Is one water source enough?

[Drevin]

I'm new to the game and I was wondering if the water pond you start with is enough for any needs in the future. I'd kinda like to play on a contiguous map, without obstacles, so I'd like to set the map to have as little water as possible, but I'd rather know upfront if that would screw up my game or not. Is it possible to run power lines from a single water source, and are the water pump slots available on a single pond enough to cover all energy needs? Is there any other use for water besides steam generation and choke points against the biters?

Thank you.

PS: I'm still experimenting with the setup sliders. It seems the best way to have as little water as possible is to move the left slider to 600% and the right slider to 17%? Is that the right way to do it?

[Fel]

Water is infinite and each offshore pump can pump up to 1200 units of water per second so the small-ish lake that every spawn have is usually more than enough unless you go for a base on a very large scale powered by nuclear reactors (they require a whole lot of water and your lake's size limits the amount of offshore pumps that you can put).

[impetus_maximus]

Originally posted by Drevin:

PS: I'm still experimenting with the setup sliders. It seems the best way to have as little water as possible is to move the left slider to 600% and the right slider to 17%? Is that the right way to do it?

there is always land fill. ;)

[Jupiter3927]

It's possible to have a mega-factory on a small lake.
Just don't build anything too close to your lake to leave room for water extraction.
You might run into some funky logistics issues when you need water way off in the distance somewhere though...

[jhughes]

The only limiting thing, as already mentioned, is amount of water per pump (and also max amount in one pipe). Assuming the water source is big enough to hold 20 or so pumps, you should be fine even in the end game. (At least i normally would be).

But .. IF you plan to do things in other locations (outposts) .. not having water there could mean you have to run it from your central location to the outpost. It totally depends on your play style. I routinely put refineries beside the oil fields and transfer back products to my main base. I do that sometimes with steel and iron and copper plates (make them at the outpost .. move the plates back instead of moving the ore back) .. other people build everything in base and always only transfer back the raw materials.

[guts2501]

Don't forget that water is a physical barrier for bitters as well as cliffs, assuming you are playing a normal game. Its quite nice to have water around your base to funnel the bitters to only have one area to defend.

[AlexMBrennan]

Water is needed to produce electricity before you unlock solar panels, and in negligible amounts for refining oil. As long as you tweak your strategy (i.e. don't rush electric furnaces) then you should be fine.

[Magma Dragoon]

Originally posted by Drevin:

I'm new to the game and I was wondering if the water pond you start with is enough for any needs in the future. I'd kinda like to play on a contiguous map, without obstacles, so I'd like to set the map to have as little water as possible, but I'd rather know upfront if that would screw up my game or not. Is it possible to run power lines from a single water source, and are the water pump slots available on a single pond enough to cover all energy needs? Is there any other use for water besides steam generation and choke points against the biters?

Thank you.

PS: I'm still experimenting with the setup sliders. It seems the best way to have as little water as possible is to move the left slider to 600% and the right slider to 17%? Is that the right way to do it?

Maps with high water coverage and scale are great because you get landfill very early and reclaimed land has no cliffs. You can build an island kingdom and make your own easily defended narrow chokes, even making little causeways toward nests to control which direction you are attacked from. I really wish there was a continents map script.

With settings you describe you'll be constantly under attack from all sides once you start manufacturing in earnest.

[knighttemplar1960]

If your goal is just to launch a rocket, sure. If you want to expand then you'll want more water. Its also handy to have water for defense since biters and spitters can't swim.

[KatherineOfSky]

I would not recommend having a single water source. The scale of lakes and waterways can be altered in mapgen. Nearly every setting is enough to have HUGE constructions. Use the Map Preview function to see what effects the sliders have.

You'll need water in copious amounts for nuclear plants, so don't cripple your playthrough with just one tiny water source.

[Nailfoot]

Or plan to use a mod that allows you to place water just like a landfill... but that will break achievements.

[Lunacy]

I have a tiny 2tile water hole with 2 pumps that used to power 40 steam engines lol
now i use 8 to power my 8 nuclear reactors

[KatherineOfSky]

Originally posted by Lunacy:

I have a tiny 2tile water hole with 2 pumps that used to power 40 steam engines lol
now i use 8 to power my 8 nuclear reactors

Mods?

[Edifier]

Originally posted by Drevin:

I'm new to the game and I was wondering if the water pond you start with is enough for any needs in the future. I'd kinda like to play on a contiguous map, without obstacles, so I'd like to set the map to have as little water as possible, but I'd rather know upfront if that would screw up my game or not. Is it possible to run power lines from a single water source, and are the water pump slots available on a single pond enough to cover all energy needs? Is there any other use for water besides steam generation and choke points against the biters?

Thank you.

PS: I'm still experimenting with the setup sliders. It seems the best way to have as little water as possible is to move the left slider to 600% and the right slider to 17%? Is that the right way to do it?

Water infinitive but you'll be needing more pumps and pipes later on to supply more water to production of various items or fluids.

Often you just need at most 2 pumps to supply an entire work load unless that factory size is ridiculously large.

If the water isn't moving to the stuff too good, put some electric pumps along the way and it should be fine. You can also store some extra in a tank to make it easier to share it.

[Drevin]

Wow, thank you all for the replies. I see even KoS replied. :)

I had no idea that there is a feature with landfills in the game. This is awesome. I can basically worry less about the water. As for the biters, my plan was to disable expansion and tackle each site one by one every time I would trigger an attack. As I understand it, with the biters expansion disabled, when I destroy a base, it doesn't get repopulated.

[Silberfuchs]

Even with only 17% you will find plenty of water for future factory needs.

Bigger amounts of water are mainly for defense, and as an obstacle that can be landfilled in anyways.

Map gen allows for many different ways of playstyle, everything but pure deserts are fine to play (more desert = way, way, WAY more biters).