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[Salmeuk]

Thanks, Got it.
So by 'complex thing' I assume that means it is likely beyond my ability to reasonably do as a complete novice.

Its a shame, but I guess beggars can't be choosers :-)

When I was first learning cata the vehicles weren't particularly difficult to figure out. And, frankly, for every conceivable purpose a stationary engine hooked up to a floodlight and an alternator acts just like a generator would in real life, even producing noise! (beware, parenthetical statements galore)

Things you need for this to happen (off the top of my head so take with a grain of salt):

hacksaw (to get the parts you need from wrecks)
screwdriver
wrench
welder / duct tape / acetylene torch
car engine
gas tank
metal or wood to make a vehicle frame
car, truck or motorcycle alternator
car, truck, motorcycle or storage battery
vehicle controls
A high enough level in mechanics to install the above car engine (v-twins need the least, v-12's need the most)

Using the construction menu, there is an option to begin vehicle construction. You will be prompted for material to build a frame. Once the frame is in place (make sure it is where you want it, or you can add some wheels if you want) 'e'xamine it and weld the engine on to the frame, then the alternator, then the battery, then the controls (I don't think it has to be in a specific order.) Add the floodlight or some coasters if you want, and finally dump some gasoline inside. (learn how to siphon gas from car wrecks on the wiki)

Voila! Homemmade electrical generator. Completely customizable and certain to provide power output for as long as you can keep 'er full!

As for uses of that power, the first thing you should look for is a rechargable battery mod + charging station. Tough to make but scour electronics stores. With those items, you can turn any normal device that uses batteries into a device that can take power from the generator you just built. Pretty cool! My most memorable character had some night-vision goggles outfitted with a recharging mod.

[Mephansteras]

*SIGH*

Did you know that the sidewalk can catch fire? I did not know this. I started a small fire outside to clean up some junk (corpses and stuff). It turned into a major fire, spread to the sidewalk, and engulfed my radio station hideout. With all my food, supplies, books...a huge cache of everything I've acquired from this town. Including a full set of everything I needed to start serious metalworking as well as a giant supply of guns and ammo. Maybe the anvil will survive the fires...

On the bright side, I was out working on my truck when it happened, so I've got a working vehicle and a shopping cart full of welding tools. Time to scrounge up a full tank of gas (or perhaps liberate the gas station from its horde) and find a new town.

[i2amroy]

Okay if a normal old sidewalk is burning without something on it then something is definitely wrong there.

[Mephansteras]

Okay if a normal old sidewalk is burning without something on it then something is definitely wrong there.

Yeah, plain old sidewalk. I made very certain that the fire was out on the street and not touching the building.

[i2amroy]

Hmmm, I'm not seeing anything that would do that directly. However I am noting that fires can essentially "feed" nearby fire if they are sufficiently large enough to have "extra age" to burn, so if you had a very large fire next to the sidewalk it's possible that it slowly spread out onto the sidewalk and then kept that fire going (and they kept the ones next to them, and so on) through it's own fuel.

[Rince Wind]

Where would be my best bet to find the hackPro Software USB? Electronic stores? Random houses? Labs (only one around, that didn't have one)?

[Sheb]

What cn you do withsoftware?

[Mephansteras]

Hmmm, I'm not seeing anything that would do that directly. However I am noting that fires can essentially "feed" nearby fire if they are sufficiently large enough to have "extra age" to burn, so if you had a very large fire next to the sidewalk it's possible that it slowly spread out onto the sidewalk and then kept that fire going (and they kept the ones next to them, and so on) through it's own fuel.

Hmm, that would make sense, I suppose. Well, good to know for the future.

A surprising amount of my stuff survived. Stashed it all in my truck and next time I play I'll see about getting out of Dodge.

[n9103]

You might want to consider staying in your Dodge, until you get to Carson City.

[Rince Wind]

What cn you do withsoftware?

