Electricity demand

[sicey]

Whenever I start to play with a minor country I do have a huge amount of electricity demand. The only thing i am building is power-coal but the demand is always growing which makes the game unplayabble. What should I do

[GIJoe597]

This an issue for all nations, not only minor. I think it is a combination of low unemployment, less than 3%, and tweaks made for WWI and the new techs, Improved Power Grids I - IV. Once you start researching them, electricity starts to even out.

One must be very careful and manage all aspects closely. Do not keep building power plants as no matter how many you build you will never have enough until you start researching the Improved Power Grid techs. Each one increases (all)Power output by 50%.

While I do find it challenging, I do not think it makes the game unplayable. I believe it needs to be tweaked some more.

[sicey]

Originally posted by GIJoe597:

This an issue for all nations, not only minor. I think it is a combination of low unemployment, less than 3%, and tweaks made for WWI and the new techs, Improved Power Grids I - IV. Once you start researching them, electricity starts to even out.

One must be very careful and manage all aspects closely. Do not keep building power plants as no matter how many you build you will never have enough until you start researching the Improved Power Grid techs. Each one increases (all)Power output by 50%.

While I do find it challenging, I do not think it makes the game unplayable. I believe it needs to be tweaked some more.

Thanks for your answer. It is really weird gameplay there. I was building only power plants and still no results

[GIJoe597]

I and others have been testing and it has been a topic of discussion for some time now among SRU/GW players. It does not matter which nation you are, you will run out of manpower and electricity very soon after game start. Even the top three nations in population size run out of manpower, which further compounds the lack of electricity. As manpower gets lower all your facilities produce less, this includes the Power Plants. The player "wants" to build more plants, but that is the wrong move. If you can afford to, you may try switching to a form of power which produces more energy. For example, change Petroleum Power plants to Coal. Coal produces approx twice the amount of Electricity as Petrol, with no additional manpower costs.


Which nation are you playing with?

[sicey]

Originally posted by GIJoe597:

I and others have been testing and it has been a topic of discussion for some time now among SRU/GW players. It does not matter which nation you are, you will run out of manpower and electricity very soon after game start. Even the top three nations in population size run out of manpower, which further compounds the lack of electricity. As manpower gets lower all your facilities produce less, this includes the Power Plants. The player "wants" to build more plants, but that is the wrong move. If you can afford to, you may try switching to a form of power which produces more energy. For example, change Petroleum Power plants to Coal. Coal produces approx twice the amount of Electricity as Petrol, with no additional manpower costs.


Which nation are you playing with?

I was playing with Egypt and Greece. I thought it was because of minor nations and now I am playing with Italy but it seems i have to research the power grim tech. But it says 2-3 years to take?

[GIJoe597]

Yes, it takes a very long time. When I start in 1914, I usually do not get adequate Electricity until around 1922 or so.

[sicey]

Originally posted by GIJoe597:

Yes, it takes a very long time. When I start in 1914, I usually do not get adequate Electricity until around 1922 or so.

Well it seems I have to live with that :D

[whironim]

What is going on with 1943. I have everything under control and with my electricity 150% of demand and suddenly in January 1943 I'm at 70% of demand overnight. Timber, Food, and Electricity all spike and make the game unplayable. I've hit this point twice in the last month and both times my economy is destroyed by March 1943.

[GIJoe597]

wyatt.hironimus

I am unsure about your particular situation, but there are techs which advance your "society level", cannot remember exact name at the moment. When that happens your urban development and/or infrastructure increase. This places a greater demand on your resources.


ADDENDUM: In past SR games my goal was to always be self sufficient. In the current iteration of SRU, I think that is the wrong course to take. Go ahead and import things, make friends, help the world economy.

