Windmills aren't producing enough power - more reliable wind

49 votes

So in my game I started trying to use windmills to supply power as rivers become harder to access and I need more power. my only issue is they aren't always working. I know this is probably not a bug but it's very annoying. I'm using the higher tier ones and they barely produce half of what I need for one building. So it's forcing me to set up around 2 or 3 things to power one building. I would like it to be more constant or higher levels of power in more cases. Otherwise I've been enjoying them

Under consideration Suggestion Suggested by: Adam J Lloyd (18 Sep, '21) • Upvoted: 08 Mar • Comments: 15

Comments: 15

18 Sep, '21
:)
I agree. Although it is not a bug, it is pretty clear that the windmills right now are an unreliable source of energy. This is mainly because they are very inconsistent. Regardless of their location, the wind will drop at any random time leaving you without energy. What I think could be a better use for these windmills is increasing or decreasing their power supply depending on their height within the map. Windmills located on high windy hills should produce more power than windmills located in the calm and quiet valleys where the use of water power would be the more logical option.
18 Sep, '21
Vinny P
I do wonder how much of this is confirmation bias since we get an alert for when buildings don't have power but when the wind is gusting to max we don't get an alert.

If it does turn out that there's plenty of wind, it could be that same confirmation bias that makes people think that there's not enough wind.

If we (players, devs, testers) could get access to graphs of how much wind per day was available and can see that over the course of several cycles, do you think it'll help alleviate that?
18 Sep, '21
Jcheung
it's not that they don't produce enough power really... i'd like to direct you here though for an upvote :D

https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/215309/power-storage-flywheel
19 Sep, '21
Dusty
I think that windmills should have a minimum amount of power at a certain height. The fact is that without a reliable source of power, Folktails are extremely handicapped in the late game. Maybe this is intended, but I believe it makes Iron Teeth far preferable as a faction so long as the map has easy access to a lot of berries early on.
19 Sep, '21
Dracolith
I upvote this because its a real issue, for example i had 2 windmills connected to a factory that just produces planks because a lot of times it doesnt even produce 50 when the max is 120, but the bigger issue i had my windmills for 2 full days straight without any wind, and only started working at night when my workers went to sleep.
We really need less downtime or a way to create batteries with scrap.
20 Sep, '21
Thaina Yu
https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/215334/
24 Sep, '21
Scott K Merged
The wind is so terribly frustrating, even with the large windmill. The air sits still so much of the time that the windmill seems to be more of a curse than a benefit. Can this be re-balanced for a higher wind probability? At least cut the zero-power time way down.
25 Sep, '21
SkinkHeaven
At the very least, it is wrong and frustrating that all windmills on the whole map turn on and off all at the same time. Maybe for ones close together that makes sense, but it seems much more sensible for there to be some variety so players have to connect up lots of windmills in far off locations, with the expectation that at least some of those have power at any one time. Hell, even completely random times would be fine, just as long as each windmill has its own separate schedule!

I like this idea because it encourages players to explore the map as well as requiring a heavy cost to build all the windmills as well as connect them all together. At the moment, there is simply no reason to place a windmill anywhere except right next to its production building.
26 Sep, '21
LordRedStone Merged
Yeah, I can't tell if the power output (on average) is balanced, but just getting NO POWER, and especially the warnings about no power feels bad.
23 Oct, '21
Mikael
I can only agree. So far there are not an advantage to the faction. Costs are far too high for what they produce and there are too unconstant. Might be realistic but thats too realistic for a game.
19 Dec, '21
Nick Piers Merged
I find, when playing Folktails, it's incredibly frustrating to to use wind power. More often than not, there is no wind at all to power any of the windmills. Sometimes, I might go a full day without any wind at all. If they're meant to be a core element of the Folktails faction, then they absolutely need to be more reliable on a daily basis. It's incredibly frustrating during droughts because without water streaming, I need to depend on wind. And right now, I can't.
20 Dec, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin
"More Dependable Wind" (suggested by Nick Piers on 2021-12-19), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
20 Dec, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Change wind probability a bit higher." (suggested by Scott K on 2021-09-24), including upvotes (7) and comments (1), was merged into this suggestion.
05 Jan, '22
benthevaporeon
the large spans of 0 production is definitely annoying , although i tend to find the large windmill is overpowered compared to the water wells(no massive river alternations to make them better)

it would be nice if it was max 300 but min 20-50 rather then 0
27 May, '23
Jamie C
Yes. Let me set the min and max wind values in the Custom setup for a new game. Like the Drought min and max values.