Mods decided to make it impossible to make solar power!!!!

[Guswut]

ahhhh, that would be pretty decent... I'm not too learned on rl solar panels and why they work, but would there be a need for parts to be replaced in an RL solar panel?

Yes. Photovoltaic cells, which solar panels use in large arrays to produce electrical power, have a lifespan of around fifteen to thirty years. During that lifespan, they decrease in output, until they don't produce any energy. So forcing a user to replace the "carbon plates" would be similar to requiring a replacement of the photovoltaic cell array, although I don't think that is done normally.

Another option might be solarthermal power, which is similar to what Factorization's solar system does using mirrors.

 

[tehBlobLord]

You're late to the party, the cleanup is already done and buried.

I'm in the habit of gatecrashing

 

[noskk]

The thing that you can do is to add a maintenance time for them (wiping the solar panels outer glass), since the lifespan of solar panel is very long.

 

[Zjarek_S]

Another option might be solarthermal power, which is similar to what Factorization's solar system does using mirrors.

With a new release few days ago this system got a lot better and more compatible with other mods:

1 mirror produces about 1 mB of steam per tick.

 

[Guswut]

The thing that you can do is to add a maintenance time for them (wiping the solar panels outer glass), since the lifespan of solar panel is very long.

Considering that wheat grows in one day, cows grow from childhood to adulthood in less than that, and all of the other strange time mechanics, I don't think it'd be all that illogical to see solar panels require replacement parts every so often.

Of course, if you want to try and make an argument for that in regards to realism, I'm sure we can find a list of unrealistic things that MineCraft does, especially in regards to time.

1 mirror produces about 1 mB of steam per tick.

Nice!

 

[noskk]

Considering that wheat grows in one day, cows grow from childhood to adulthood in less than that, and all of the other strange time mechanics, I don't think it'd be all that illogical to see solar panels require replacement parts every so often.

Of course, if you want to try and make an argument for that in regards to realism, I'm sure we can find a list of unrealistic things that MineCraft does, especially in regards to time.


Nice!

You are right though mc wheat grows each day, what's RL wheat? 3 months, assuming we have 25 years lifespan (with the pv cell efficiency decreasing with time until 0 at 25 years period), that will be around 101 minecraft days until a solar panel completely died. Sounds good to me.

 

[Morvelaira]

Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen!

I am proud to announce I have slain the troll. I wanted to give him an extra point on his record for making me attend to his mess instead of attending to my mother in the surgical ICU for a few moments, but he earned all the requisite strikes on his own.

You guys did a great job of not making more mess for me to clean up, but in the future try to respond to them even less. Report strong and carry on!

 

[Guswut]

attending to my mother in the surgical ICU for a few moments

Offtopic still, but I hope that goes well for your mother. Good luck for both her, and you!

 

[Exasperation]

Solar panels are not OP (at least not basic and advanced). If you look at average output, an advanced solar panel has just under half the power of a basic generator. Considering how easily you can automate the fuel supply for a basic generator (to say nothing of geothermals), the cost of a field of advanced solars is going to, in general, be significantly higher than half as many generators + fuel automation setup (and the solars will probably take up more space, too) - and that's with the OLD recipes. So please stop perpetuating the myth that solars are overpowered; they simply are not.

 

[KirinDave]

Solar panels are not OP (at least not basic and advanced). If you look at average output, an advanced solar panel has just under half the power of a basic generator. Considering how easily you can automate the fuel supply for a basic generator (to say nothing of geothermals), the cost of a field of advanced solars is going to, in general, be significantly higher than half as many generators + fuel automation setup (and the solars will probably take up more space, too) - and that's with the OLD recipes. So please stop perpetuating the myth that solars are overpowered; they simply are not.

They're just 0 maintenance. That's more than can be said for the above solutions in most cases. My server is powered by a sort of rube-goldberg contraption using biofuel and multiple tank carts and a void pipe sending apple juice squirting into quantum crevices. It took about 3 days to build and 2 weeks to really work all the kinks out.

Then there is solar which is a single block that never stops working right. Having a tough recipe is the minimal balance consideration.

 

[KirinDave]

With a new release few days ago this system got a lot better and more compatible with other mods:

1 mirror produces about 1 mB of steam per tick.

Factorization 0.7.21 has this?

 

[Exasperation]

They're just 0 maintenance. That's more than can be said for the above solutions in most cases. My server is powered by a sort of rube-goldberg contraption using biofuel and multiple tank carts and a void pipe sending apple juice squirting into quantum crevices. It took about 3 days to build and 2 weeks to really work all the kinks out.

