Is wind power basically useless?

[mansman]

Maybe it's map dependent but my windmills will sit for days with 0 generation and even then on the days they do spin it's intermittent. I'm considering just moving to beaver power for my main industrial area since it's at least reliable. In the early game you simply don't have the tools to effectively build water power to any extent.

[Fall2YrDoom]

That is why I play Iron Teeth.. Better power buildings..

[EleventhStar]

that's what the batteries are for.

iron teeth have the drawback of needing logs to get power so it's not all sunshine there either.

[Osmorphic]

You can to build batteries between wind but usually by then your beavers are stable during bad water / drought so there is no time pressure. My more recent design is putting batteries on the edge of a 4 or 6 block high levee (depends on faction). You have to get the power up there anyway to run the water pump.

I put my windmills on level 1 platforms with their power connectors. Then I can run between them and not worry about them blocking movement. The bigger windmill works on less wind so I often skip the small windmill.

During drought you can move your beavers to beaver power to make some planks / gears.

The big power requirement is to pump water into your water retention dam. This coincides with your fresh water supply. So invariably I build 8+ water wheels until I have enough power to pump the water with plenty to spare. Then pop the batteries on the side of the levee dam. Once you have batteries add batteries or large wind mills as required.

[stonelock99]

I have found wind power so intermittent that it cannot be relied on. (Same for water wheels. I use some but I mostly rely on hundreds of beaverwheels. I wish I could put robots into beaverwheels.) What I do with my industrial parks is to use vertical shafts and a platform to cross the pedestrian paths, and instead of putting a cross-block on the platform I put a windmill, which at least gives me some power now and then. As for batteries, I have found few places to build the, but being a (real world) engineer I usually manufacture 100,000 sticks of dynamite and just level the map.

[Alcator]

Wind Power + Batteries > Iron Teeth engines + Batteries

[MicroElf]

Wind is very reliable source of power as it’s not dependent on drought/badtide roll. But you need the correct set up. I recommend to:
1. Connect all your power buildings in one system
2. Have enough windmills on average: ~70 per small and ~165-170 per large
3. Have enough batteries to level consumption and to not waste wind during nights. I can not tell the exact proportion because often 1-2 built on elevation batteries is more than enough.

[Wuik]

Originally posted by Alcator:

Wind Power + Batteries > Iron Teeth engines + Batteries

Yes ,totally agree but :
Infinite bad water + water wheels > Wind Power + Batteries > Iron teeth engines + Batteries
^^
Anyways , even if that is more complicate to have an stable energy at the beginning , controlling the growing of the population seems always more easy for the Folktails than the Iron teeths to me ...

[mansman]

After playing Iron Teeth for a while, I now realize playing Folktails is basically hard mode in almost every way. The limited water pump height limits access to water (which is weird for a farming focused faction).

The power options for Folktails are horrible until very late game. Having to build massive arrays of hamster wheels to power basic industry is painful. The single water wheel is entirely outclassed by the Iron Teeth versions. And if you want to use them, you have to give up large amounts of growing area. Without access to batteries wind is useless. I had a 13 day span where the windmills only turned for like 4 total hours during the daytime.

Am I missing something or is it supposed to be this unbalanced between the factions and Folktails are simply an unlock mechanism for Iron Teeth and once unlocked you never use them again?

[Gresh]

Originally posted by mansman:

After playing Iron Teeth for a while, I now realize playing Folktails is basically hard mode in almost every way. The limited water pump height limits access to water (which is weird for a farming focused faction).

The power options for Folktails are horrible until very late game. Having to build massive arrays of hamster wheels to power basic industry is painful. The single water wheel is entirely outclassed by the Iron Teeth versions. And if you want to use them, you have to give up large amounts of growing area. Without access to batteries wind is useless. I had a 13 day span where the windmills only turned for like 4 total hours during the daytime.

Am I missing something or is it supposed to be this unbalanced between the factions and Folktails are simply an unlock mechanism for Iron Teeth and once unlocked you never use them again?

There are trade-offs. Iron Teeth is a lot more wood and metal intensive (especially if using engines), and some of their food is locked behind metal as well. Folktails you can have a relatively diverse food economy very early, as their food is easier to source and their supply chains aren't as complicated (excluding bread). Folktails are also a lot easier to maintain exact population, where Iron Teeth population fluctuates depending on well being score. Folktails have shallower pumps, but they also have a much stronger pump now so relatively fewer pumps are necessary to maintain the same amount of water supply.

I do prefer Iron Teeth in general, but I don't think the two factions are particularly unbalanced or anything.

[Soul4hdwn]

Folktail, get earlier farms and productivity. Focus easier on building/designing... Like moving bad water away from usable things via Leeves.

using water wheels on bad water till have where access to dynamite sounds fantastic. I never had issues needing constant power though... I also didn't need storages outside of basic food as bakeries hold enough and similarly factories (except cut wood). The moment I had a large water tank, it was enough a long side what lakes I used for water.

If anything iron teeth are a bit tight and even when I have thier better robots... I'm set long before anything serious.