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So in my example above: 100% of my solar panels at my main base do NOTHING because the base relies on my bio reactor 100% of the time, simply because I built it first. But the game hides this from you so cleverly that it's nearly impossible to know your situation until you just wait a while and see if what you did worked.Įven worse: the game decides that the order the batteries are used is the order they were created. Because ultimately, power IS a binary thing: you either have enough to run your base forever, or you don't. Once all your "batteries" are drained, then it's out, and that's why you keep coming back to bases that are turned off.
#Subnautica battery charger install#
So when you install enough power to run your base, all you have is enough power to run it for that second. So then it starts pulling from your solar panels, each of which must drain to 0 before it goes to the next one. If your bio reactor reaches 0 power, that just means the game goes to the next power source and starts draining it as well. Worse: this also means each device doesn't know or care about any other device. Even a control room is like playing a game of Clue: you get hints that might point you in a direction, but it's still just a guess in the end. How much does it pull? WHO KNOWS? What uses power and what doesn't? WHO KNOWS? These are mysteries of the universe that nothing is really clear on. So if you have 500 "power" saved up, the base would subtract from this total as you run a fabricator or battery charger or water filtration system or whatever. Then, as your base pulls power, it subtracts from these numbers. A panel uses the sun to "store" up to 75 "power." A bio reactor "stores" up to 500 "power." (Huh?) They work like batteries. So what does that mean?įirst: this means that all "power generating devices" only generate power for themselves. And even more disappointingly: they work independently of each other, in serial, in order of being built. Here's how power actually works: for some reason, each "power generating device" works like a battery. Right – because power makes no sense so you just avoid dealing with it. And the advice everyone gives? Just give up and install a nuke. I keep adding thermals – which makes my "bigger number" HUGE – but to no avail – it never helps. My second base – too deep for solar – has a bio reactor and three thermals that I spent quite some time farming for. I try building MORE solar panels and it doesn't change anything. And because the game fools you, you end up with situations like this: my "main base" has like 5 solar panels and a bio reactor that constantly needs fuel. Obviously, this is not how power works at all. And the lower number goes up and down, and each time you build a new power generating device, the bigger number goes up.
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The control room has some information about it, but it doesn't seem very accurate.) AND: the game leads you to believe the game works this way because of the only information you get about power – which is so important it is constantly displayed to you: a number "out of" a bigger number. (Although the game weirdly keeps this information from you unless you are actively building a base piece. This is another simple, binary mechanic: you either have enough stability for all your rooms, or you don't. Simple, right? It also mimics the other base stat that you need to keep track of: stability. So if you had panels and a bio reactor, the panels would work during the day and the reactor at night. (That's also how other games typically abstract electricity.) Then, while one power source was inactive – like at night for solar panels, or when a bio reactor runs out of fuel – the other sources would cover it. This makes power simple and binary: you either have enough coming in to cover everything, or you don't. 4 – and see if the grand total is positive or not. You can then compare the totals – say, +5 vs. So each room would have a constant -0.1 to your "power" rating for light and oxygen, the scanner would require -3 while in use, etc. Then, each "power draining device" takes away power while it's being used.
![subnautica battery charger subnautica battery charger](https://gameplay.tips/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1609930830_subnautica.jpg)
Maybe solar gives +1, bio reactors give +2, etc. This is the way you expect it to work and how the game leads you to believe it works: each "power generating device" (solar panels, thermals, bio and nuke reactors) gives you +X power, as a constant source of "power income" while the device is operating.
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For a game that is so incredibly, massively, beautifully intuitive on SO MANY LEVELS, it just hurts that they missed the mark on this one thing.įirst: this is how power should work. After quite some time and study, I think I finally figured it out, and I'm sharing just so others don't have to waste so much time on something that should have been far simpler. I find it incredibly confusing and unintuitive, and judging by the responses people get asking questions about it, so do most other folks.