Revert the flashlight changes

[Boggle08]

Lanterns are too big to fit in pocket sized slots, and both them and flashlights need batteries in order to run. I wouldn't say this is an improvement on the overall experience, especially given that voidsuit and hardhat helmet lights are right there, being the superior option. The lantern change is especially painful, because that fucks with my miner's loadout economy.

[Captain Gecko]

Oh so that explains everything. Was confused about why some of these would turn off, or just not turn on at all when printed.

 

I agree that should probably be reverted. I don't play miner but I used to main Xenoarch for over 2 years and this is a VERY bad idea. With the science voidsuit's pitiful 1-tile-long/3-tiles-wide helmet light, you NEED these lanterns with you, and your hands are already busy holding the tools you use to either dig or actually find the anomalies you're supposed to locate. And no, you can't just pull it from behind you, because that would negate the range advantage over your suit (since it would be one tile behind you) but you're busy pulling your field generator anyways too. I also don't know how long they last with power cells but you evidently don't want it to happen. With Xenoarch excursions lasting 30-90 minutes (yes it's wide, I know, that's my point) I can actually see this happen too.

On another note, providing light sources to the crew is now even harder since instead of just printing a flashlight you need to:

- Print a flashlight

- Print a cell

- Charge the cell

This doesn't sound like much, but remember, if you're trying to get a flashlight to give you some light for, say, a situation where the powergrid is collapsing for one reason or another... Well, no, you can't really get it now because you'll need to charge the cell too. You'll probably have enough energy, or time, to charge a single flashlight and then that's over.

 

I imagine that this makes playing Dionae even more dangerous in low-pop/low-power/low-light situations.

[Sparky_hotdog]

While the concept of battery-powered flashlights and lanterns sounds interesting at first, I don't think it makes much sense from a mechanics perspective. As you said, other light sources still exist that have no power requirements. On top of that, we literally have a species that dies (or at least really hates it, idk how Diona work) if it is too dark, so nerfing light sources seems weird to me. So I'd be in favour of reverting.

At the very least, I do think the battery life should be improved. As it stands, all flashlights (from what I can see) last for 200 ticks on their default, medium brightness. For comparison, glowsticks last anywhere between 5,400 ticks and 7,200 ticks, and candles last between 1,600 and 2,000 ticks (These numbers may be slightly off, they were a quick code dive). While these are both less bright than flashlights, they are also more accessible, and I think it lends at least some perspective to how quickly flashlights currently run out.

[GeneralCamo]

I was the one who implemented it. If it's not desired, I can do a full reversion.

Alternatively, I'm open to feedback to improve it. In particular, if it's unclear, I can go ahead and add more examine text and status messages.

Edited April 21, 2023 by GeneralCamo

[GeneralCamo]

We've had a discussion in the relay discord. Here's a general consensus established in the discussion:

• Revert lanterns back to medium size (allow them to enter pockets)
• Significantly reduce power consumption (Will probably make it an eighth or so)
• Maybe make the high brightness mode the default setting (This would reduce the above to a fourth, but effectively double default light power)
• Allow flashlights to be directly placed into wall rechargers

Another issue discovered is device power cells are used in auto-resuscitators. This caused issues with medical unexpectedly losing power on them far too quickly. Why they use device power cells is a mystery since they're explicitly meant for small tools and energy guns, not large things like them. This is a seperate issue and will be tackled in a seperate PR.

Edited April 21, 2023 by GeneralCamo