The solar panels don't produce anything for me? I just made mine in Fall, and it has been over a week, not a single battery has been produced. And I'm not so sure about the grass either, as I haven't seen any blue grass (or grass growth for that matter). In fact, I can't even click to open the solar panel, as it seems to be a container of some sort as well?
I use automate, better crafting, better chests, better crafting mods. Amongst many others. But the others should not be affecting how chests work?
Hm, I don't think any of the mods you listed would interfere (I use convenient inventory & better crafting). Keep in mind the solar panel only counts sunny days for battery production. You could try changing the numbers in the config: change the Fall battery counter to 1 so it should produce at least 1 battery (whatever Fall battery count is set to) every sunny day. And increase the rates for new grass growth and spreading to a number closer to 1 and see if that makes any difference. You won't be able to open the solar panel inventory, it just shows a battery over when there are any to pick up and clicking on the base of the solar panel collects it. You could also share you SMAPI log which might tell me if something's not working right
My bad, bro. It does produce battery. I thought that "Sunny Day" was all days that are not windy, or rainy/thunderstorm. But apparently, that's not true! So yeah, the solar panel produces batteries. And also grass. Just not blue grass? Anyway, really really awesome mod, and so well needed. I really like how you made it so customizable. I lowered its price, and remove unlocking condition, as I really needed this in my early build.
I'm glad it's working! The battery counter only counts down to produce on days it is not rain/snow/lightning/green rain, similar to the craftable small solar panel (which produces after 7 of those days). Yeah, I tried to make as many features customizable as I could since I'm not a player that worries too much about balance so I had no idea what would be reasonable benefit vs cost. The grass growth just has a higher than usual chance to be blue grass so it's not guaranteed. I'm not sure why I didn't make that customizable but maybe I'll see if I can.
Yep! I'm glad it works as well! And yeah, same here. I don't care too much about "balance". I mean, as long as it is useful and fun, that's all that matters. Right? And I think this covers all of it. Plus that it is cuztomizable to anyones liking. But sure, if you could add that too (amount of chance for Blue Grass), that would be just absolutely fantastic! Whenever you can, ofcourse.
Is this available in the building section or item shop section when talking to robin and is it available on day 1 or are there quest requirements before you can access it? I understand the price is more for end-game content but I feel like like the price is too expensive and would be more balanced so the large solar panel is available after you can access crafting your own solar panel (with a mail sent saying it's now available)
it’s a building so construction menu and there are no unlock requirements.
i like the idea of unlocking based on solar panel recipe. i actually considered the construction cost requiring a number of solar panel but just went with the same materials instead. i actually keep going back and forth on the cost. is it the gold or materials or both that seem too high? i’m not sure exactly how much will make it feel balanced with the benefits. i’m adding a configurable option to set number of days for battery production and will set the default so it’s not making quite as many as often, and i might do something similar for water retention in which case i would definite reduce the cost.
If I may, I personally think it's the monetary cost. By end game most players have had time to accumulate plenty of materials, but if players really want to cover a good part of their farm with this enhanced solar panel, the money invested goes beyond significant and rapidly approaches astronomical. Especially considering that 3 tiles of this area become untillable, and in large quantities this amounts to quite a loss in opportunity costs. I would personally think it more balanced/interesting if the price was set in the 75 000-100 000 range. Of course, if you implement a few tweaks in your configuration, you might decide on something entirely different that fully satisfies you.
That makes sense! I really like the idea of unlocking it after the Solar Panel recipe—having a mail notification when it becomes available would make for a nice progression step.
As for the cost, I think the gold price is the main issue. 200,000g is a lot, even for late-game, especially if someone wants to place multiple panels. Something in the 100,000-125,000g range would still feel like an investment but not be excessive.
Material-wise, 60 Refined Quartz seems high unless a player is really stockpiling Quartz. Maybe 40-50 would be more balanced? The Iron and Gold Bars (30 each) seem fair, but 25 might be reasonable too if battery production is toned down.
The tile usage is another factor—losing 3 untillable tiles per panel adds up fast if placing several. Any chance the side tiles could be tillable (maybe as a config option)? That would help reduce opportunity cost.
I think adding config options for battery production frequency and water retention probability is a great call! That way, players can tweak it for balance, by default. I'd suggest winter 0, spring 1, summer 2 and fall 1 battery produced. If water retention stays at a full season by default, though, I’d definitely lower the cost a bit to compensate.
Would also be nice to have some kind of visual indicator for retained water (like a subtle shading effect) if that’s doable!
