One thing I really don't understand about PZ...

[Sushi_Rocks]

...is why the ♥♥♥♥ there are no solar panels and chargeable battery systems...

...or geothermal systems...

It would make so much more sense than the way more complicated emergency generator system that requires you to drive to a gas station. Now with the new update, the gas stations will probably run out of gas after a while as well.

Why is this aspect missing? Why is nobody else talking about this?
I would add solar panels to the game before I would add the emergency generators.

I am really confused.

Does anybody know why they chose this way? Is this addition planned?

[S͢k̴e̸letơr]

I wanna say when the game was first being developed they weren't as popular?

[Banzai]

Think geothermal would be a bit of a stretch for one apocalypse survivor making things out of deconstructed radios, watches and TVs. Solar exists in at least one mod and I see no reason why that couldnt be added to the base game (but remember the game is set 30 years ago). Also seems unlikely that a gas station would run out of fuel very quickly since you would be looking at 10s of 1000s of litres of fuel although I suppose thematically some gas stations would have probably run out of supplies due to people panic buying fuel when the Knox virus first hit.

[Ferrix]

I mean, how available and/or efficient was solar power in the 90's (hint: during the 90s, commercially-available solar panels had about 10% efficiency and were woefully expensive), and how common was it in the middle of the Rust Belt in Kentucky (hint: expensive + poor-as-dirt Rust Belt doesn't mix). Where would the geothermal power infrastructure be? The nearest mountain range is on the opposite side of Kentucky on the Virginia border, that's way off east past Louisville, and that's the only place that could theoretically have some activity heating the groundwater.

Ultimately, technologically for the 90's time-period the game is set in, and the location, a lot of that doesn't make much sense.

I do agree with rechargeable batteries though, an electrician being able to set up a few car batteries in a bank would be cool. And I've outright known people who've taken apart stuff like clothes dryers and made wind turbines out of the parts, it isn't difficult to basically turn an electric motor around backwards and make a dynamo out of it, so that would be an actual FEASIBLE way of having renewable electricity. And maybe someone by the river would be able to have a water wheel similarly. But solar or geo? Not a chance, not on the handmade map.

[Sushi_Rocks]

Originally posted by Ferrix:

I mean, how available and/or efficient was solar power in the 90's (hint: during the 90s, commercially-available solar panels had about 10% efficiency and were woefully expensive), and how common was it in the middle of the Rust Belt in Kentucky (hint: expensive + poor-as-dirt Rust Belt doesn't mix). Where would the geothermal power infrastructure be? The nearest mountain range is on the opposite side of Kentucky on the Virginia border, that's way off east past Louisville, and that's the only place that could theoretically have some activity heating the groundwater.

Ultimately, technologically for the 90's time-period the game is set in, and the location, a lot of that doesn't make much sense.

I do agree with rechargeable batteries though, an electrician being able to set up a few car batteries in a bank would be cool. And I've outright known people who've taken apart stuff like clothes dryers and made wind turbines out of the parts, it isn't difficult to basically turn an electric motor around backwards and make a dynamo out of it, so that would be an actual FEASIBLE way of having renewable electricity. And maybe someone by the river would be able to have a water wheel similarly. But solar or geo? Not a chance, not on the handmade map.

But you could still just build/steal moar solar panels, couldn't you? I mean everyone else is dead, so...

Wind energy turbines are a good idea as well of course. Especially for rainy and cloudy days. So survivors would've eventually to build both to survive long term.

[Ferrix]

Originally posted by Sushi_Rocks:

But you could still just build/steal moar solar panels, couldn't you? I mean everyone else is dead, so...

Wind energy turbines are a good idea as well of course. Especially for rainy and cloudy days. So survivors would've eventually to build both to survive long term.

Steal them from where? During that era, solar was pretty much exclusively a "really rich people" thing. It was inefficient as hell, the panels were expensive, people didn't really use them much. You'd need an entire solar roof of those shoddy 10%-efficiency panels, just to mildly reduce the power draw needed to heat your water so you could take a shower, back then. People wouldn't have HAD them in the middle of bum-fcuk nowhere Kentucky, either. Again, this is the Rust Belt. It's not exactly economically booming. Also, the US was in a recession during the period the game is set in, it only started to recover a year AFTER the game is set. And we know that sht ain't happening now.

Wind power, hydro via water wheels, and now with the Post-Apocalyptic Re-Industrialization direction b42 is going, STEAM turbines, are technologically the only real options that are realistic.

[Actionjackson]

"Hey, i could fill up that generator with fuel and start it on and be done with it,... but on a 2nd thought, f* it, i build a geothermal power plant"

[Sushi_Rocks]

Originally posted by Ferrix:

Originally posted by Sushi_Rocks:

But you could still just build/steal moar solar panels, couldn't you? I mean everyone else is dead, so...

