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Rain Barrel Water Management


ApolloDiaspora

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Had a bit of a brain wave today.

 

Often, when playing PZ, I don't bother levelling up my carpenting skill that quickly. Even when the water supply konks out, I know there's enough charges left in nearby taps, showers and toilets to keep me going for a while. Often, I'll start filling buckets and cooking pots full of water, then haul them back to the safehouse for a nice little reserve to keep me going until I finally get around to learning to saw a log in half properly. This normally results in a container full of containers of water in the safehouse.

 

So, I got to thinking about water management.

 

I suggest that we be given the ability to empty containers of water into a rain barrel, and that some form of indicator be implemented to inform us how full a water barrel is (in addition to the visual feedback we get now). Say, when you're standing near a rain barrel, you right click on a bucket of water. You see a prompt 'Pour into container: Rain barrel, 75% full'. Click, and there the water goes, just like pouring water into the various empty bottles we have now.

 

Why would this be useful? You might not be getting that much rain, but the full water barrel is a damned useful asset. So, you haul water. The water gets placed in a single, centralised location that you can use to fill up your watering cans, bottles, etc. without the ponderousness of having to fill them by pouring: Instead of having a full cooking pot and a bottle in your inventory, pouring water into the bottle, and storing the pot back in the cabinet, you can simply right-click on the rainbarrel and fill the bottle direct.

 

Suddenly, a rainbarrel doesn't need to be crafted outside to be useful. You could store a large amount of water in a rainbarrel indoors, while your collection point is outside, or hidden elsewhere. Convenience. Maybe the external source of water (be it another barrel, a well, houses with water still in the pipes) has been cut of by zombies, or perhaps you don't want to erect a structure outside that screams 'safehouse' to avoid attracting other players on a PVP server. Or perhaps you're doing some gardening indoors, and walking back outside to fill the watering can is too much of a pain. Again, the convenience of having a large amount of water right there, where you need it.

 

To further extend the concept, perhaps the player could craft a 'water barrel' or 'water tank'. Similar in capacity to the end-tier rain collecting barrel, but craftable at a much lower skill level. This water container would be inferior to even the first teir rain collector, or be incapable of collecting rainwater altogether, but would serve as a convenient place to stockpile water in and around the safehouse.

 

A 'water barrel' could be cheaper in terms of resource expenditure too. You could argue that the large amount of garbage bags used in the construction of the existing rain collecting barrels are used to not only waterproof the container, but serve as a water catchment framework (i.e: Plastic funnel) to help collect water better. The 'water barrel' could then require less garbage bags to construct, as you're only making the barrel water tight. Or perhaps the amount of bags needed to make the high-end rain barrel (or both) could be raised to make storing hauled water more attractive.

 

As a final alternative to consider, perhaps the 'water barrel' concept could be pushed towards the other extreme and become an expensive and very high capacity water storage vessel, ideal for storing all the usable water for a fortress.

 

TL;DR

  • The ability to pour water from containers back into a rain barrel would enable us to stockpile water inside rain barrels situated indoors, or during a dry spell
  • Being able to pour water from containers into rain barrels would make hauling water from nearby houses a much more attractive proposition, as you no longer need to collect a large amount of pots/buckets to store this hauled water
  • A new rain barrel ('water barrel') that is very bad/incapable of collecting water, has the same overall capacity, and is easier to craft than an end tier rain barrel would be highly useful. Stockpiling rain or hauled water indoors, or close to where it is needed (i.e: kitchen, indoor garden) would be most convenient
  • Even when the ability to stockpile water in a bathtub (or similar pre-made container) is implemented, being able to build a water storage container (rain barrel or water barrel) wherever you want would give players more flexibility in how they set up their safehouses/supply caches.
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Well, I'm just throwing ideas around Suomi :P

 

I figured that having a 'water barrel' be a little cheaper, in terms of resources/skills required, than a full size 'rain barrel' would be a good way to offset its inability to collect rainwater, poor rain collection capability, or something like that. If you think about it, having to frequently empty a small rain collector into a 'water barrel' to build up a nice reserve of water would be slower and more inefficient than simply making a large rain collector and letting it do its thing.

 

Anyway. The 'water barrel' idea is me just trying to have a craftable water storage container that doesn't collect rainwater (or does so poorly), independent of the existing rain collector box/barrel, and any future methods such as filling up a bathtub. It'd be nice to make, but not really essential.

 

In other words, being able to pour water back into the existing rain collectors is the main point of this suggestion. The 'water barrel' idea is something nice that could be slapped in if the devs, or a mod maker, are so inclined.

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Previously there was a mod that allowed you to do what you ask, and many other things: 

 


 

However, this mod does not work properly with the build 27. 

 

But there is a compilation of mods that I use, and it works perfectly with the build 27: 

 


 

This compilation contains many obsolete mods, updated for to the build 27. 

 

You can build an automatic irrigation system with a rain collector barrel.

 

A mod that allows you to dry fruits, to prevent rot. 

 

You can also make salting meat, smoked meat, etc.. 

 

You can put fruits and vegetables in glass jars to preserve it longer. 

 

Includes lockpicking mod. 

 

More professions. 

 

Many more recipes using kitchen equipment to cook them. 

 

You can paint symbols on the ground with spray paint. And much more. 

 

I can not live without this compilation. Thanks MafiaPuppet!

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And what about making it possible to craft barrels from plain plastic bags, not only trash ones? Because these are more common, and going on a raid for a trashbag seems a bit... Irrational.

Edit: Also, wouldn't a trashbag that you just took out of a several month old pile o garbage in some container be carrying diseases and a foul odour? How to drink such water from a barrel then? I'd rather put a nice clean plastic bag for collecting water

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And what about making it possible to craft barrels from plain plastic bags, not only trash ones? Because these are more common, and going on a raid for a trashbag seems a bit... Irrational.

Edit: Also, wouldn't a trashbag that you just took out of a several month old pile o garbage in some container be carrying diseases and a foul odour? How to drink such water from a barrel then? I'd rather put a nice clean plastic bag for collecting water

 

Considering how rare(ish) garbage bags are in game, and the fact that you find most of them in cabinets/drawers instead of bins, I'd always figured that the garbage bags you find in game are clean ones without holes in them. It also comes down to the volume of the bag you're using. The average supermarket bag is smaller than a garbage bag, and made of much thinner plastic, especially if you luck out and grab one of the heavy duty bags designed for storing garden trimmings (i.e: clipped tree branches).

 

Might be interesting to make the small rain collector (the square one) craftable using a bunch of shopping bags and duct tape instead of garbage bags. An alternate recipe, mind you, not a replacement of the existing one.

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