I will lower the default price to 100,000g, 40 refined quartz, 20 iron, and 20 gold bar, and each of those values will be configurable. For battery frequency, i think default will be 2 batteries per sunny day in summer, 1 per day in spring/fall and 1 every 2 days in winter with amount and frequency also configurable. Considering how many non-sunny days there can be it should take over a year for the batteries produced to equal the value of the panel cost which sounds like a pretty good balance to me. And i will add a configurable unlock condition (default will be having the solar panel crafting recipe)
As for the untillable tiles, the main problem with removing them is not being able what you're doing when behind the panel since you have to be above a building footprint tile for the transparency to work, and a config option to change it would be too complicated since all the grass/soil retention tile locations are calculated from the building footprint/draw offset.
Fyi, the soil should look watered. you should only have to water it once per season and those tiles should stay (and look) watered until the next season starts. Unless you mean something in addition to the game's watered visual effect
aww sweet, I was just thinking about you too (not in a romantic way, just that there's file version 1.0.0, 1.0.1 and your comment didn't say which version will have the changes
Gonna test your file for the first time but I haven't unlocked the recipe yet. I'm not gonna disable that requirements but I'll gather the ingredients and unlock it naturally to see how it integrates into gameplay.
13 comments
I use automate, better crafting, better chests, better crafting mods. Amongst many others. But the others should not be affecting how chests work?
You could also share you SMAPI log which might tell me if something's not working right
The battery counter only counts down to produce on days it is not rain/snow/lightning/green rain, similar to the craftable small solar panel (which produces after 7 of those days).
Yeah, I tried to make as many features customizable as I could since I'm not a player that worries too much about balance so I had no idea what would be reasonable benefit vs cost.
The grass growth just has a higher than usual chance to be blue grass so it's not guaranteed. I'm not sure why I didn't make that customizable but maybe I'll see if I can.
I understand the price is more for end-game content but I feel like like the price is too expensive and would be more balanced so the large solar panel is available after you can access crafting your own solar panel (with a mail sent saying it's now available)
i like the idea of unlocking based on solar panel recipe. i actually considered the construction cost requiring a number of solar panel but just went with the same materials instead. i actually keep going back and forth on the cost. is it the gold or materials or both that seem too high? i’m not sure exactly how much will make it feel balanced with the benefits. i’m adding a configurable option to set number of days for battery production and will set the default so it’s not making quite as many as often, and i might do something similar for water retention in which case i would definite reduce the cost.
make for a nice progression step.
As for the cost, I think the gold price is the main issue. 200,000g is a lot, even for late-game, especially if someone wants to place multiple panels. Something in the 100,000-125,000g range would still feel like an investment but not be excessive.
Material-wise, 60 Refined Quartz seems high unless a player is really stockpiling Quartz. Maybe 40-50 would be more balanced? The Iron and Gold Bars (30 each) seem fair, but 25 might be reasonable too if battery production is toned down.
The tile usage is another factor—losing 3 untillable tiles per panel adds up fast if placing several. Any chance the side tiles could be tillable (maybe as a config option)? That would help reduce opportunity cost.
I think adding config options for battery production frequency and water retention probability is a great call! That way, players can tweak it for balance, by default. I'd suggest winter 0, spring 1, summer 2 and fall 1 battery produced. If water retention stays at a full season by default, though, I’d definitely lower the cost a bit to compensate.
Would also be nice to have some kind of visual indicator for retained water (like a subtle shading effect) if that’s doable!
I will lower the default price to 100,000g, 40 refined quartz, 20 iron, and 20 gold bar, and each of those values will be configurable. For battery frequency, i think default will be 2 batteries per sunny day in summer, 1 per day in spring/fall and 1 every 2 days in winter with amount and frequency also configurable. Considering how many non-sunny days there can be it should take over a year for the batteries produced to equal the value of the panel cost which sounds like a pretty good balance to me. And i will add a configurable unlock condition (default will be having the solar panel crafting recipe)
As for the untillable tiles, the main problem with removing them is not being able what you're doing when behind the panel since you have to be above a building footprint tile for the transparency to work, and a config option to change it would be too complicated since all the grass/soil retention tile locations are calculated from the building footprint/draw offset.
Fyi, the soil should look watered. you should only have to water it once per season and those tiles should stay (and look) watered until the next season starts. Unless you mean something in addition to the game's watered visual effect
Gonna test your file for the first time but I haven't unlocked the recipe yet. I'm not gonna disable that requirements but I'll gather the ingredients and unlock it naturally to see how it integrates into gameplay.