Wind energy turbines are a good idea as well of course. Especially for rainy and cloudy days. So survivors would've eventually to build both to survive long term.

Steal them from where? During that era, solar was pretty much exclusively a "really rich people" thing. It was inefficient as hell, the panels were expensive, people didn't really use them much. You'd need an entire solar roof of those shoddy 10%-efficiency panels, just to mildly reduce the power draw needed to heat your water so you could take a shower, back then. People wouldn't have HAD them in the middle of bum-fcuk nowhere Kentucky, either. Again, this is the Rust Belt. It's not exactly economically booming. Also, the US was in a recession during the period the game is set in, it only started to recover a year AFTER the game is set. And we know that sht ain't happening now.

Wind power, hydro via water wheels, and now with the Post-Apocalyptic Re-Industrialization direction b42 is going, STEAM turbines, are technologically the only real options that are realistic.

You know, it's still just a game. Time passes unrealistically quickly, you can grow crops in the winter, there are no zombies in real life etc. etc.
I think solar panels would be totally fine and no, 10% efficiency panels are fine. Tech has evolved, but 10% is still 10%.
There are many rich houses in the cities as well as military installations. So finding solar panels or geothermal power generators doesn't seem totally unreasonable to me. I would assume that the military would use some backup power plans.
Remember: I don't want a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hyper-realistic 90s Kentucky simulation. I want a zombie survival game with good game mechanics. If you want pure, hard reality, just go outside and create a company or something like that.

I think it would make sense to add this technology since it would be awesome to be able to use it in REALLY long plays. If you would be able to have a fully electric survivor home in the second or third year of your survival, that would be awesome.

Water wheels would be an awesome idea for a generator! It would be more reliable than wind and generate more power.

[Armagenesis]

Is rechargable lithium battery even a thing back then? Other than car batteries ofc.

[xAlphaStarOmegax]

Solar panels probably weren't a well known thing in the 90s. There's a mod that you can use that allows you to use solar panels.

[Sushi_Rocks]

Originally posted by Actionjackson:

"Hey, i could fill up that generator with fuel and start it on and be done with it,... but on a 2nd thought, f* it, i build a geothermal power plant" :lunar2019laughingpig:

Actually it's more like:
Hey, I could fill up that generator with fuel and...

oh, I have no fuel!

Then lets...
1) Find a working car,
2) try to find the key for the car,
3) /wire the car
4) see if the trunk/boot is large enough for a gas canister and a generator
5) find at least one gas canister
6) Put the gas canister in the trunk
7) find at least two generators (one to keep the fridges and freezers in your base running and the other one to keep the fuel pump at the gas station running)
8) Put the second generator in your trunk (hope that it is in good condition, otherwise you have to repair it)
9) find a gas station
10) drive to gas station
11) clear way to gas station from RESPAWNING zombies
12) hope that you don't hit a zombie or crashed car on the way out so that your car with all the stuff in the trunk breaks
13) clear the gas station of zombies
14) somehow get rid of all the zombies that have followed your car's noise
15) pull out generator
16) fill it up with fuel
17) start generator
18) kill zombies attracted by generator noise
19) pump fuel from gas station
20) put generator on off
21) put everything in the trunk
22) decide whether you are going to sleep here or try your luck going home
23) drive home / sleep a night there
24) kill all the respawned zombies that have followed the car to your base
25) Refill your primary generator.
26) Repeat until the tires on your car have worn out and you are stranded/forced to go on foot.

Solar + battery is literally just:

1) Dismount solar panel
2) Transport panel to your HQ
3) Mount solar on your HQ roof
4) connect to battery system
5) connect stove/fridge/freezer to battery system

The latter one sounds easier to me
I probably missed a few steps.

[Oc]

1993. Also to get technical, gas should be useless after 6 months to a year when it starts going bad.

Transportation should be bikes and horses basically.

I wouldn't mind solar being in vanilla if it was extremely rare.

[Ferrix]

Originally posted by Sushi_Rocks:

You know, it's still just a game. Time passes unrealistically quickly, you can grow crops in the winter, there are no zombies in real life etc. etc.
I think solar panels would be totally fine and no, 10% efficiency panels are fine. Tech has evolved, but 10% is still 10%.
There are many rich houses in the cities as well as military installations. So finding solar panels or geothermal power generators doesn't seem totally unreasonable to me. I would assume that the military would use some backup power plans.
Remember: I don't want a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hyper-realistic 90s Kentucky simulation. I want a zombie survival game with good game mechanics. If you want pure, hard reality, just go outside and create a company or something like that.

