Power grid?

[Dimossa]

Is thre limitaiton on how far or how much a power line can handle? have a geothermal generator roughly 200 meters away, and its having issues moving all that power it generates.

[Astasia]

Nope. A conduit can carry unlimited power across any distance without loss.

Well there might be a limit on the variable used to store the power number, maybe in the millions or something, you shouldn't hit it in normal gameplay at any rate.

[Dimossa]

damn..i think im bugged then, my excess varies from positive to negative to almost 20k...every few seconds. yet i dont have that much power demand..

[Jaggid Edje]

Are you using any wind power? Those fluctuate a LOT.

Oh, and also be warned that the power line running out to it is likely to be destroyed on a semi-regular basis. I have 2 thermal generators outside the "bounds" of my main compound and have to rebuild sections of the power line pretty regularly.
I've never actually seen what's destroying them, but probably raids, wildfires, etc.

Anyway, the game doesn't tell you when it happens you just have to notice it. At least that's the case for me.

[Astasia]

A lot of people tend to be surprised at the amount of power sun lamps use, 2900w each.

[Jaggid Edje]

If you want to actively see EXACTLY where the power is going and where it's fluctuation, there's a mod for that:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2503083820

[glass zebra]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

Are you using any wind power? Those fluctuate a LOT.

Oh, and also be warned that the power line running out to it is likely to be destroyed on a semi-regular basis. I have 2 thermal generators outside the "bounds" of my main compound and have to rebuild sections of the power line pretty regularly.
I've never actually seen what's destroying them, but probably raids, wildfires, etc.

Anyway, the game doesn't tell you when it happens you just have to notice it. At least that's the case for me.

Raiders will often enough attack power lines outside your base if there are enough raiders for those target rolls. You can put non-burning walls on top of your power lines to keep them save from wildfires/lighting and mark the whole combo'd line as home zone so it will be restored after raids. If you do that without the walls, people will sometimes go out and clean up the blood at those cables, which is especially detrimental if you use the home zone to put your people into a "save zone" during raids. With walls they can still go out to repair them though.

@op. Heavy variances can happen when you have too little power. Then it can look like you just have a little bit too little, because some machine will just be in "no power" mode and don't draw anything. When you get a little bit more power or charge your batteries a tiny bit, those machines will drink from them and instantly get you into heavy negative power until your batteries are empty again and they go into "no power" again.
That can be confusing because Rimworld does not show you the full possible negative on the power grid because many machines just stop their draw until power is there. You most likely just need more power. Then it should stop fluctuating to much.

[whatamidoing]

Originally posted by glass zebra:

Raiders will often enough attack power lines outside your base if there are enough raiders for those target rolls. You can put non-burning walls on top of your power lines to keep them save from wildfires/lighting and mark the whole combo'd line as home zone so it will be restored after raids.

Sandbags work too if you want to walk over them. I always run conduits under either walls/doors or sandbags, just because I'm paranoid about them burning.

[glass zebra]

Originally posted by whatamidoing:

Originally posted by glass zebra:

Raiders will often enough attack power lines outside your base if there are enough raiders for those target rolls. You can put non-burning walls on top of your power lines to keep them save from wildfires/lighting and mark the whole combo'd line as home zone so it will be restored after raids.

Sandbags work too if you want to walk over them. I always run conduits under either walls/doors or sandbags, just because I'm paranoid about them burning.

Do you put doors into those sandbags for faster travel? Just thinking about that sounds like it would look funny.

[whatamidoing]

Originally posted by glass zebra:

Originally posted by whatamidoing:

Sandbags work too if you want to walk over them. I always run conduits under either walls/doors or sandbags, just because I'm paranoid about them burning.

Do you put doors into those sandbags for faster travel? Just thinking about that sounds like it would look funny.

I mean, you could (if you wanted it to not slow travel at all I guess you could use only held-open doors), but I prefer the Stalingrad look.

[grapplehoeker]

Originally posted by Astasia:

A lot of people tend to be surprised at the amount of power sun lamps use, 2900w each.

Not me lol ;)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2611630934
This was my last of three bases on this Archonexus quest run. This was also a transhumanist ideology, which means tons of very power hungry equipment. So, I made sure to power it all and then some ;)
One interesting aspect Ideology has shown me, that I've never tried before, is complete reliance on hydroponics rather than grow zones from rich soil. That of course means I'm well aware of the power requirements for multiple sunlamps ;)

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by whatamidoing:

Originally posted by glass zebra:

Raiders will often enough attack power lines outside your base if there are enough raiders for those target rolls. You can put non-burning walls on top of your power lines to keep them save from wildfires/lighting and mark the whole combo'd line as home zone so it will be restored after raids.

Sandbags work too if you want to walk over them. I always run conduits under either walls/doors or sandbags, just because I'm paranoid about them burning.

You can also lay a bunch of concrete around them. 2 tiles in any direction will stop a fire from spreading, and the concrete will improve movespeed when your pawns are going to the geothermal generator to repair it. It won't protect it from direct lightning strikes or zzzzttt events the way that walls will though.

[Jaggid Edje]

Thanks for the tips on protecting those power lines guys.

Curious though, are they supposed to just get destroyed and be totally gone? Because that's what happens to me. Not like with walls and stuff where it leaves behind a frame that your folks rebuild (automatically if it's the home area).