Need Beyond-Base Powering Guide asap!

[Cpt. Wardova TCNMS Intrepid]

I need a good guide for how to power bases. (There just are none, and NMS forgot to tutorial this new aspect.) Like can we daisy chain, what and where? I just don't know where to even start with my base (version 4.0) and not have it look like a bunch of drunken maidens went to work on a Maypole. At the very lease can someone post electricity layouts of their base with a brief description of how you achieved not making it look like a rat's nest. I got every other aspect of this game down pat, but this wiring thing is giving me brain cramps. Surely there is a way to make it all look neat and not like a plate of spaghetti blew up. Thanks in advance!

[Tom]

Hi, Cpt. Wardova - long time.

Running wiring is tough without making it look like a cat's cradle, but it can be done with some careful work. It'd take a book chapter to go into detail, and a video would be much better, but here are some tips:

Start here with one of my earlier posts, to figure out how much power you need:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/0/3185654583876085592/

The cleanest way to power the base would be with one or more electromagnetic generators, but you need to get lucky to find one. Add the survey device to your multitool, and use it to search for a 'hot spot'. You never know what kind of hot spot might be near to your base, but if you're really in luck you might find an electromagnetic hot spot. If you find one, then depending on how far away it is, and on your game mode, you may need to look elsewhere on the group for tips on how to reach it from your base. Once you can reach it, build one or more electromagnetic generators at the hot spot, daisy chain them together (e.g., wire from a receptacle on one to a similar receptacle on another), and send a wire from just one of them to an outside receptacle on your base. They run day and night, and that's all you'll ever need. Each is equivalent to three solar arrays, or 150 kPs in the game's jargon. Pile them on until your base has all the power it needs.

Don't bother with the biogenerator at all.

For solar cell arrays and batteries, here are some pictures from one of my bases to show how to clean up the wiring:

grid battery wiring
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1840498225

solar array wiring
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1840499402

my door proximity switch:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1838732791

Some points:

Everything in this grid is daisy-chained together, to reduce the tangle of wiring. You can't see it in the battery picture, but all four of the batteries are connected together, side to side and front to back.

You can wire point-to-point at crazy angles if that doesn't bother you but if you like things neat, like I do, you can run a wire anywhere and end it wherever you like, and attach another wire to its end and run it on. I like things rectilinear, so I use that technique to make square corners as I run my wiring. You can see this where I bring the wiring from the top of my storage containers down to the ground. The game is a bit touchy about where it wants to point a wire when you're constructing it, but you can usually get the effect you're after. There's also a 'scan camera' that's supposed to help you lay out things like batteries and solar arrays in regular arrangements but I haven't used it to any extent yet. I should probably make friends with it.

The proximity switch: the box at the top is a power inverter, the one below is the proximity sensor. You only need one per door, and it will work from both inside and outside. I must have built that thing four or five times until I got a tidy arrangement I liked.

Best regards,
Tom

[MrBlonde[GER]]

so THIS is how you setup a proximity switch! O_O i need to try that...
check this out aswell, looks extremely neat imho:

Originally posted by Captain.Jartyk:

I'm building power lines between hotspots and the base now, it looks more realistic and professionally done.

see pictures.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/789739575153059743/8627A530B450E419BA3E03AE675253D7E095DD0C/

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/789739575153060436/1977B4B19EFB9B927A5F7AF4D54EEE81A8D2D8DE/

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/789739575153061082/B4A9107D7280657F6904EE0EFE05DCF465CAA311/

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/789739575153061949/9406A52FE5D3488CEED795C639B5DF677C7A3DB8/

Originally posted by Captain.Jartyk:

Originally posted by MrBlondeGER:

that looks awesome and i'm shamelessly copying that! but i can't extend my base building limits by placing batteries or anything... the EM field is over 1.000 units away and i don't want to build multiple "bases". :/

I do it this way, check where the hotspot is, go back to the base, build at the border, go toward the hotspot, build again at the next border, and so on, when I'm there, build generators, and then I build the electric line back to base.
Easy once you get it.
Has without problem gone to 1000au with this method.

[Cpt. Wardova TCNMS Intrepid]

Great examples thanks you three! This demystifies things a bit for sure. I was playing around with solar a bit and got wiring to be less crazy. Just takes some practice and trying different things I guess. Those electromagnetic hot spots sure do look like the way to go eventually. Especially if you can find a good hot spot. They sure do need a basic guided tutorial on stringing it all up though phew, not everyone is an electrician! I saw math involved there! XD I still think we need wireless charging for some things as an option, as well as wire conduits or a mechanic to "sink the wires" after we lay them out. And yeah it seems 90 degree angles are a big thing, at least to make wiring up your base easier. I did notice through a different video that I can't find now, that you can make your own wiring sticky points. That wasn't widely apparent in the intro, but it sure helps. I think they need to fine tune the power use age of devices too, it's seems a bit high and I worry about ending up with something that looks too much like a city power plant for a small base.

I can't wait to see what all people do with this mechanic. It's a pain to master at first, but is very flexible and adds a nice level of complexity and dare I say realism to our bases.

I hope people continue to leave examples in here too. (On this game play thread.) Seems the best place outside of the big guides. I am sure everyone will need some examples to help them on their building. Way to go ;)

[MrBlonde[GER]]

you don't have to do a lot of math to realize you'll need a ridiculous number of panels/batteries for your average base, not to mention those insane community projects...
EM fields are the way to go and i am very glad people showed me how to use them without building base computer after base computer after base computer...
a 1000u radius is pretty generous and you're very likely to find a hotspot. a bad one is still better than 10s or 100s of solar panels, even if you build them somewhere you don't have to look at or move around them all the time.
unless we get a bigger more efficient version in the future, the solar panels are only meant to get you started or keep you alive i think.

[bill]

Agree with Tom, I have my doors wired the same.
Once you work out how to use the wiring/switches etc, then it's just a case of tidying up.
I use Power Inverters as connecters. You can just lay cables, and connect ends to ends, but I find using these to be less hassle :)

No need to dig to hide cables, they will pass through the ground quite easily. Just put a connector on the ground at lowest point where you want to start, and again where you want it to go to. It will be buried.
Alternative is use poles - make your own :)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1841131809
Keeps the ground clear.

Inside can be hidden too.... for non pre-fab bases
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1840380220
Previously I had Proximity sensor on the wall - but upgraded to putting it under-floor as in pic.

If you build off the ground (as I usually do) - then it's even easier to put wiring under the floor.

I also use Proximity switches so that power is only on when I need it - as in this teleporter
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1841132122

Most of my bases use no power when I'm not there, unless I am mining.
HTH