I am gonna be real honest here and say that I almost never use furnace generators. Why? Because they don’t know when to stop or slow down.
As an example, if you attach only batteries to the furnace generator, eventually, as the furnace consumes fuel, the batteries charge up. Once the batteries are full, however, the furnace doesn’t stop. There’s nothing consuming power, but the furnace generator continues to eat up fuel until it’s all gone.
I assume that the excess energy goes to waste, so the resources go to waste as well. This also means that to keep the furnace running (so as to keep producing power), it must continually be fed fuel, which the player doesn’t want to spend all their time doing.
What the furnace generator should do is consume resources only when it needs to. The simplest way to do this is that the furnace is activated whenever the power charge in a tech falls below some point. This can either be based on the amount of power the current resource in the generator can produce, or simply an arbitrary point. Then it remains active until the tech returns to a full charge.
Even better would be a variable production rate. For example, when the tech is at full charge, the furnace could keep an eye on the total rate of power consumption, and then consume resources at a rate that matches that (up to its max production rate, at which point the power consumption is simply too much for the furnace to match). This can take into account solar panels too, so that furnace generators become less active when solar panels are there to help keep up with power demand.
As an example, if you attach only batteries to the furnace generator, eventually, as the furnace consumes fuel, the batteries charge up. Once the batteries are full, however, the furnace doesn’t stop. There’s nothing consuming power, but the furnace generator continues to eat up fuel until it’s all gone.
I assume that the excess energy goes to waste, so the resources go to waste as well. This also means that to keep the furnace running (so as to keep producing power), it must continually be fed fuel, which the player doesn’t want to spend all their time doing.
What the furnace generator should do is consume resources only when it needs to. The simplest way to do this is that the furnace is activated whenever the power charge in a tech falls below some point. This can either be based on the amount of power the current resource in the generator can produce, or simply an arbitrary point. Then it remains active until the tech returns to a full charge.
Even better would be a variable production rate. For example, when the tech is at full charge, the furnace could keep an eye on the total rate of power consumption, and then consume resources at a rate that matches that (up to its max production rate, at which point the power consumption is simply too much for the furnace to match). This can take into account solar panels too, so that furnace generators become less active when solar panels are there to help keep up with power demand.
