streak of bad luck with the windmills and just overreacted.

Problem resolved.