Remote Power System + Geothermic Vents

[Taylor]

EDIT: I saw your stickied post and realized you already had geothermal vents written down as a potential non-roadmapped feature. I think what I have below is still valuable, especially when you consider the remote power system. Thanks.

Hello, I'd like to suggest 1. a new type of power available to the player, and 2. a way to transfer power across long distances.

Geothermal vents are my idea for a remote power source. These are naturally occuring objects which are harnessed for power through geothermal turbines - which are craftable. A geo turbine is crafted and placed on top of a vent, and produces energy which can then be fed to a base via another craftable item, the power conduit.

Power conduits work much like tethers, but transfer power across distances. This allows the player to 'harvest' power in a remote location (think big, like dams, remote wind farms, underground hydrothermal pools) and then transfer that energy to your home base. They're basically a long version of the conduits that currently connect buildings attached to a habitat. Currently you'd have to create hundreds of resin pods reaching to the power source itself. Power Conduits could cost 1 compound for 11 (like tethers) and reach about as far, linking themselves automatically.

The geothermal vents themselves would offer intermittent power much like wind, but they would be available sometimes in underground areas where wind doesn't reach. This would make it possible to have an underground base, fully powered by geothermal vents and geo turbines. Right now underground bases are at the mercy of reaching to the surface for wind and solar energy, in order to operate automatically for research stations. This is a huge hassle, so pretty much everyone makes bases on the surface.

Geothermal vents would operate like trees or large flora, in that they would be 'active' until players dig up the last bit of ground underneath them, at which point they'd 'pop' and be destroyed. This way, players can get rid of them if they don't like them where they are, and as developers you don't have to redesign the terrain system to include an indestructible planet core for geothermal vents. The whole thing is destructible, just like the rest of the world.

Just an idea that came from my increased interest in energy automation for my moon base. Thanks for listening.

[Mharr]

I'm pretty sure I've seen the placeholders for geothermal vents during cave explorations, would definitely be satisfying to cap them with something. +1 to this, also it could operate as a module attached to the back of a large rover that trails power cable behind as you drive.

[lblackthorne]

If I remember correctly, early versions of the game had geothermal generators, but they never worked right and the vents themselves were buggy.