Then there is solar which is a single block that never stops working right. Having a tough recipe is the minimal balance consideration.

No, the minimal balance consideration is that they produce less power. The old recipe was tough (compared to throwing down a T5 blaze spawner or pumping lava from the nether) as a concession to people who never bothered to do the math saying "oh, that's OP". The new recipe means that, over the typical lifespan of a single player game, an advanced solar panel will produce less energy than it costs to make. That's not a "tough recipe", that's an idiot trap.

 

[Zjarek_S]

Factorization 0.7.21 has this?

Yes, in the middle there are solar boilers. It has a few more cool changes, accurate changelog is included in jar. They can accept water like solar turbine before (from infinite source), but I wanted to test how they work with fluid pipes. Steam and water is shared between them. This setup keeps 6 industrial engines at 7,5 MJ/t during day.

 

[Guswut]

This setup keeps 6 industrial engines at 7,5 MJ/t during day.

That's pretty expensive in silver (hahah, like we need silver) for, what, 2/3th of a HP36 boiler's steam output, eh?

 

[Jeff Fisher]

Stop getting lazy solar power and start working for another source? Change the config? Don't bitch on the FTB forums because It won't change anything?

This ^^^ Solar is to damn easy to begin with.. You make a solar panel and you have free maintenance free power forever. Honestly I think solar panels should require some type of maintenance maybe replacing the part of it so often or something I dunno anything.

Solar is not as rewarding as coming up with an aswome system of power that took some creativity or thinking or effort.

Atm i have 32 generators and a tree farm and Im going to try to do something with that to produce eu. I might just turn the wood into planks or better turn it into charcoal havnt decided.

 

[Lambert2191]

This ^^^ Solar is to damn easy to begin with.. You make a solar panel and you have free maintenance free power forever. Honestly I think solar panels should require some type of maintenance maybe replacing the part of it so often or something I dunno anything.

Solar is not as rewarding as coming up with an aswome system of power that took some creativity or thinking or effort.

Atm i have 32 generators and a tree farm and Im going to try to do something with that to produce eu. I might just turn the wood into planks or better turn it into charcoal havnt decided.

if you turn it to charcoal you get 4000EU per log
if you use a sawmill you get 6 planks + 1 sawdust, which is 5000EU per log (4500 for the 6 planks and as 8 sawdust = 1 compressed sawdust = 1 charcoal and 4000/8=500)

 

[KirinDave]

That's pretty expensive in silver (hahah, like we need silver) for, what, 2/3th of a HP36 boiler's steam output, eh?

Modular Powersuits eats crazy sums of silver in GT mode.

 

[Zjarek_S]

Well, Factorization was always expensive (except storage). It is similar to GT balance, you need a block of diamonds to get double yield from ores, but you can get them quickly back with angular saw (silk touch tool with about 20 uses for one fully charged battery, grinder gives you 2,25 diamonds from one diamond ore). However finally you can use FZ machines underground (without power converters).

 

[KirinDave]

No, the minimal balance consideration is that they produce less power. The old recipe was tough (compared to throwing down a T5 blaze spawner or pumping lava from the nether) as a concession to people who never bothered to do the math saying "oh, that's OP". The new recipe means that, over the typical lifespan of a single player game, an advanced solar panel will produce less energy than it costs to make.

Man, I do not know what you're talking about here. That's just trivially false. Advanced Solars are so freakin' good even with the new recipes.[DOUBLEPOST=1363219476][/DOUBLEPOST]

Yes, in the middle there are solar boilers. It has a few more cool changes, accurate changelog is included in jar. They can accept water like solar turbine before (from infinite source), but I wanted to test how they work with fluid pipes. Steam and water is shared between them. This setup keeps 6 industrial engines at 7,5 MJ/t during day.

I want so badly. I know what's getting updated this weekend!

 

[Chocorate]

A more logical move would have been to require that solar panels needed a supply of something (carbon plates would have made sense), or something like that, but there are still Compact Solar Panels if you're willing to install that mod (as I'm sure people will be given this change).

Or like some other people have said (Myself but totally not taking the credit), instead of making things harder to craft, just make them more complicated than pointing them in the sky or putting them in water or putting them up high. Make solar panels accumulate dust. Make water mills and windmills into multiblock structures that don't restrict you to put them on a huge cable pole, and let us make aesthetic changes. Make watermills into a 3x3x3 with the middle layer only 1 block. The water should have to flow past that block to power it, not just be submerged in water. Rather than make solar harder to obtain (but not actually nerf it) they should just improve on the overall design so you can't just be lazy with them.