Better solar stills

[Piscator]

Sounds good, but why should it be for travelling ships only? There is at least no logical reason why it shouldn't work on a static ship or on land and I doubt it would unbalance things since fetching water with a bucket would still be faster than three solar stills. Especially with a per-location-limit it shouldn't be efficient enough to render manual water collection useless.

[Elros]

Well I didn't have anything to do with that part of it, so someone in charge or that would have to answer. However, I believe it should be moving due to the simple fact that Joo brought up earlier. They could be built on ten different ships in a harbour and left there running non-stop gathering water.

I personally think that this should remain an "is-moving" project, but we can see what others have to say as well.

[*Wiro]

I personally am fine with making it for not moving ships.

[Sunni Daez]

.. If my memory serves... a solar still. the heat causes water to evaporate.. the mist is captured in a bunch of tubing and directed to a collecting vessel.. where, as it cools it turn back into water.. the salt remains in the first vessel... so when all is evaporated... you have one with salt.. the other with salt free water..

[Piscator]

If stills were allowed on land, off-shore parks would be less attractive. They could only be used to work around a per location limit. And if destilling water were a fixed duration project, operating a solar still array would be a huge effort for the player (if the duration is chosen short enough), thus limiting its efficiency.

By the way, does anyone know if the ship has to actually move for the still to operate or if its enough to be undocked?

[*Wiro]

It is possible to limit projects to one on a location, right? As that's what happens with locks. So maybe one project started from a solar still collects salt, without putting it on "used" while the other starts a project from the solar still to make water and puts it on used?

[Cogliostro]

Pretty sure I saw in the Wiki the ship has to actually move. Like, it might be tied to the ship-movement-tick.

If the projects stay auto then I think 15g per day sounds about right for the amount.

But just thinking about how expensive the things are to make and that you can only have one per ship (I think?). maybe you have a point that the "only when moving" restriction may need to be lifted.

Maybe remove the moving-restriction for a time, to just see over a month or so how it affects water production. My bet is that it won't unbalance anything, but just make the stills be reasonable again.

[joo]

I assume that vessels docked to a moving vessel don't count as "moving" themselves?

[Elros]

By the way, does anyone know if the ship has to actually move for the still to operate or if its enough to be undocked?

It must be moving. It has the "ismoving" tag on the requirements.

I assume that vessels docked to a moving vessel don't count as "moving" themselves?

To be honest with you, I do not know that answer to this question... Maybe someone from programming department could answer it...

[FiziKx]

Solar stills are used in cases where one may need water for survival- though they barely produce enough water (if it is enough) to help someone survive on when they are built. (the 2g. of water) If there was true thirst implementation, it could help keep someone alive on long journeys, I suppose.

[Elros]

Alright, back on topic. I will wait a couple more days, and as long as everyone is in agreement to change the water collection rate from 2 grams per day to 15 grams per day then I will change it.

[Elros]

Alright, I am going to go ahead and get approval from the chairman to change the water gathering rate from 2 grams to 15 grams. If all goes well it should be implemented sometime tommorow or as soon as I hear back from him.

[sanchez]

This change is long overdue. The reason the solar still had an absurdly low output in the original implementation was to avoid the unfinished debate about survival at sea. Perhaps now is a time to restart that, as fishing from larger boats, and moving boats, also needs to be addressed.

At the time the solar stills were implemented, tea was a dual food, and quite rare on the English islands. It was then a potentially dangerous advantage for pirates who had it. Also, with a larger water output, and portable flowerpots on boats combined with dessicators and ovens in cabins, it would have been the only nutritious food possible to produce entirely at sea. Now one is able to put nets on small boats, though stopping and undocking to use them is time-consuming, we've crossed the line given enough commitment by sailors. The question is if it should be easier. Boats are faster now with sails, and maps are better. Will your explorer chars still go to land if they don't need food?

I play a lot of sailors, and every one of them is searching for land. Not one would prefer to be at sea years on end, no matter where their food comes from. And it's always possible to gather in empty locations. I don't see a good enough reason now to avoid allowing sailors nutritional food cultivation. They are unlikely to starve, and those that will don't do it intentionally. It is no more real incentive to trade or find populated locations. I hope you'll address fishing from large boats soon as well.

[Elros]

Water output changed from 2 grams to 15 grams per day. Also updated Wiki.

[ezz]

This is great, I was getting sick of waiting a months for a decent amount of water. Now I wont have to trade so much to get the water for my ship garden.