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[Inarius]

Terrific. Back to that mention of a volcano you made—what would be the process of exploiting that? You would send people in, and some of them might die, to build a structure that takes magma out?

DB: Well, it’s obviously also quite dangerous.

DJ: You’re going to dig down in the lava, we know that’s what people like.

NV: Sure. We’re very big on pumps and pipes and gears.

DB: I’m sure you’d send naturalists in first, see if there’s minerals and any natives and what they might think of this whole situation.

DJ: And then you’ll ignore their advice and build a giant tube that takes all their magma and puts it directly in the middle of your town because that’s the safest thing to do. You could probably also do it in much safer ways.

NV: But you’ll do that.

They surely wants our money. I feel interested.

[Little]

It's like if Dwarf Fortress and Tropico had a child and HP Lovecraft is the uncle. If it can measure up to half its potential, it'll be awesome!

[Geen]

Terrific. Back to that mention of a volcano you made—what would be the process of exploiting that? You would send people in, and some of them might die, to build a structure that takes magma out?

DB: Well, it’s obviously also quite dangerous.

DJ: You’re going to dig down in the lava, we know that’s what people like.

NV: Sure. We’re very big on pumps and pipes and gears.

DB: I’m sure you’d send naturalists in first, see if there’s minerals and any natives and what they might think of this whole situation.

DJ: And then you’ll ignore their advice and build a giant tube that takes all their magma and puts it directly in the middle of your town because that’s the safest thing to do. You could probably also do it in much safer ways.

NV: But you’ll do that.

OOGA BOOGA OOGA BOOGA ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

[Girlinhat]

Said it before.  It's like these guys were sitting around one day and said "You know what'd be fun?" and then they actually did it.  It's like... they were playing The Sims one day and said "It'd be cool if they went actually clinically insane." and then the next day they were playing Patrician and said "Why can't I be the pirate?" and the day after that it was Roller Coaster Tycoon and said "Needs more volcano." and then they all suddenly realized "Oh yeah, I totally know how to code a game."

[demonman24]

While accurately portrayed vacuum tubes, gear-drive ratios, pneumatic vents, and steam relays all sound very exciting, what would all of those complex systems be used for? The crafting and transportation seem to come down to pipes, workshops, and factories, and whatever devices are needed to exploit natural resources. It doesn't seem that it would be too difficult to automate all of this using vacuum tubes and gears. Is there anything more complicated, that we would needs such complex systems for? Can anyone speculate on this? Or could we get an answer from a dev?

[lordcooper]

Science.

[Viken]

While all of that may work toward setting up automation, you have to remember that this was the very beginning of machining.  So most things still had to be produced by hand, the hard way.

But more than that, if I understood the information straight; you design a factory exterior, and set it down and let them build it, and once its done, you go into it and plus the bits inside from starting production, resource management, power supplies, and then ending production, and make sure its as effecient as possible while not killing your factory workers; and then you can upgrade it as stuff comes along.

[demonman24]

My point is not that it would be easy, it's that I can't see a use for all of these complex systems, and I was wondering if anyone could speculate on a scenario in which they could be used for something other than automation. Can you?

[Bluerobin]

Well sure, you just have them replace a typical abstracted upgrade system. Upgrade to production rate, efficiency, energy use, and of course the automation you mention to decrease the number of required workers. I don't remember if happiness or sanity are important, but they could influence those too. They could even have drawbacks that stack up if you use too many or if you're doing something occult/stupid like if the vents had a risk of get stuck shut, trapping poisonous gases inside and harming workers or the vacuum tubes could malfunction and start spitting parts everywhere causing injuries or breaking machines.

And that's just the easy implementation I came up with off the top of my head. They might do something more involved than that. *shrug*

[Descan]

this gaem

it gives me dreams

of a metaphorical kind

the kind that makes me want the game

the precious

yus

[demonman24]

I'm not asking about replacing any sort of upgrade system, or anything like that. This seems like a very complex simulation game, and I'm asking if anyone can think of a use for these systems in situations other than upgrading infrastructure or automating things

[Bluerobin]

Uh... well you've defined the problem in your question. It's "a very complex simulation game" and we know almost nothing about what they're simulating, so it's not really practical to speculate when we don't even know what a vacuum tube might be used to move or what you might be venting with those pneumatic vents. Your question's also kind of incredibly vague and you've shot down the first two suggestions we've given by saying they're not what you meant. I seriously doubt these optional upgrades are going to have a huge impact on the function of the building they're attached to, if that's what you're asking about. The most I probably anticipate is something like using magma-safe tubes to power a building with magma instead of electricity or something like that. I guess I might just not be creative enough though?

Edit: I guess if we want to go wild with speculation: Gears to link buildings together and build giant robots? Tubes to pipe the toxic gases and build bombs with them instead of just venting them? Tubes/vents/gears combo to build submersible/aerial/subterranean buildings? Tube transport system à la Futurama? I guess you could come up with some neat weapon systems with combos of tubes/gears/and the tesla coil power rods, especially if you can mount them on vehicles?

Now, I doubt any of those are happening (or if they do they'll be specialized to probably just be those tasks) just because it's not practical to put that much dev time into that much customization with random parts unless that's the focus of the game.

[ank]

I'm not asking about replacing any sort of upgrade system, or anything like that. This seems like a very complex simulation game, and I'm asking if anyone can think of a use for these systems in situations other than upgrading infrastructure or automating things

This is like asking what a Redstone torch can be used for.

[LoSboccacc]

city building genre as a whole is coming back in strength! I do approve.

[Girlinhat]

Simply because you cannot imagine what can be done does not mean that there won't be anything to be done.

I present, for your consideration, the Mechanical Wall.  Walls have existed for as long as mankind has crept into caves for shelters.  Walls have remained a very simple and sturdy protection from the terrors of the world beyond and a divisor that keeps structure order in balance.  It has a tried and true, heavily tested style that has nothing wrong with it and enough experience to have everything right.

Why would you mechanize a wall?  Because steam power.  When all you've got is an adjustable spanner and an entire freight warehouse of terrifying cogs and gears, everything looks like "just a prototype".