PC Confused about the point of an electric switch?

E

EzunaAranna

Refugee
So - what's the point of a switch?

If I want to turn power off to something then I switch off the generator.....so why use a switch?

Thanks

 
Sometimes you may want part of your electric circuit to be powered and part to be off.

Let's say you have 2 rooms with electric lights powered by the same generator. You may want one room lit and one dark. So you can use 2 switches.

 
Ok that makes more sense ty. Huh...seems obvious now :)

I see a practical use now - I'm building a killing room with blade traps....I could add turrets in case I need to kill faster but have the turrets on a separate switch to save wasting ammo when not needed.

Cool.

 
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Well, you dont NEED it... But there are situations...

You have many rooms with lights in them. Turning the light off in rooms you dont use much, saves on power. You could have made generators and use them as switches, but then you need more engines and more micromanaging of fuel and so on.

Sure, motion sensors are much better, but they are also much more expensive to buy or craft. So you use switches early on, and in places where the motion sensor is overkill.

Switches are also good for segregation on power management. Have a switch for all the turrets so you can save on ammunition. But quickly turn them on for hoard night or even just a wandering hoard.

There are many very good reasons to use the switches. But in fairness, your electrical system does need to be somewhat advanced to get the full effect.

For traps, for instance, it's generally a good idea to use tripwire or motion sensor for electric fences and blade trap. But the switch for the turrets...

Then again, it's still nice to have a switch in front of the other traps as well, so you can turn them off for maintenance. It really sucks to die from a blade trap you were mending, just because a zombie sneaked it's way into your kill box. Aarrgh!

 
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One more quick thing:

I like my base to look tidy. So my generator(s) are often somewhere far away where i dont need to hear them... but they still produce power... unless i deactivate it via switch in my main base... that easy :D

 
One more quick thing:I like my base to look tidy. So my generator(s) are often somewhere far away where i dont need to hear them... but they still produce power... unless i deactivate it via switch in my main base... that easy :D
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Are you using solar panels? I'm curious if you keep you generators on all the time - when they are on but not providing power to anything how much fuel do they use?

 
I have my Blades+Electricity on one switch and Guns on another.

All hooked up to same generator.

That way I can turn off the guns when it's just regular Zeds coming and only use up ammo for Radiated Cops.

Just one of many reasons people want switches.

To be honest, I'd like some basic logic switches to make some cool stuff

like And, Or, Nor, Xand, Xnor for example but...

... that's not going to happen here.

I guess if I want to build more complicated stuff in game I can play Minecraft.

~Lucky

Working-Castle-Tribute-to-A16-Plus-bonus-tips-video

 
-snip-

To be honest, I'd like some basic logic switches to make some cool stuff

like And, Or, Nor, Xand, Xnor for example but...

... that's not going to happen here.

I guess if I want to build more complicated stuff in game I can play Minecraft.

~Lucky

Working-Castle-Tribute-to-A16-Plus-bonus-tips-video
Click to expand...
Yes! I'm totally with you here... That could give you lots of new options. Also, the AND relays could be really great... Not to add two powersources to the grid, because that is difficult to code, so I don't see it happening ever. It's more so I can have something turn on with, for example motion sensor, but also a switch for constant power...

I believe Prime is in charge of the electrical stuff... In his latest QA session, he talked about being pressured a little, to get powered doors and powered drawbridges done for A17. But he had so much stuff left to do and fix, that even this might not make it for A17.

So! Let's cross our fingers, and remember to give many many hints during A18 development. So maybe the electrical system can get some love...

I just find it immensely fun to build with! :)

 
Yes! I'm totally with you here... That could give you lots of new options. Also, the AND relays could be really great... Not to add two powersources to the grid, because that is difficult to code, so I don't see it happening ever. It's more so I can have something turn on with, for example motion sensor, but also a switch for constant power...
I believe Prime is in charge of the electrical stuff... In his latest QA session, he talked about being pressured a little, to get powered doors and powered drawbridges done for A17. But he had so much stuff left to do and fix, that even this might not make it for A17.

So! Let's cross our fingers, and remember to give many many hints during A18 development. So maybe the electrical system can get some love...

I just find it immensely fun to build with! :)
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Yeah there's a lot to do when adding an electrical system to a game.

I'm in no rush.

To be perfectly honest, I am just delighted to have it at all. I think it's pretty cool.

Prime can take all the time they need. It's fine.

For now it works and has very little buggy about it. It's about a great a start as you're going to get.

A testament to some hard work, I think, on Prime's part.

~Lucky

Working-Castle-Tribute-to-A16-Plus-bonus-tips-video

 
Yeah there's a lot to do when adding an electrical system to a game.
I'm in no rush.

To be perfectly honest, I am just delighted to have it at all. I think it's pretty cool.

Prime can take all the time they need. It's fine.

For now it works and has very little buggy about it. It's about a great a start as you're going to get.

A testament to some hard work, I think, on Prime's part.

~Lucky

Working-Castle-Tribute-to-A16-Plus-bonus-tips-video
Click to expand...
I'd have to agree...

I got no idea if he was able to reuse some assets or something... But what ever the case, it is remarkably free of bugs for its first iteration.

Go Prime!

 
Are you using solar panels? I'm curious if you keep you generators on all the time - when they are on but not providing power to anything how much fuel do they use?
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generally i use solarpanels for stuff like lights. They use the least amount of electricity and should be always on.

And if you conncect the generator with electric wire relays (1W) they dont use ANY power while offline.

So i generally power lights with renewable ressources and defenses with fuel connected to a switch.

 
generally i use solarpanels for stuff like lights. They use the least amount of electricity and should be always on.And if you conncect the generator with electric wire relays (1W) they dont use ANY power while offline.

So i generally power lights with renewable ressources and defenses with fuel connected to a switch.
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Vik do you ever post videos of your stuff?

From reading your posts, I think you and I have some similar ideas for defense and some interesting differences.

I'd be curious to see an average Day100 build of yours.

~Lucky

Working-Castle-Tribute-to-A16-Plus-bonus-tips-video

 
It would be great to see some sort of power attenuation built in....so that a generator could be dialled down at specific times.

That might then open up the possibility of over driving the output but at risk of damaging it....we could boost power to electric fences but with a risk, or dial back as needed.

Just a thought...

 
So - what's the point of a switch?
If I want to turn power off to something then I switch off the generator.....so why use a switch?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I use switches instead of relays, a switch does consume any electricity as opposed to the relay which uses 1 watt. Not a lot of power but it does add up if you use a lot of relays.

 
It would be great to see some sort of power attenuation built in....so that a generator could be dialled down at specific times.
That might then open up the possibility of over driving the output but at risk of damaging it....we could boost power to electric fences but with a risk, or dial back as needed.

Just a thought...
Click to expand...
I'd like to see the power draw of objects change based on circumstances. In particular, the blade trap should use a lot of power when cutting something, and not much power when it's spinning freely. It's hard to balance otherwise.

 
Here is something I have used in the past:

For a horde base, I use a single solar panel and multiple battery banks. I get tired of the generator sound. And I have lots of blades and traps and turrets for horde night. So, one solar panel feeds into 3 battery banks. The each battery bank goes through a switch to lots of devices. I turn the switches on just as horde starts. The batteries last the night. I turn the switches off in the morning and the solar panel recharges all of the banks during the week. I don't need solar to power traps for that base during the day.

 
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