Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

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Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

June 30, 2009, 08:49:51 pm

Hi

I have successfully supplied power to industries. I see their production increase for as long as the power station has fuel to produce electricity.

Is the power station producing unlimited power? Can I connect every industry on the map without worry about overloading the power station?

If on the other hand power is limited
- how do I work out how much power is produced & how much each industry needs so I can connect only those industries that really need it
- if I have connected too many industries how is the power shortage rationed?

I don't understand transmission income. Is it amount x distance?

Hope someone can help.

Regards
Sev.

Re: Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

Reply #1 – July 01, 2009, 06:02:22 am

Power is definitely not unlimited. I seem to recall that the effective usage is something like 2-4 factories, depending on the amount of poiwer supplied...

Re: Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

Reply #2 – July 01, 2009, 08:04:20 am

Quote from: Severous – on June 30, 2009, 08:49:51 pm

Is the power station producing unlimited power?

it has a maximal production, see factory detail window of your power station.

Quote

Can I connect every industry on the map without worry about overloading the power station?

no, only a percentage of possible industries can be supported by power stations. This is what the parameter 'electricity percentage' in the new-world dialogue is for.

Quote

If on the other hand power is limited
- how do I work out how much power is produced & how much each industry needs so I can connect only those industries that really need it

Power consumption is proportional to the actual production of a factory. A click with the query tool on a transformer should tell something about the actual available power.

Quote

- if I have connected too many industries how is the power shortage rationed?

Hm, programwise, the factory that happens to want something if something is avilable, get the max amount possible. I think this should even out on the long run, such that every factory gets an amount proportional to the ratio own production : production in the world.

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I don't understand transmission income. Is it amount x distance?

it is amount, which is proportional of the base production (i.e. production without power supply) of the factory

Re: Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

Reply #3 – July 01, 2009, 05:26:37 pm

Thank you both for the replies.

I think my Ragoland play is going to whilst I investigate this fully

If i have connectted too many...Can I turn off the power to any particular industry? Making a break in the transmission line is the only way I can think of at the moment.

Re: Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

Reply #4 – July 01, 2009, 10:42:53 pm

Quote from: Severous – on July 01, 2009, 05:26:37 pm

Thank you both for the replies.

I think my Ragoland play is going to whilst I investigate this fully

If i have connectted too many...Can I turn off the power to any particular industry? Making a break in the transmission line is the only way I can think of at the moment.

Why not just add more Power Stations to the power grid?

Re: Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

Reply #5 – July 02, 2009, 01:06:35 am

Perhaps because there's only one power station in Rogaland...

Re: Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

Reply #6 – July 02, 2009, 02:05:27 am

Quote from: V813 – on July 02, 2009, 01:06:35 am

Perhaps because there's only one power station in Rogaland...

Sorry!! I didn't realise that this was a request for info for a Rogoland game as it was listed under 'Requests and Discussion>Help Requests and looking back, the only reference to Rogoland was in his 2nd post. My bad.

Re: Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

Reply #7 – July 02, 2009, 06:13:47 am

Hi.

Thanks for the idea Colin.

Adding more power stations or industry feels a bit like cheating to me. In any map/scenario I make the best I can with whats provided. That's irrespective of being a collaborative game or not.

Ive investigated the power/industry in Ragoland. (In my version at least). I'm left feeling that the game design is not particularly helpful in this area.

- The power and power available figures on the transformer were meaningless.
- Power seemed to be the power station output (222) multiplied by the number of transformers attached to the grid ( 8 ).
- When I broke the power line to a transformer the power stayed the same.
- Power available fluctuated often but did not relate to the industry demand. Only if demand was zero (station was full) did power available go to zero..which doesn't sound strictly correct as its demand that's zero not availability.
- Industries max production was all over the place. Yet % increase (due to electricity) did move in unison suggesting the shortfall was indeed being shared/rationed in proportion to industry base production.
- At times some industries seemed to hog the supply. Not sure but appeared to be when they had been idle a while and suddenly had more work to do. Its as if their 'share' of the electricity supply had been accumulated whilst they were idle.

What would be useful is if the power station transformer would show
- Maximum electricity that can be produced
- Actual electricity produced
- Maximum electricity demand
- Current electricity demand
% electricity demand being met in current month

Whilst the industry transformer might each show
- % of electricity demand being met

Anyway not done yet..more watching and investigating to do. Costing my net wealth a few € as I mess around with transformers and transmission cables.

Re: Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

Reply #8 – July 02, 2009, 08:42:41 am

Quote from: Severous – on July 02, 2009, 06:13:47 am

Hi.

Thanks for the idea Colin.

Adding more power stations or industry feels a bit like cheating to me. In any map/scenario I make the best I can with whats provided. That's irrespective of being a collaborative game or not.

I can never understand why it is that some people think that using the facilities built in to the game is "Cheating". That's like saying, catching a train is cheating when you should be walking. Maybe the developers should remove all the extras, or at least, provide a game which doesn't include these features for the players who want absolute basic.

Why would building another power station be "Cheating" does your country not have multiple Power Stations feeding the national grid?
Why do you bother building Trams when Buses will do?

You can not be "Cheating if you use the features built in to the game, you can only "Cheat" if you alter things in the Config.tab like increasing your starting money.

Regards

Colin

Re: Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

Reply #9 – July 02, 2009, 08:04:21 pm

Hi

I continued my investigations of how the power supply works. Until a code guru or playing wizard comes up with a revised answer I'm going to work on the basis that power supply works like this:

- Industries can double their output if supplied with power continuously
- If the red electricity sign on the industry is solid..never flashing..then its 100% power and at double output
- Connect too many industries and you short the supply..it flashes..less than double output is achieved
- A power shortage is rationed around all connected industries. You cannot favour one over another.
- Ignore the power supply, and power available figures on the transformers. Unnecessary detail. Means little.
- The power station output is key. Multiply that by 4. (rule of thumb..not exact)
- That is the extra industry output the power will produce.
- Connect key industry with total output of 4xpower for up to double production.

Example from Ragoland Challenge.(Pak128 V102)
Waste Incinerator = 222 power.
222 x4 = 888 extra production
Connect Timber plantation: 336 + Oil Field: 716
336 + 716 = 1052 needed for 100% power supply and double output
So they are a bit short of full power supply.
The red icon will flash every now and then.
These two usually run with production figures shown as 630 and 1342 respectively
This is 920 up on the base production figures of those two industries (close enough to the 4x222=888)
Currently in my play of Ragoland its Plastic (made from Oil) and Planks that I seem to be in need of most so hence the targetted use of the limited electricity supply.

Any advance or contradiction of this? Its my first full game in this time zone so not had to worry about electricity before. Like to be confident my theory/observations are ball park correct.

Regards
Sev.

Re: Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

Reply #10 – July 02, 2009, 08:15:14 pm

Factories will not consume power if they cannot produce (either ouput more than 75% full or input empty).

Re: Power Station - can it support everything attached to it?

Reply #11 – July 02, 2009, 11:24:56 pm

Yep. Agreed saw that. Yet I sometimes saw factories suddenly attract lots of available power. My thought was a previously idle factory still had some sort of claim on power and when they came back online (imputs arrived) they surged into full production. Cant back that up..always seemed to be the factory or refinery rather than forest/oilfield/iron mine.