User:Name
04-05-2011, 02:34 PM
So, this game is amazing. I am thoroughly thoroughly addicted. However, I'm confused by renewables. They seem to expand at weird rates, and cap well below their listed capacity. Together, this makes them pretty much useless. I used to think this was part of the design that I just wasn't understanding (like so much else), but poking around policies.lua makes me think there are a couple of bugs at play.
First, the "Expand" and "Commit" cards for everything but renewables increase that energy's share in a region by 10% / turn. A big even number. But "Commit to Renewables" increases the overall share at 1.65%, 5.01%, and 9.4% / turn (by tech level).
Now I know it is supposed to be slower, but the different renewables don't even expand at the same rate. Solar expands at the same speed as tidal and wind, until the 3rd tech level where it was 2.5 times as fast, except on the first turn where it is the same as the other two. Hydroelectric and Geothermal expand at 1/10 the rate of others. And why the weird total growth rate?
My theory is that there is an extra 0 in hydroelectric and geothermal's energy_mix growth rates, (.05% instead of .5%, and so on) and solar is set incorrectly in the expansion card (10671) but correctly in the starting card (10672). If you fix these values you get an overall growth of 3%, 6%, and 10%. Even, round, and logical. It also makes renewables expand at an even rate, and keeps you from wasting $50bn growing geothermal by 0.05% when the rest are at capacity.
Speaking of capacity, is there a reason it is capped at 70%? The cards' descriptions explicitly state "Continue to increase frac until generated_over_capacity=1," but the file sets the cutoff at capacity=0.7 (except geothermal, where the final capacity card (tech level 3) is set to 0.95). Seems to, again, hold them back and make everything more confusing.
So am I misinterpreting the model, or are these actual issues? If they are actual problems, could they hopefully get fixed in the coming patch?
And is there anything in heaven or earth that can make North America use some of that sweet, sweet biomass it has sitting around?
First, the "Expand" and "Commit" cards for everything but renewables increase that energy's share in a region by 10% / turn. A big even number. But "Commit to Renewables" increases the overall share at 1.65%, 5.01%, and 9.4% / turn (by tech level).
Now I know it is supposed to be slower, but the different renewables don't even expand at the same rate. Solar expands at the same speed as tidal and wind, until the 3rd tech level where it was 2.5 times as fast, except on the first turn where it is the same as the other two. Hydroelectric and Geothermal expand at 1/10 the rate of others. And why the weird total growth rate?
My theory is that there is an extra 0 in hydroelectric and geothermal's energy_mix growth rates, (.05% instead of .5%, and so on) and solar is set incorrectly in the expansion card (10671) but correctly in the starting card (10672). If you fix these values you get an overall growth of 3%, 6%, and 10%. Even, round, and logical. It also makes renewables expand at an even rate, and keeps you from wasting $50bn growing geothermal by 0.05% when the rest are at capacity.
Speaking of capacity, is there a reason it is capped at 70%? The cards' descriptions explicitly state "Continue to increase frac until generated_over_capacity=1," but the file sets the cutoff at capacity=0.7 (except geothermal, where the final capacity card (tech level 3) is set to 0.95). Seems to, again, hold them back and make everything more confusing.
So am I misinterpreting the model, or are these actual issues? If they are actual problems, could they hopefully get fixed in the coming patch?
And is there anything in heaven or earth that can make North America use some of that sweet, sweet biomass it has sitting around?