how this thing work i cannot understand, i tried to make some simple test outpost but this thing struggle to power even 1 laser turret, then i tried to use more "energy interface" but it doesn't work either

setups was 1 energy interface 17 vanilla fusion reactors, then 1:1 and 1:6

It is not ment to power laser turrets, the energy interface can only deliver some small amount of power. It is more than enough to power some assembling machines on the go. For now it acts as a crawler that provides energy around itself. Plop down some assembling machines to craft on the go, take input from the CAB, output it in a chest, or back into the CAB itself.

I am planning on releasing more modules to put into the grid as a layout. When you deploy the CAB, the layout could deploy together with it, meanig when you deploy it, it automaticaly puts down some assembling machine, inserters, etc.

Kind regards
lovely_santa

So as i thought the bottle neck is energy interface module? Any chance for changes? I even installed https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Portable_power because this vechicle looks ideal for creating outposts in an extremely hostile environment.

Yes I got the idea of adding more energy interface modules (mk2, ...) so it can transfer more power/ has bigger supply area.

There are two things goiing on:
1) the equipment is acting as a power consumer, taking power from batteries/power sources in the vehicle
2) an entity that you can look as an accumulator in the world.

You can have multiple equipments to charge the accumulator in the world, but the flow is limited by the output rate of the accumulator. I am thinking of making stronger energy interface modules (and hidden accumulators) in the future.

The CAB doesn't have alot of functionality, I want to get this behaviour first working correct before moving on.

What I'm thinking now is to maybe make a module that represents the CAB to be in the grid at all time. It could act as a huge battery, and surrounding it you could add assembling machines, inserter, etc. modules and when it deploys, it would create those entities. next to the vehicle. Ofcourse the vehicle must be placed horizontal/vertical for that, so I would need a way to partialy deploy the vehicle.
Fully deploy = vehicle aligned more or less correctly and create everyting.
Partial deploy = vehicle not aligned (eg diagonaly) only create power interface.

Once I got that logic functional, I can add laser turret modules to it, so when you deploy it, it deploys your laser turrets. At that point i would add the mk2 interface modules as well.

Any thoughts? Other ideas? Suggestions?
Kind regard,
lovely_santa

I found what deployed CAB energy grid ignores power poles and accumulators BUT actually work with Substation, so you don't need to worry about correct placement, just carry at least 1 substation in your trunk.

I don't think what placing entities is a good idea, just because we already have blueprints and personal roboports and a lot of people have their own, specific designs for specific tasks.
For example i personally play a hardcore modded factorio so i don't feel what, if this vechicle would place some entities (turrets or assembling machines) during deploy, will help me, because for defensive lines i need a specific pattern and spasing between turrets and walls, so i prefer to use blueprints and personal roboports anyway to create actual outpost.

Simply, in vanilla, you don't have way to provide energy for subbases/outposts (uranium ore mining site for example). I mean you can drag big electric pole line, but if you not protect each pole with some turrets, they will be demolished by biters very quickly. Another way is creating separate power plant at your outpost and deliver fuel for it by cargo trains. But you have to at least install some mods what makes rails invulerable for biters and still this is a lot of pain in the ass, especially if don't have uranium ore yet, so your one and only choice is steam engines which consumes fuel like hell. So i see a ray of hope in this mod. I think it's a great way to create mobile, very expensive, but not such cost efficient power plant.

I mean it shouldn't be more space efficient or cost efficient than nuclear reactors to avoid spam of this vechicles and complete replacement of other power sources. It should be very niche, very specific vechicle, what you can fit inside your base by very expensive fusion reactors and drive straight to some remote areas with tasty, precious ores and have enough energy to power both perimeter and actuall mining drills.

p.s. another suggestion/idea - what about "force field" dome around deployed CAB? Ofc it shouldn't be a power plant in this mode, maybe is a good way to restrict mixing roles is just a module for vechicle grid big enough to completely fill each available space (24x8 i guess) what will provide a shield around deployed CAB. Shield should block any entities and projectiles from outside but not from inside. It should have capability to absorb SOME ammount of damage and once it's break(out of power inside integral accumulator) it should have a long cool down to allow biter forces flow through. I also think what recharge rate, cool down lenght, absorbtion per 1 energy unit, area effect and other perameters should be configurable in game options to fit better for player's mod packs.

But it can be a separate mod and even separate entity, maybe a building, not vechicle.

I think what you're looking for is my - not yet updated - Force Field mod. With the deployed power, I could make compatibility that it deploys the emittors and those will build the forcefields around... That could be a neat thing indeed.

I can indeed make some beter interfaces, this way you can provide more power. And power remote outposts. The only issue I'm having is that fusion cells will give you infinite power, which is kinda OP. I might need to make some custom power supply for it that is more expensive as it needs to deliver more power...

I'll keep this in mind, but a higher power delivery should be for sure implemented at some point.

totally agree, free energy is not good, i hope it is possible to restrict placing fusion reactors and portable solar panels inside vechicle grid of CAB.

About force fields - around a year ago i found mod which provide actuall "bubble" dome, not just recoloured walls, similar to mod "turret shields" https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Turret-Shields but bigger, so they able to cover large areas. I think it's possible to rewamp your Force Field mod because, to be honest, it's just another type of wall.

i just changed output limit in cab.lua from 500 to 30000kw, works fine for me, i only want uncompatibility of fusion reactors with this vechicle, but i can just not put them inside, using portable power equipment instead (link above).

Also i found mod with bubble dome, it is EndGameCombat and it looks like this shield just creates invisible entities what block enemies and projectiles, and also transfer damage to shield emitter

I've added a setting so you can configure how much energy the cab can transfer. While doing so, I noticed some minor bugs that I've resolved. I've also started to add the mk2 transfer port to it (it is in comments in the code) but the logic still needs to be implemented.

Once I have the mk2 (and mk3) implemented, i'll move on to creating compatibility between mods, for example what should and what shouldn't be supported in the vehicle grid. I rather create my own fusion energy cell that is way more costly to produce, to compensate for the OPness of the transfer port. Another solution would be solar production, ... A smaller grid could also work, but I got 'plans' for the grid.