First solar panel upgrade is now worth it?

[SPQR]

Considering the absurd amount of time and effort it now takes to make one panel, I believe the first upgrade (+25%) is now worth it.
In terms of output, 4 upgraded panels = 1 new panel.

Cost of a new panel is 18 lithium, 18 silicon, 12 obsidian, 18 electrical components, 6 pearls, 10 scrap, 3 sinew, 3 cordage, 4 adhesive.
Cost of 4 +25% upgrades is 4 ingots, 16 scrap, 28 electrical components, 8 sinew.

Not including mass and power, but cost is also lower for 4 +25% upgrades when factoring in refining time for new ores + crafting of capacitors / transistors / boards.

Obviously this only applies to bases with 4+ panels installed.

[Riverrunt1]

One solar panel output is 0.02 not upgraded when you upgrade it you only get 0.03 . Not worth it considering what it takes for the upgrade.

[SPQR]

Originally posted by Riverrunt1:

One solar panel output is 0.02 not upgraded when you upgrade it you only get 0.03 . Not worth it considering what it takes for the upgrade.

Max output without upgrade is 0.08
With first upgrade it's 0.1 (+25%)

Your numbers, which are wrong, suggest a 50% increase. First upgrade only improves output by 25%.
One should reason in percentages, not in absolute numbers.

[terry]

Originally posted by Riverrunt1:

One solar panel output is 0.02 not upgraded when you upgrade it you only get 0.03 . Not worth it considering what it takes for the upgrade.

I really wish people would get their numbers right.
And yes, the first upgrade is worth it IMO.

[Zuleica]

Solar panel upgrades are worth it if you don't want to expand the real estate footprint but want more output. For example if you have them out of reach of hunter damage on a rooftop and don't want to expand the rooftop.

[Koldbones]

From putting some up you will literally need a whole farm of panels to do anything. I think I have 14 up and if i remember right i was getting .53 and that is with all 14 upgraded. With just 4 wind turbines I was getting better production but of course it has to do with if the wind is blowing. Again its just a time/resource sink with really no benefit. It is still way fast to produce electric using multiple generators but as everything in this game it turns into a grind/mini game to try and keep multiple gennies fueled. I run with 6 generators and it doesn't take me long to cap out my power at 7k and then play the mass game/grind and waffle the fuel of the gennies to keep up with it.

So in summation: The panels are not worth the grind for the resources just make more generators and stock pile fat for bio fuel.

[Koldbones]

Originally posted by terry:

Originally posted by Riverrunt1:

One solar panel output is 0.02 not upgraded when you upgrade it you only get 0.03 . Not worth it considering what it takes for the upgrade.

I really wish people would get their numbers right.
And yes, the first upgrade is worth it IMO.

that is pretty much what I am getting with mine so no idea what you are talking about. The numbers are terrible for panels. Wind turbines are better but then you are at the mercy of the wind.

[Jaunitta 🌸]

The first upgrade is worth it the 2nd is not.
With the wind turbines we can change month April May or Sept at 24 days in a year and we get lots of storms and wind.
For me the key is to craft 20k units of power storage with 21 solar upgraded once and 27 wind upgraded once it never runs out with 10 mining drills 6 running all the time. 3 fridges upgraded twice. Sometimes I run the refinery also upgraded. Use the stove once in while.

[terry]

Originally posted by Koldbones:

Originally posted by terry:

I really wish people would get their numbers right.
And yes, the first upgrade is worth it IMO.

that is pretty much what I am getting with mine so no idea what you are talking about. The numbers are terrible for panels. Wind turbines are better but then you are at the mercy of the wind.

Maybe try looking at them when the sun is shining? Or maybe you have them next to things blocking the sun.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3135951871
As you can see its .11 with the first upgrade.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3135961918
One with no upgrades giving .08.

[BlackLabrador]

Zuleica is correct. The only reason to upgrade the panels is if you are working with a build which requires limited space, or you just feel like wasting the materials. The upgrade has never been worth it. Just build another panel, its basically like upgrading 3 existing panels.

[Duck1098]

Am I the only one getting 0.09 from a vanilla solar panel ?

[SPQR]

Originally posted by BlackLabrador:

Zuleica is correct. The only reason to upgrade the panels is if you are working with a build which requires limited space, or you just feel like wasting the materials. The upgrade has never been worth it. Just build another panel, its basically like upgrading 3 existing panels.

Building another panel is not like upgrading 3 panels, it's like upgrading 4 panels to +25%.
It wasn't worth it with the old circuit board recipe. Now it is. Check out requirements of both in my post. Less power / mass and fewer mats for equal output.

[SPQR]

Originally posted by Zuleica:

Solar panel upgrades are worth it if you don't want to expand the real estate footprint but want more output. For example if you have them out of reach of hunter damage on a rooftop and don't want to expand the rooftop.

The first upgrade is now worth it period.
4 first upgrades (+25%) cost less than a brand new panel and have same combined output.

[BlackLabrador]

Originally posted by SPQR:

Considering the absurd amount of time and effort it now takes to make one panel, I believe the first upgrade (+25%) is now worth it.
In terms of output, 4 upgraded panels = 1 new panel.

Cost of a new panel is 18 lithium, 18 silicon, 12 obsidian, 18 electrical components, 6 pearls, 10 scrap, 3 sinew, 3 cordage, 4 adhesive.
Cost of 4 +25% upgrades is 4 ingots, 16 scrap, 28 electrical components, 8 sinew.

Not including mass and power, but cost is also lower for 4 +25% upgrades when factoring in refining time for new ores + crafting of capacitors / transistors / boards.

Obviously this only applies to bases with 4+ panels installed.

Okay, you have convinced me. It does now seem to be worth it. While it may depend on what resources you have in abundance, it does seem like a viable option to building a new panel.

Excluding refining:
Upgrade= 680P 360M
New= 1040P 315M

Unless I am forgetting something, it looks like slightly less mass to go with a new panel, but quite a bit more power and that excludes the power costs of the refining.

[bbyhighness]

Originally posted by SPQR:

Considering the absurd amount of time and effort it now takes to make one panel, I believe the first upgrade (+25%) is now worth it.
In terms of output, 4 upgraded panels = 1 new panel.

Cost of a new panel is 18 lithium, 18 silicon, 12 obsidian, 18 electrical components, 6 pearls, 10 scrap, 3 sinew, 3 cordage, 4 adhesive.
Cost of 4 +25% upgrades is 4 ingots, 16 scrap, 28 electrical components, 8 sinew.

Not including mass and power, but cost is also lower for 4 +25% upgrades when factoring in refining time for new ores + crafting of capacitors / transistors / boards.

Obviously this only applies to bases with 4+ panels installed.

I would also add to the price of mass and power for the upgrade: As far as I'm aware, hunter bases don't have electrical benches (which they should), so you can't use their mass and power to make capacitors, transistors or circuit boards. You can, however, use their workbench to make metal ingots and also get them from their chests (along with iron and copper, though it's usually small amount) and cut the cost there (you can get quite a lot of ingots from one raid if you have the material, so even just one raid can get you enough for several upgrades). Which is also good for solar panels, because apparently you can get them from the loot sometimes (not that I have ever been that lucky and I do raid them pretty often)

[LE]

I've looted a solar panel a number of times in the past from the large hunter base after the base had been fully built an up an running for some time.