Lightning Rod - Not working in rain

[Dazz_Darkstorm]

I have just installed a lightning rod alongside my solar panels but it doesnt seem to work in the rain. I was under the impression that there was a 10% chance of it working in rain now and again if the rod was above a certain level. Perhaps I need to have it lower to ground, because the height isnt a question with my setup. I have it near my solar power setup which is at level 70, in my mansion, and it extends to max level 257 or something. But it never works in the rain, so Im wondering if I have to have the lightning conductor lower to ground so that the pole is longer or something. Thanks.

 

[whizzball1]

I have just installed a lightning rod alongside my solar panels but it doesnt seem to work in the rain. I was under the impression that there was a 10% chance of it working in rain now and again if the rod was above a certain level. Perhaps I need to have it lower to ground, because the height isnt a question with my setup. I have it near my solar power setup which is at level 70, in my mansion, and it extends to max level 257 or something. But it never works in the rain, so Im wondering if I have to have the lightning conductor lower to ground so that the pole is longer or something. Thanks.

AFAIK, the Lightning Rod only works when Lightning strikes it, as the name obviously implies.

 

[Oatmonster]

It will has the chance to produce energy during a thunderstorm, not a normal rainstorm.

AFAIK, the Lightning Rod only works when Lightning strikes it, as the name obviously implies.

Actually getting hit by lightning has no effect on the lightning rod whatsoever.

 

[Darknesschaos]

AFAIK, the Lightning Rod only works when Lightning strikes it, as the name obviously implies.

I think it is actually a random chance thing during rain storms. If there isnt natural lightning, then it wont generate energy. The system (during a storm) will have a random chance of spawning a lightning strike on the rod creating energy. It actually has nothing to do with actual lightning strikes.

 

[whizzball1]

Well I learned something new today.
Thanks!

 

[Oatmonster]

I think it is actually a random chance thing during rain storms.

Rainstorms and thunderstorms are two separate events. Thunderstorms have lightning and thunder (duh) and are darker. Simply having rain isn't enough for the lightning rod, it only operates during a thunderstorm.

 

[Poppycocks]

To answer the question in English, it appears that what matters is the length of the lightning rod, meaning how many fenceposts are above it. In total the height of the rod and it's height from the ground need to be > 128 squares in order for any lightning to strike.

Oh and also it would appear that the tickupdate is linear on the size of this lightning rod and its y coordinate, making it a damn lagbeast on slower servers. So, with that in mind, build your lightning rods both high up and long. Maybe a length of 50 well above the 128 mark. Don't start at bedrock with many of these or you will murder your server as each one iterates up the entire lightning rod assembly each time, and unless Greg's optimized it since it does a LOT of useless math.

Code rant:

Spoiler

FFS Greg, who the fuck modulos on a power of two on something in an event loop? Grow a brain cell or three. And I like how instead of forgoing the expensive entropy pulls, he blindly does the comparison even if he's explicitly disabled it rather than using an if statement.

I sort of got the impression Greg was a spud when it came to coding, but this is really really bad.

To be even more precise, the code checks for a lightning event every 12.8 seconds (every 256 ticks, 20 ticks a second). In thunderstorms, there is a 100% chance of the lightning test. In rain, there is a 1/10 chance of the event firing. The actual event probability is (length^2+length*height)/1088576.


I wonder how this interacts with flux from Thaumcraft...

 

[Oatmonster]

Looks like I was wrong. That's my bad.

 

[Poppycocks]

*shrug*

You've been pretty close though.

 

[Dazz_Darkstorm]

Okay, thanks for your help everyone I just read it wrong and presumed there was a chance during normal rain My bad, just wanted to clear it up so now I now, thanks again.

 

[KirinDave]

Wow, quote necro.

 

[Poppycocks]

Wow, quote necro.

*shrug* it was the best/most precise explanation I could remember reading .

 

[CrafterOfMines57]

Okay, thanks for your help everyone I just read it wrong and presumed there was a chance during normal rain My bad, just wanted to clear it up so now I now, thanks again.

There is a chance it goes off during normal rain, just at 10% of the frequency it occurs during a thunderstorm.

 

[Shakie666]

Ever want free energy? Fire off 1 storm shot from Xeno's hunters handgun to make it rain; fire a second shot for a storm (guaranteed 25m eu).