Difference between revisions of "Weather controller"

Latest revision as of 06:21, 7 November 2024

Weather controllers are mechanoid cluster and quest condition causers that force a particular weather.

Summary[edit]

Weather controllers force a weather condition within a 10 world-tile radius. It has no impact on caravans, but affects every settled or player-visited tile in range. A weather controller inside your colony takes priority over a weather controller from the world map, and most recent in the case of multiples.

All in-game weather controllers and quests cause a 'bad' weather type; Fog, Foggy Rain, or Rainy Thunderstorm, but not Dry Thunderstorms.

Analysis[edit]

Since weather penalizes colonists and ranged enemies equally, Rainy weather controllers are one of the least harmful condition causers, and can be left indefinitely without much issue. Since it slows down colonists working outside, you may want to destroy them eventually. Forced fog controllers are a more hazardous weather and should be removed in most circumstances.

When outdoors, forced weather will reduce the accuracy of ranged weapons. If a shooter and their target are both under a roofed tile, then they are not affected by weather, no matter what's between them, including unroofed tiles. ^{[Do enemies prefer roofed paths?]} In addition, all forms of rain and snow reduce movement speed and give the −3 Soaking Wet moodlet.

Forced Rain will limit and automatically extinguish wildfires even from lightning, but it is suggested you roof over major walkways and killboxes to limit other negative effects, like unroofed electronics short circuiting and accelerated item decaying. Forced Fog prevents all rain, which typically results in uncontained fires growing indefinitely.

Melee colonies & Fog[edit]

Melee-focused colonies, such as for challenge runs or those relying on trained animals, mechanitor controlled scythers, or ghouls, can benefit significantly from weather controllers, with it up to halving the DPS of ranged enemies but having no effect on melee DPS. Fog or Foggy rain has the weather-maximum 50% reduction in ranged accuracy and is ideal for this purpose as it has no or minimal accompanying Move speed penalty, allowing your pawns to close the distance as fast as possible. Against melee enemies, Fog is the most dangerous forced weather for the same reasons.

Rainy Power generation[edit]

Weather controllers can significantly impact power generation. Stormy weather raises both the windspeed floor and the maximum and so increases both the reliability and output of power generation from wind turbines. At the new maximum, wind turbines produce 3450W - less consistent than, and not quite competitive with, geothermal generators but not limited in location or number by steam geysers. Moderately sized wind farms paired with the correct weather controller can provide sufficient power for even late game power hungry colonies, especially when outfitted with batteries and hidden conduits. Foggy conditions makes turbines less productive, but foggy rain might be more productive than variable weather depending on world tile average rainfall. ^{[How much?]}

Version history[edit]

Royalty DLC Release - Added.

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 == Summary ==
-{{Stub|reason=How do weather controllers interact with each other? Do fog weather controllers prevent the automatic [[rain]] during a fire?}}
+Weather controllers force a [[weather]] condition within a 10 [[world]]-tile radius. It has no impact on [[caravan]]s, but affects every settled or player-visited tile in range. A weather controller inside your colony takes priority over a weather controller from the world map, and most recent in the case of multiples.
-Weather controllers force a specified [[weather]] within a 10 [[world]]-tile radius. It has no impact on [[caravan]]s, but settling on a new tile in range will still cause it to be rainy.
+All in-game weather controllers and quests cause a 'bad' weather type; Fog, Foggy Rain, or Rainy Thunderstorm, but not Dry Thunderstorms.
-Anecdotally, a weather controller inside your colony takes priority over a weather controller from the world map. {{Check Tag|Verify}}
+== Analysis ==
+Since weather penalizes colonists and ranged enemies equally, Rainy weather controllers are one of the least harmful condition causers, and can be left indefinitely without much issue. Since it slows down colonists working outside, you may want to destroy them eventually. Forced fog controllers are a more hazardous weather and should be removed in most circumstances.
-== Analysis ==
+When outdoors, forced weather will reduce the [[weapons#accuracy|accuracy]] of ranged weapons. If a shooter and their target are both under a [[roof]]ed tile, then they are not affected by weather, no matter what's between them, including unroofed tiles. {{Check Tag|Do enemies prefer roofed paths?}} In addition, all forms of rain and snow reduce [[move speed|movement speed]] and give the {{--|3}} ''Soaking Wet'' moodlet.
-When outdoors, weather reduces the accuracy of ranged weapons, and most forms of weather also reduce movement speed, and all form of rain give the {{--|3}} ''Soaking Wet'' moodlet.
+Forced Rain will limit and automatically extinguish wildfires even from [[lightning]], but it is suggested you roof over major walkways and [[killbox]]es to limit other negative effects, like unroofed electronics short circuiting and accelerated item decaying. Forced Fog prevents all rain, which typically results in uncontained [[fire]]s growing indefinitely.
-Since weather penalizes colonists and enemies (even mechanoids) equally, weather controllers are one of the least harmful condition causers. You can leave them indefinitely without much issue. Though, since it slows down colonists outside, you may want to take out the weather controller eventually.
+=== Melee colonies & Fog ===
+Melee-focused colonies, such as for challenge runs or those relying on trained [[animals]], [[mechanitor|mechanitor controlled]]{{BiotechIcon}} [[scyther]]s, or [[ghoul]]s,{{AnomalyIcon}} can benefit significantly from weather controllers, with it up to halving the {{DPS}} of ranged enemies but having no effect on melee {{DPS}}. Fog or Foggy rain has the weather-maximum 50% reduction in ranged accuracy and is ideal for this purpose as it has no or minimal accompanying [[Move speed]] penalty, allowing your pawns to close the distance as fast as possible. Against melee enemies, Fog is the most dangerous forced weather for the same reasons.
-For [[killbox]]es, the accuracy penalty can make a significant difference. However, if both the shooter and the target are under a [[roof]], then they are considered "indoors" for the purposes of weather (no matter what's between the shooter and target).
+=== Rainy Power generation ===
+Weather controllers can significantly impact power generation. Stormy weather raises both the windspeed floor and the maximum and so increases both the reliability and output of power generation from [[wind turbine]]s. At the new maximum, wind turbines produce 3450W - less consistent than, and not quite competitive with, [[geothermal generator]]s but not limited in location or number by [[steam geyser]]s. Moderately sized wind farms paired with the correct weather controller can provide sufficient power for even late game power hungry colonies, especially when outfitted with [[batteries]] and [[hidden conduit]]s. Foggy conditions makes turbines less productive, but foggy rain might be more productive than variable weather depending on world tile average rainfall. {{Check Tag|How much?}}
-Note that weather controllers may be beneficial to your colony. Stormy weather increases wind speed, so increases the power generation from [[wind turbine]]s. Rain will automatically extinguish fires. If you can roof over major walkways and killzones, then you can keep a weather controller to take advantage of these (minor) benefits.
+== Version history ==
+* [[Royalty DLC]] Release - Added.
 [[Category:Miscellaneous]]