building Complex Connections

[GG Cannon]

When it comes to how realist Project Zomboid is, there are a few elements that are so overly simplified that it leaves something to desire.

While it is understandable to a degree, Project Zomboid is the kind of game where when things are complex it is better than when they are overly simple, since reality is complex and the game tries to translate the feeling of difficulty you'd face in that kind of situation were it in reality.

 

The elements I'm mentioning in this case are "wiring" and "piping".

Both the act of plumbing a sink to a water barrel or connecting a generator to an area are interesting and needed that they are present, but they are so simplified currently that they also severely limit what we can do when it comes to base building, while it doesn't translate to how challenging it would be in a more realistic scenario.

As such, I've thought up a few suggestions which I believe would add some balanced complexity to it but also have several added benefits to it.

This is very slightly connected to a few things I suggested in a previous post of mine, but those things in specific will be re-mentioned here since this is an entirely different topic.

 

Wiring

 

It is very weird to me how, despite how realistic it is, in Project Zomboid, I can just connect and turn on a generator anywhere and power a huge radius around it, no questions asked. No need for wires or anything, even a fridge in the middle of the grass that is within range will power up. A true Nikola Tesla wonder with wireless electricity!
 

Jokes aside, I'd like to suggest a mechanic very slightly inspired to how wires work in Terraria.

 

1. Start with the generator or source of power.
   Energy needs to be delivered to the distribution point of the electrical grid and not just anywhere, namely a "fuse box" or any "power pole" that delivers energy to that fuse box.
   You'd need to have wires with you in your inventory in order to connect the generator and disconnecting the generator would have a chance to return those wires based on your electrical skill level.  
   Just place the generator near the fuse box and right click it, then in the menu window, instead of simply "Connect Generator" it should say "Connect Generator To" and provide you the option to choose to what you wish to connect the generator to.
   [Connect Generator To] > [Fuse Box/TV/Car Battery Charger/etc]
   
   For gas stations, for example, you'd either need to connect the generator to a single specific gas pump or find the gas station's fuse box in order to connect the generator to it and power the whole gas station.
   This would create a whole new level of realistic decision making a threat that is much more aligned to the spirit of PZ.
   
   This would also add the possibility of other generators and power poles to connect those new generators to the house.
   Things like Solar Panels, that already existed basically the same as today in 1993, or eolic generators, or even steam generators, that could burn logs or coal and need water to produce energy.
    
2. Wires:
   Wires should need to be present inside the walls and power outlets need to be present on the wall.
   
   2.1 Wires inside walls:
   When building walls, after building the frame and before plastering, it should be possible to place wires inside the wall. 
   I won't mention much about the tools needed, but it should also be possible to break down the plaster of house walls in the world and remove the wires.
   For that, you would need to turn off the power to the house in its "fuse box" or disconnect the electrical wires outside from the power pole that connect to the house.
   Wires inside the wall are always connected to wires on any wall in a 3x3 square from the floors above and below.
   
   While building the roof/floor, it should also be possible to place wires under the floor boards connected to the wires on the walls of the same floor and the floor below.
   
   While holding a proper tool in hand, like "Pliers" or a similar new tool for Vanilla, it should be possible to see ceiling lights in order to remove them.
   New item [Foldable Step Ladder] Weight: 10 [Placeable]
   Needed to remove or place ceiling lights.
   Ceiling lights would require wires inside that ceiling/that floor tile of the next floor above.
   
   2.2 Outlets:
   You can then place "Power Outlets" [A new item] on a wall that has wires in it.
   Each power outlet would provide power to all electrical appliances in a 3x2 rectangle in front of it.
   
   So all you'd need is for wires connected to a fuse box inside the wall to be connected to the power outlet near any appliance for it to work and not depend on the distance from the generator to the appliance.
   
   2.3 Wires Outside
   Differently, external wires are usually longer and higher up, for example, building power poles as I mentioned several times.
   You'd also need a foldable step ladder to build a power pole, but to connect a power pole to another power pole, you'd need a considerable amount of wire and it would be similar to connecting a generator to a fuse box but more like cutting trees.
   You'd simply right-click the power pole without wires and select "Connect Power Pole To" and then be given a square tile selector similar to when you are cutting trees and choose where you want to connect that power pole to. The wires can even be invisible and don't even need to be drawn, but it is possible to program a simple line tracer to make visible black curved lines to represent the wires.
   This would allow to connect generators to power poles, power pole to another power pole and power pole to external fuse box. (Connecting to the external fuse box should not produce visible wires, ideally)
    

Pipage

 

Pipes would work exactly the same as wires.
Build the pipes inside the walls add a "Valve" as the same as the "Power Outlets" providing water in a 2x3 in front of it to any sink or "Steam Generator" or any other appliance that uses water in front of it.
Build invisible pipes inside the floor inside or outside and connect the pipes to "pumps"(new item, same as generator but for pumping water into the pipes) or to the external water supply, if the water hasn't been turned off yet (for games where water is never shut down).

 

Conclusion

 

This would require some small degree of rewriting in the game when it comes to the generator and plumbing sinks, but the added benefit of this degree of complexity not only would make base building more interesting and provide more freedom when it comes to where you will place your generators, it would allow a base to have multiple generators, maybe batteries and who knows, maybe even the possibility of making logic nodes, who knows what modders would add with wiring added in the mix of the game or what you as developers would even consider adding in the future with such a system in place.

 

Thing is, this would also bring a level of realism that is currently lacking since the threat of needing to search for the external fuse box of a gas station in order to power it would already make things a lot more challenging without this system being overly complex.

 

Wires as an item already exist in the game, but they don't have too much uses, yet a system like this would make the electrical skill and electrician profession a lot more valuable and needed.

Edited November 6, 2022 by GG Cannon