[whironim]

That's what is weird. All of my societal techs are researched up through government literacy program and power generation IV. This time I was not at war and was actively building up my diplomacy. Pricing is also affected in January of 1943. Pretty sure it's a bug as my food pricing goes from $84/unit to $31/unit

[GIJoe597]

There is some code in the game to increase the use values over time. It was added in a patch ;

Version 9.0.50

• In High volatility, more use of variability in AI decisions on alliances, wars
  
  
• In increased volatility, more chance of AI attacks against protected (sphere ally) regions
  
  
• Volatility increases movement of diplomatic relations and belli over time
  
  
• Idle wars will improve relations and reduce belli over time
  treatyintegrity and externalintegrity will gradually increase (dip difficulty related, civ appr too)
  
  
• Belli is gained against largest army / largest build cap (2020 style, reduced)
  wmapproval and subsidyrate gradually rise over time, based on civ approval
  
  
• AI consider idle war in peace offers (prevent endless wars)
  
  
• Ruler AI - "nosphere" game option expanded to more alliances / war calculations
  Improvements to some random factors
  
  
• Petrol, Electricity, and Finished goods production & use multipliers will gradually increase from SR1936 to SRCW/2020 values (10x and 20x) over 10 years
  
  
• Node production will slowly increase/decrease if less/greater than world demand (not U)
  
  
• Fixed bug preventing regions selling colony stocks to market (ie rubber) causing hoarding
  
  
• Increased AI frequency of trade offers for goods with incoming trade source (ie colony)
  
  
• AI regions will offer los/transit/mutualdef first before an alliance offer
  
  
• More possibility for AI regions with smaller armies to declare war in "gang up" situation
  
  
• Greater emphasis to ally / war with bordering regions
  greater use of aistance (.scenario file) and playeraistance (.cvp file) for decisions
  
  
• Clean up AI thread random number functions to new standard
  
  
• Belli no longer has gradual decline on maps with AI stance above normal
  
  
• If govt falls in AI region that is not part of superpower alliance, then major policy and relations shift (except if volatility is lowest)
  
  
• Reported region-fall crash fixed, somehow. Original cause unknown.
  
  
• AI regions-not-at-war issue with not researching units resolved
  
  
• Minor UI fixes related to UN territory
  
  
• Games will begin with a wider range of election dates starting 2 years out
  
  
• US Election dates now progress when leader doesn't change
  
  
• State Department democracy ETT now shows polls of inspected region properly
  
  
• Considerable refactor/fixing of AI Region Enemy/Offer Peace code
  
  
• Fixed issue where AI Regions would negotiate with colonies instead of parents

[whironim]

The inflation aspect of this patch was pretty cool. But lets look at the numbers that I am encountering between December 1942 and January 1943. These ratios are pretty close to what I am encountering. 1942: I am producing 10 units of electricity and using 7 units, producing 10 units of food and using 9 units, and producing 10 units of oil and using 10 units of oil. 1943: I am producing 10 units of electricity and using 14 units, producing 10 units of food and using 15 units, producing 10 units of oil and using 14 units.

Additionally price per unit decreases by a magnitude of 2.5. Same thing happened when starting a campaign in 1936 when Battlegoat initially released the DLC for The Great War.

[Chris]

I have never ran out of manpower or needed to build power plants really and most of the time i dont bother with improved power tech. So you guys are all inaccurate

[GIJoe597]

ok

[Midas]

The Problem is that Industry also needs power, so its possible to get a balanced energy ratio but its hard without the techs. But you must keep your own industry at low cap and than you have a rough time

the question is now, when i start WWI is there also an increase in production for pet, power and so on like in 1936 or not?

[Alpine_Ridge]

Originally posted by GIJoe597:

This an issue for all nations, not only minor. I think it is a combination of low unemployment, less than 3%, and tweaks made for WWI and the new techs, Improved Power Grids I - IV. Once you start researching them, electricity starts to even out.

One must be very careful and manage all aspects closely. Do not keep building power plants as no matter how many you build you will never have enough until you start researching the Improved Power Grid techs. Each one increases (all)Power output by 50%.

While I do find it challenging, I do not think it makes the game unplayable. I believe it needs to be tweaked some more.

I suppose it probaly makes the game pretty slow if you want to play as Tebet in 1936? Is there any tips to speed up resarch so i can optian the powergrid upgrade sooner or do I just have to wait it out?