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[Mictlantecuhtli]

I'm playing the experimental and acid rain does in fact cause damage. An all-day downpour killed all wildlife nearby.

In other news, I have an abundance of fur. I shall be clad in Fur Loincloths for all time.

[I'm pretty sure that high coverage clothing drastically lowers the damage to the PC, considering I had 2 jackets, utility vests, armor, combat boots, two pairs of pants, two pairs of gloves, glasses+goggles, an army helmet+a rain hood, so I'm glad I didn't take acid damage during this time. I did still incur massive pain, though]

[Greiger]

Yea I can confirm as well.  I didn't see it get killed but it was inside my fully enclosed garden (it was there in case something broke through the walls to get to my noisy generator) I heard an explosion and saw a bunch of turret parts.  There was nothing out there, and anything coming to kill it would have had to walk through walls to get to it in the first place.  It was acid raining.

[Girlinhat]

So it occurs to me that it rains A LOT and my car's solar option is a bit poor.  I run through a lot of energy with welding and crafting.  And suggestions on how to generate electricity?  I'm thinking a simple motorcycle engine + alternator + storage battery + small fuel tank will be a small, easy-to-fabricate 'vehicle' that can recharge a battery relatively pain free.

What happens if my vehicle only has partial engines active, like an electric and a V8, but has no gasoline?  Is it possible to toggle particular engine types on or off?  There's not a dedicated generator type item, is there?  And what's probably the best engine + alternator for producing electricity, assuming the engine is likely going to sit idle most of the time (not for movement).

[Blaze]

What perfect timing! I was just studying vehicle power systems.

Indeed, a 1-cylinder engine (You can find them from disassembling things like lawnmowers) of the smallest size, a truck alternator, and a gas tank can be a veritable energy maker. Depending on the engine size, a small >1L engine can produce about 5000 units of energy from 100 units of gasoline. Considering you get around 7500 units of gasoline from a single pump...

It takes a bit of time to do so though, and you'll have to leave the car idle. Furthermore, you'll have to turn off the engine yourself once the battery is full or you'll waste gasoline. Then there's noise and such...

You can use other alternators, but I find that truck alternators are more fuel efficient (the difference is pretty negligible though; but they are much faster). If space is of the essence, you can throw all three types of alternators on a single engine.

From what I've seen, you cannot turn off individual engines. However, if you run out of power for an engine, your car will still draw off other engines. So you can pour gasoline into smaller containers to ration its usage or remove the tank before moving on.

[Kaitol]

Was something iffy with the stable releases map generation? Because in the fields immediately around a single starting shelter I found five military crash sites, three dead military patrols, two groups of dead scientists, and three minefields.

And that's just the stuff I found. I haven't gone over the fields in depth, just walked across them a couple times.

[Facekillz058]

I really REALLY want to get good at this game but I really have no idea how.
Can someone write me a sort of beginner cheat sheet, of what to do first and how to do it?
I'm probably ruining the fun of doing stuff myself by asking this, but I basically want to know how to atleast get to the point where I can build cool shit.

[UristMcDwarf]

I really REALLY want to get good at this game but I really have no idea how.
Can someone write me a sort of beginner cheat sheet, of what to do first and how to do it?
I'm probably ruining the fun of doing stuff myself by asking this, but I basically want to know how to atleast get to the point where I can build cool shit.

take at least two archery at character creation, smash 2 windows in the safehouse, this gives enough misc. material to make a shortbow. smash more windows and get sticks and get rocks and make field point arrows

[Goron]

So it occurs to me that it rains A LOT and my car's solar option is a bit poor.  I run through a lot of energy with welding and crafting.  And suggestions on how to generate electricity?  I'm thinking a simple motorcycle engine + alternator + storage battery + small fuel tank will be a small, easy-to-fabricate 'vehicle' that can recharge a battery relatively pain free.

Can you recharge a welder form a storage battery in a vehicle?
If so, how?

Also, anyone help me with what is the (best) way to build a generator vehicle? After reading about them I want to make something I can load with headlights facing all directions (floodlights if I can find them) to put in the middle of my safehouse. How do I do this?
I was thinking of building a 2 frame vehicle with a storage battery on one and a solar panel on the other with headlights pointing in all directions. I could just drag it outside in the morning and back in at night. But then I realized I would have no way to turn the lights on... So I presume I'd need controls and a seat? Could I do a 2 frame vehicle: [controls, seat, storage battery, headlight(s)][solar panel, headlight(s)] ? Or is there a better way?
I'd much rather make a real generator, fueled by gas, but I don't know how to do that (but seeing the last few posts I see maybe it is possible using an alternator and a small engine?)

thanks

[Blaze]

You can only fit a single flashlight on each tile of a vehicle. Make a floodlight instead.

A solar panel won't be enough to power a single headlight, much less multiple lights. Even an upgraded version will only keep a light going under the best weather. It'll really depend on how much battery power it can store.

If you want a single-tile vehicle floodlight, make an extra-light frame, jam in as many batteries as you can find (You can fit a truck, car, motorcycle, and storage battery in a single tile), then swap out the solar panel/light as needed. Once the batteries are filled it'll last for quite some time.

