New info on energy parks

[Dansz]

I hope this is new information, anyway.
Square energy parks are not the most efficient arrangement, you're actually better off with a rectangle with sides in the ratio of 3-2, with the longer side being the direction in which Solar Collectors and E-Mirrors alternate, e.g.

SESESE
SESESE
SESESE
SESESE

where 'S's are collectors and 'E's are mirrors.

An 'A' by 'B' rectangle (where 'A' is the alternating direction) will give 7AB-2A-3B+2 energy.
Probably everyone know's that a larger park will give more EPS (average energy per square) than a smaller one (e.g. a 10 by 10 park {if you could somehow manage it } will give 6.52 EPS while a 3 by 3 park would only give about 5.56 EPS) A rectangular park though can give more EPS even if it's smaller than a square park.

SESES
SESES
SESES
SESES
SESES

gives 152/25 = 6.08 EPS, while the rectangular one shown earlier gives 46/24 = 6.083 EPS.
Add another collector to the right-hand end of the rectangle and you'll get 153 energy instead of 152, for the same number of squares.
Also, whatever the shape of a park, swapping all the Solar Collectors for E-Mirrors and vice-versa makes no change to the total energy production.
I'd better make the disclaimer that I'm not sure if any of this works on square's under 3000ft.

[Jamski]

Also, whatever the shape of a park, swapping all the Solar Collectors for E-Mirrors and vice-versa makes no change to the total energy production.

Now, that is new information. If its true.

-Jam

[Dansz]

I hope that doesn't mean all the other information is old. I hadn't seen any of it from looking through previous threads.

I'm fairly sure that it is true, I don't know how to prove it, but I haven't found any counterexamples.

[Skanky Burns]

e4e
e6e
e6e
e6e
e4e

2e2
3e3
3e3
3e3
2e2

Seems true.

[livid imp]

It may be the same energy output but the extra E-mirrors means addidtional terraform time. Plus E-mirrors can be crawled. That could change the overall output too.

[Dansz]

I know that E-mirrors can be crawled. And I was trying to suggest that it's no good having more mirrors than collector's, because if they were all swapped round you'd get the same output with less terraforming time.

[Jamski]

I hope that doesn't mean all the other information is old. I hadn't seen any of it from looking through previous threads.

I'm fairly sure that it is true, I don't know how to prove it, but I haven't found any counterexamples.

The rest is rather "matured" information... but this swopping is actually very interesting. Nice obs

-Jam

[Skanky Burns]

I'm pretty sure I posted about that in the previous thread though.

[Skanky Burns]

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=2773462#post2773462

[Chaos Theory]

Here's how you prove that swapping results in an identical energy output:

Consider each tile in isolation. If it is a solar panel, it gains +1 from each mirror next to it. If it is a mirror, it grants +1 to each panel next to it.

You can see that if you swap this tile and all the tiles next to it, you gain the same total bonus in this tile or due to this tile. Do this for all the tiles in the park, and you will have the same overall bonus for the whole park.

This also ignores base energy from elevation, so it holds true no matter what the elevations are in the energy park.

[Skanky Burns]

Not true. This is a combination of the two designs I linked to before, namely a row of mirrors on between solars and a row of solars between mirrors. By alternating tiles, you end up with 40 bonus energy rather than 64 from the same area.

E stands for Emirrors, X for solar
E X E X E
X E X E X
E X E X E
X E X E X
E X E X E
The bonus energy for each square
0 3 0 3 0
3 0 4 0 3
0 4 0 4 0
3 0 4 0 3
0 3 0 3 0
Total= 40

[Patashu]

That isn't directly switching solars and mirrors, though.

[Dansz]

I hadn't seen any of the "matured" stuff when I'd looked through previous threads. As everyone seemed to be mentioning square parks, I assumed everyone thought they were the best shapes.
I also knew that people had said in some cases having more mirrors than collectors doesn't help; I was trying to say that in all cases, it doesn't help.

Chaos Theory has come up with the proof I was thinking of, but I wasn't sure I hadn't overlooked anything.

[Santiago_Claus]

If you start with the assumption of, say, 7 available squares for a park you get some really weird "optimal" arrangements which don't suggest any sort of ultimate best shape for a larger area.

Make it, say, 49 squares instead and the area / perimeter effect makes itself felt. Given a large enough park, the best shape would be the largest area inscribed by the smallest perimeter: a circle!

Circular nutrient parks, on the other hand, indicate the presence of Progenitors, that is if the Chiron Enquirer's dire warnings are to be believed: "Crop Circles Evidence of Alien Visitation, Experts Warn".

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Patashu
That isn't directly switching solars and mirrors, though.

Neither was his theory, which basically ignored the outside edges of the park. You know, the parts that are actually different due to the swapping of solars and mirrors.