I think it would make sense to add this technology since it would be awesome to be able to use it in REALLY long plays. If you would be able to have a fully electric survivor home in the second or third year of your survival, that would be awesome.

Water wheels would be an awesome idea for a generator! It would be more reliable than wind and generate more power.

Dude, if you wanna depart from how the game was deliberately designed, that being to be as realistic as is practical of a "What If" of a zombie apocalypse in the 90s, by forcing technology that wasn't commonly available or very advanced, then fine. Play with the solar power mod. Pay someone to code a geothermal power mod and add volcanoes to semi-rural western Kentucky so that they function. If you don't want a semi-realistic game, then either get mods or you're playing the wrong game.

Also, no sht time passes rapidly, if it was real-time it'd take forever to get anything done. I'd know, I play Haven & Hearth where everything IS real-time, it takes months to get anywhere. Crops in winter is going away next update with the crop overhaul/expansion amid growing seasons being added to the game, plants won't be able to grow in winter besides in a greenhouse.

The game HAS good mechanics, it's that the ones you're complaining about the lack of make no physical sense because this game's setting is supposed to be as close to real-world as possible. And big-azs solar farms and every house in a rich subdivision having a solar roof just factually isn't/wasn't a thing.

Bottom-line, go play with the solar mod but don't insist on the base game being altered where everybody else here has told you it makes zero sense.

[Quill]

Originally posted by Ferrix:

Originally posted by Sushi_Rocks:

You know, it's still just a game. Time passes unrealistically quickly, you can grow crops in the winter, there are no zombies in real life etc. etc.
I think solar panels would be totally fine and no, 10% efficiency panels are fine. Tech has evolved, but 10% is still 10%.
There are many rich houses in the cities as well as military installations. So finding solar panels or geothermal power generators doesn't seem totally unreasonable to me. I would assume that the military would use some backup power plans.
Remember: I don't want a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hyper-realistic 90s Kentucky simulation. I want a zombie survival game with good game mechanics. If you want pure, hard reality, just go outside and create a company or something like that.

I think it would make sense to add this technology since it would be awesome to be able to use it in REALLY long plays. If you would be able to have a fully electric survivor home in the second or third year of your survival, that would be awesome.

Water wheels would be an awesome idea for a generator! It would be more reliable than wind and generate more power.

Dude, if you wanna depart from how the game was deliberately designed, that being to be as realistic as is practical of a "What If" of a zombie apocalypse in the 90s, by forcing technology that wasn't commonly available or very advanced, then fine. Play with the solar power mod. Pay someone to code a geothermal power mod and add volcanoes to semi-rural western Kentucky so that they function. If you don't want a semi-realistic game, then either get mods or you're playing the wrong game.

Also, no sht time passes rapidly, if it was real-time it'd take forever to get anything done. I'd know, I play Haven & Hearth where everything IS real-time, it takes months to get anywhere. Crops in winter is going away next update with the crop overhaul/expansion amid growing seasons being added to the game, plants won't be able to grow in winter besides in a greenhouse.

The game HAS good mechanics, it's that the ones you're complaining about the lack of make no physical sense because this game's setting is supposed to be as close to real-world as possible. And big-azs solar farms and every house in a rich subdivision having a solar roof just factually isn't/wasn't a thing.

Bottom-line, go play with the solar mod but don't insist on the base game being altered where everybody else here has told you it makes zero sense.

You can actually set the game to real time lol

And yes it takes FOREVER for a day to pass as a day is... a day long

[Quill]

Originally posted by Ocular:

1993. Also to get technical, gas should be useless after 6 months to a year when it starts going bad.

Transportation should be bikes and horses basically.

I wouldn't mind solar being in vanilla if it was extremely rare.

Gas is good for a LONG time

The shelf life listed on fuel is just when it starts to break down. I worked at a Service Department for a Dealership and we've had vehicles sit for years and start after replacing the batter with the old fuel sitting in the tank

Worst that happens is the old fuel's broken down additives will gunk up the fuel lines so need more maintenance to clean the lines now and then

[Ferrix]

Originally posted by Ocular:

1993. Also to get technical, gas should be useless after 6 months to a year when it starts going bad.

Transportation should be bikes and horses basically.

I wouldn't mind solar being in vanilla if it was extremely rare.

If there was any mod(s) I'd LOVE to see integrated into the game, it'd be the mods that add bicycles and skateboards. Someone tried horses and their legs kinda.... cartwheeled weird. Spinning completely straight rather than walking. And they made engine noises lol

But yeah, gas expiring would make total sense. Maybe we could refine wood gas or biofuel eventually as a "replacement".