I can build a control laptop to convert turrets to my side. With these I can build better turrets from the vehicle additions mod.
Other than that, I think you might be able to use a PDA or an e-ink reader to get a recipe maybe. Or was that only from SD cards?

[Sean Mirrsen]

I've had an idea floating around me head for a while, but I don't know if I should endeavor to try and solve it myself right now. Related to the generators, specifically.

I've tried setting up a generator at one point, and... well, the list of parts and requirements for it doesn't quite make sense. You have to basically build a car sans wheels. Frame, engine, battery, alternator, fuel tank, controls. Add a folding seat and a unicycle wheel and it'll drive around no problem.

And then I thought, why not make the system a wee bit more involved? More granular, as it were. Just adding one of the components of the car back in, and making everything slightly more realistic, without adding excessive difficulty. I'm talking about starters.

Right now the "controls" item is a catch-all for a steering component, a starter control, and something resembling a dashboard with, apparently, cruise control built in.

Why not separate the starter from the engine? A regular electric starter is a small electric motor with a short rope or leather belt. A pull-string starter can be made from a long string and a pipe, requiring a certain strength to activate the engine of a given size. A crank starter can be just a pipe, and requires little strength, but some time. Of these, only the electric starter would require a battery, and only it would require a "controls" item to use - the other two could be used by interacting with the engine itself.

It'd also be neat if power-consuming devices could recognize power being generated, but not stored. Code-wise, put alternators ahead of other power-drawing items, so that the power they generate per tick is available for anything else to use, before it is capped by the zero available storage. In this way you could simplify a generator to a frame, alternator, engine, tank, and a manual starter. Minimum of parts required.

I'd personally separate the "dashboard" and the "steering" as well, but people might find that entirely too complicated.

[Aseaheru]

Starters are currently built-into the engines, although I wont deny it is an interesting idea, particularly if you have both electric and non-electric starters.

[n9103]

I've tried setting up a generator at one point, and... well, the list of parts and requirements for it doesn't quite make sense. You have to basically build a car sans wheels. Frame, engine, battery, alternator, fuel tank, controls.

That's sounds exactly what I would say a generator is built with.
As Asea said, starters are currently implied in engines. And with very few exceptions, that makes sense and should remain as such. (I can only name one, and that's older dirtbikes/motorcycles.)

Being a roguelike, abstracting the precise configuration that allows for building a v-twin powered generator with a semi-truck's gas tank, not so big a deal.
I think making this more specific would be needlessly tedious. Because at that point you would basically have to start specifying specific designs of each component for just about every type of machine in the game. Can't (reasonably) run a car with an APC control system. Can't (reasonably) make a motorcycle with a car's dash.

But then, this is coming from someone that believes the system is already too anal. I also thought the guns and ammo expansion went too far. To wit, I've only logged about a dozen hours in the last 6-12 months.

[forsaken1111]

Yeah isn't that basically what generators are? Obviously you need an engine to convert fuel into mechanical power, you'd need controls to start/stop it and throttle it, you'd need a frame to house the whole thing, an alternator converts mechanical power to zappy power, fuel tank holds the fuel, battery runs the starter and smooths out the power draw


How else do you make a generator?

[Sean Mirrsen]

Yeah isn't that basically what generators are? Obviously you need an engine to convert fuel into mechanical power, you'd need controls to start/stop it and throttle it, you'd need a frame to house the whole thing, an alternator converts mechanical power to zappy power, fuel tank holds the fuel, battery runs the starter and smooths out the power draw


How else do you make a generator?

Engine+fuel tank, pull starter, dynamo attached via belt to engine. No controls. Especially no steering, no speedometer, no dome lights. Just a machine I manually activate and stop when needed.

Really, all this would change would be adding a "starter" part to most cars, which is basically a small electric engine plus belt or rope in crafting. With electric starters being the only ones activated via controls, and the other kinds allowing engines to be manually activated by 'e'xamining its tile.

Worst case scenario, keep your "integrated starters" if you like. But allow engines to be manually started sans controls! A dashboard and steering make no sense on a device that does not drive!