If you're wondering about a how to make it work with alternators and such, see my previous post.

[Goron]

You can only fit a single flashlight on each tile of a vehicle. Make a floodlight instead.

A solar panel won't be enough to power a single headlight, much less multiple lights. Even an upgraded version will only keep a light going under the best weather. It'll really depend on how much battery power it can store.

If you want a single-tile vehicle floodlight, make an extra-light frame, jam in as many batteries as you can find (You can fit a truck, car, motorcycle, and storage battery in a single tile), then swap out the solar panel/light as needed. Once the batteries are filled it'll last for quite some time.

If you're wondering about a how to make it work with alternators and such, see my previous post.

I lack skill for floodlight at the moment. I'll need to raise my electrical.
Ok, so I will skip solar power. There are plenty of gas stations around and I can easily make metal tanks or use jerrycans for onsite storage of gas.
So the generator... I can do engine, alternator and gas tank all on one frame? But I'll need a seat and controls too, right? Will those fit on the one frame as well? I'd just go try it but I am afraid I'll do part wrong and get stuck wasting valuable materials, so I am trying to get all the info up front.
Thanks.

[Blaze]

You don't need a seat/saddle to control a single-tile flashlight vehicle. Just the controls will do.

You CAN fit a seat/saddle though.

You'll need to drop the storage battery, but you CAN fit the 3 vehicle batteries, 1-Cylinder engine, gasoline tank, alternator, floodlight, and controls on a single extra-light frame. Note that the alternator won't appear on the vehicle menu unless you've already installed a gasoline engine.

Another idea I've been playing with is a solar energy farm. Essentially a giant-immobile vehicle made entirely of solar panels. I can simply install batteries, wait for them to fill up, and then remove them once they're full for usage elsewhere.

[Goron]

You don't need a seat/saddle to control a single-tile flashlight vehicle. Just the controls will do.

You CAN fit a seat/saddle though.

You'll need to drop the storage battery, but you CAN fit the 3 vehicle batteries, 1-Cylinder engine, gasoline tank, alternator, floodlight, and controls on a single extra-light frame. Note that the alternator won't appear on the vehicle menu unless you've already installed a gasoline engine.

Awesome, thank you very much.
This is my first time going into mechanics and vehicle construction. Normally I just kept to my feet and the occasional joyride on a found working vic.

[Girlinhat]

Extrapolating from previous posts:
1-Cylinder Engine + Truck Alternator can produce 5,000 battery from 100 units of gas, leaving the engine on idle and stationary.
According to json, a small gas tank has 6,000 gasoline storage.
A Storage Battery can hold 100,000 electricity.
Therefore, 1 full small tank should provide 300,000 power and store 3 storage batteries.

Therefore: a 4 tile design becomes visible.  A 1-Cylinder engine (obtainable from lawnmowers and chainsaws), a Truck Alternator (from large vehicles), a Small Gasoline Tank (motorcycles), and a Controls (any vehicle) on one tile.  On the other 3 tiles, Large Storage Batteries.  You'd probably want another tile mounted with a welding rig and/or recharging station.  You can also just remove the storage batteries and put them into another vehicle.

I'm likely going to re-refit my APC for this.  The primary Large Electric will go in an easily-refitted tile, as it'll be removed and re-installed frequently.  A permanently mounted generator setup as described above will go near the center, so that I can remove the electric, run the gasoline, let it idle and produce energy, and then when the gas has run out I'll mount the electric back in place.  Having a few steel jerrycans of gasoline in a cargo carrier will give me WAY more than enough back-storage of gasoline to survive long excursion and heavy energy use.

[Greiger]

You can place an alternator engine and some kind of fuel on one tile.  Unfortunately I think fuel tanks and batteries take the same slot so I don't think you can place anything that stores electricity in the same tile as any other fuel.  I think minimum is 2 tiles (still easily draggable though long as yer not trying to drag it through a tight space). 

EDIT: Blaze is probably right, it might just be full size storage batteries that can't coexist with gas.

You may want the generator outside when running it, as it does produce smoke, and that can build up indoors.  You do need controls but if yer not planning on driving it you don't need a seat, you can control everything from the ^ command, you just point it in the direction of the controls after hitting the key and it will give you the usual car menu.  And that should give you a simple vehicle that can support a floodlight or something like that for a short period of time.


Once you start going advanced you can make dual task generators and crafting benches.  Due to their size they become immobile, but you can put kitchens, minifridges, chemestry sets, forges, tool rechargers, and welders (which also solder) on a specially designed frame linked to energy generating systems through something like a window.

Spoiler: My crafting bench/generator for example (click to show/hide)

This actually comes through the wall of a house, the windshield being where the house's window used to be.  The solar panels and gas engine are outside, while the useful parts for crafting, controls, lights, and food storage are inside the house.

[Girlinhat]

Also worth noting, if you're just wanting to be able to read at night, then a Lightstrip seems to be bugged.  I've had one running for literally a year and it's only at like 7,000/8,000 charge.  It only costs and amplifier circuit, copper, and a bit of battery.  Vehicle electric grids are mainly only useful for converting gasoline into energy for crafting stations, or solar arrays.