First off, I appreciate a pared-down and grounded take on alternate solar power, so well done on this fork: I really like the idea of solar that has more parts and just a tiny bit of complexity and variety to it. This is perfect for that! Fields of blocked solar/accumulators make my eyes burn.

I also generally agree with your ethos about straight upgrades usually being uninspired, but I flip on that issue where upgrades bring extra complexity or options to the table. Would you consider adding variant or higher tier solar panels if you could think of a way that makes it a tradeoff instead of a straight upgrade?

My question is definitely partially motivated by currently playing Space Exploration (where scale goes a bit bonkers and these panels compete with panels generating anywhere from 250kw to 1.6MW solar-3's, as well as high tier accumulators), and I understand if what I'm asking is out of scope or uninteresting to you, but I just love heat piped solars so much, it's hard not to want a reason to use these.

Again, well done either way!

Hi Snowdoe, thank you for your kind words, I really appreciate it!

I am not sure about variants with trade-offs right now, but I have definitely thought a lot about more complex setups for even more renewable/inexhaustible energy produced pr. area. Not on a scale that can compete with SE, though!

Something I am considering is using energy-dense fuels for achieving even higher temperatures. I could add an oil-fired superheater, which heats 165°C steam to even greater temperature (maybe even add an efficiency bonus), in order to better utilize the capacity of Steam Turbines. This way, you would couple two inexhaustible energy resources (sunlight and oil) together to produce at least the same amount of energy; more complex and, uh, potentially within less space. I can already do this with the mod Superheating (Balanced), but I would want to refine the code, balance it and add it to my own mod. I might also want to add a way of producing biofuel or biocoal from wood and a way to grow trees, plus a (bio)coal-fired superheater. You could then also harness energy from a forested area, which is its own form of efficiency, since the trees combat pollution and also look nice.

But there are many details to consider - like the desired scope of the mod and how much difference the additions even make in the end - and I am not a programmer, so I don't know if I will be able to create something I am happy with. We'll have to see.

By the way, Cheese's Concentrated Solar might be an interesting "next tier" power option to consider. It looks pretty cool (if a bit overwhelming) and the power output can be configured as well.

I am also considering the inclusion of something like an Air to Water Heatpump to preheat the water for more efficient steam production.

I appreciate the in-depth reply, thank you so much!

The idea of hybrid energy such as solar/oil is really exciting to me, both for giving solar-based power generation more complexity generally, but also as a potential justification for the existence of a higher tier of thermal solar. The same goes for integrating pre-heating. Anything that lets me invest more time and effort in solar whilst keeping it balanced is exciting, and I'll be keeping an eye on this mod!

I respect keeping this mod to your own preferences, and there's always gonna be more creatures like me who beg for compatibility with this and that. Setting optional dependencies and "if mods=["'s for all the values is probably a chore if you aren't enthusiastic about the idea. While my current game may have gone past the stage where vanilla-balanced solar is useful (out of the adjustable setting in this mod), I'll re-enable it in a heartbeat if we get another tier, and it's an auto-include for me as-is in any new game I start.

Thanks for the reminder that Cheese's mod exists, also! I felt it looked too strong when I was playing IR3, but for SE it's most certainly not gonna be OP, so I may give it a second sniff.

Thank you for your reply, I am happy to hear that you like the mod!

I do want to keep the mod grounded in a way that fits the base game, and I appreciate your understanding on that. The aesthetics seem uniquely beautiful to me, and I understand wanting it to remain useful with highly scaled mods as well. I am at the very least considering creating options for that. I would also like to ensure that balance is adjusted for some of the popular mods, even if it can't keep up in the late-game.

Anyway, I appreciate your feedback!

Just updated to 1.0.2, btw!

You've been busy! And there's new integration! Wonderful. I'm gonna try this out when I have time, and I'll give you my thoughts. <3

Yep! I figured it would be nice if the mod at least roughly fit together with the most popular ones of the overhaul kind. It's quite difficult to get right, though, since I am not deeply familiar with any of them, so any suggestions are welcome. In any case, hope you enjoy my feeble attempt at Mod Integration.