Transformers

The workshop hangs on the main grid. When the arc furnace starts up there, the lights go out in the kitchen. A transformer in between separates the two networks and passes on only as much as you allow it.

Three sizes#

Important for your chip: it only sees devices on its data network. If the chip hangs behind a medium transformer on the workshop network, it sees the transformer and everything in the workshop – but nothing on the main grid.

What the LogicTypes mean#

The transformer passes on at most the smaller of Setting and what the input network can offer. A freshly built transformer stands at 0 and passes on nothing at all.

The trap: exactly equal is not enough#

The game checks whether the power offered is greater than the demand. If it is smaller or exactly equal, all normal consumers behind the transformer switch off – only batteries, transformers and area power controls stay on. That is why the chip always adds some reserve.

Measuring the demand#

The cable analyzer (StructureCableAnalysizer) sits directly on a cable and reads the network it sits on:

lbn demand METER HASH("Werkstattnetz") PowerRequired Average
mul target demand RESERVE
max target target MINIMUM
min target target limit

max provides a lower limit, min caps it at what the transformer can do. If the workshop asks for more than Maximum, that is a bottleneck: no setting helps any more then, only a bigger transformer or fewer consumers.