Solar power in belt?

[Haladin]

Hoping for a dev response -

From my current tests, solar panels produce maximum efficiency even if the sun is behind the gas clouds of a belt. Is this safe to rely on, for building up station infrastructure?

I'd hate to invest a bunch of time and resources building a solar powered station inside or behind a belt only to find out the solar penetration was a bug or incomplete state, and I should have instead found a more exposed station location.

Thanks!

 

[HardworkingSlacker]

I wouldn't rely on it. If this game is ever supposed to be logical, the logical answer is that this is indeed a bug. But who knows, maybe converting infra-red light may be enough to power a whole station

 

[Haladin]

I agree it feels unrealistic, but from a gameplay point of view, solar panels seem like they'd have very little utility if they only worked outside a belt.

 

[Haladin]

One last gentle bump on this.

Between the question of solar power, and big unknowns about whether capital ship docks will be viable in origin safezone, and what sorts of quantities of new moon materials will be necessary to build capital ships, it's frustratingly hard to plan/stock up for building a cap construction station - one of the few interesting goals we can set in the game right now!

 

[Cavilier210]

Its actually not that unrealistic for EM radiation to get into a ring system. Saturn's rings aren't actually that thick. For example.

Now, solar panels themselves are the highly questionable aspect. Our current solar cell tech isn't of much use beyond the orbit of Mars. Which is why probes that go further tend to not use solar.

 

[Crusha]

if you want to build a station in an asteroid field with what should you then supply the station with energy?

 

[Cavilier210]

if you want to build a station in an asteroid field with what should you then supply the station with energy?

The large generators that run on liquid exorium. Which are coming soonish.