Lightning Rod Generator

alaindustrial:lightning_rod_generator

GeneratorsLVImplementedtier-lvenergyweatherlightning

Summary

The Lightning Rod Generator is the only generator in the mod that runs on an event rather than on a steady flow. It stands there and waits for bad weather. In rain — and especially in a thunderstorm — lightning hits it, and a single strike is worth 20 000 EU/FE: more than a bucket of lava in the geothermal generator.

But a strike can only be caught into free space. Inside sits a conductor tip — a part you craft yourself, and it is the reservoir. As long as there is room in it, the strike is absorbed whole. If the reserve has not been drained yet, the strike is wasted, and the tip wears twice as hard as it would from a caught one.

That is the whole point of the block: once you see a thunderstorm rolling in, spend what you have banked before it arrives.

Mini-example: a rod with a copper tip under open sky catches a strike roughly every 45 seconds in a thunderstorm. One strike is 20 000 EU/FE, and that then bleeds into the network at 16 EU/FE/t for over a minute.

Energy

The rod only produces energy — it never accepts any. Energy passes through the block in two steps: the strike first lands in the tip's capacitor, and from there it flows at an even rate into the internal buffer and on into the network.

Energy leaves through every side except the top. The top is the working face — that is where the lightning lands, and no energy passes through it. Cable can be attached to any side or from below, exactly as on the solar panels.

Generation

Lightning strikes by chance, not on a schedule. Three conditions have to hold at once: open sky above the block, rain or a thunderstorm, and a biome where rain actually falls.

Important: it never rains in the desert or in snowy biomes — a rod there will never catch anything at all. It is the same rule that keeps ordinary lightning out of the desert.

Under a roof the block is just as useless: if there is anything at all above it, no strike will come.

The lightning the rod attracts is harmless: it does not set buildings on fire, it does not hurt the player, and it does not turn a creeper into a charged one. It looks and sounds like the real thing, but it does no damage.

What happens to a strike

A tip is fitted and has room → the energy is absorbed and the tip takes wear. No tip → the strike is lost entirely. The block itself is fine; nothing breaks. The tip wore out on the strike → its reserve goes with it: the capacitor IS the part. The capacitor is full → the strike is lost, and the tip wears twice as hard as usual.

Nothing explodes or burns down in the process — the punishment for being unprepared is simply that you lost a free 20 000 EU/FE and a slice of the tip's lifetime.

Inventory

Interface

The screen shows the internal buffer bar on the left and the capacitor bar (blue) on the right: that bar is the caught reserve. The tip slot sits in the centre, with a status line underneath in

"No conductor tip" — fit the part, or everything goes to waste; "Clear skies" — no weather about, nothing to wait for; "Sheltered" — something is above the block, or the biome gets no rain; "Armed" — bad weather is running, there is room in the capacitor, waiting for a strike; "Overload!" — a strike has just been wasted; while the capacitor is bleeding into the network, the current output is shown instead of the status.

While it discharges, indicators glow on the body and the tip shines blue — a working rod is visible from far away.

Block Properties

A squat slab with a mast. The mast only appears once a tip is fitted — an empty rod looks like a bare pad, so an unequipped block is obvious without opening the screen.

Sound

A caught strike sounds like an ordinary thunderclap. A wasted one gives a sharp crack and blue sparks above the mast.

Recipes

Four crafting-table recipes: the block itself and the three tip grades.

Lightning Rod Generator — a vanilla lightning rod on top, a machine body in the centre, copper cables on the sides, an electronic circuit underneath. Copper Conductor Tip — copper ingots, an iron plate, copper cable. Reinforced Conductor Tip — two electronic circuits, tempered plates and a copper conductor tip. Advanced Conductor Tip — two advanced circuits, gold plates and a reinforced conductor tip.

Progression

It is not the block that gets upgraded but the part inside it. Every next grade banks more, bleeds

A worn tip is repaired by the Component Repair Bench — the same one that fixes windmill rotors.

Related

Component Repair Bench — repairs a worn conductor tip. Tempest Mill — the other block that wants a thunderstorm; a good neighbour. Battery Box — somewhere to put the caught reserve. Copper Cable

Crafting

Shaped Crafting

▶

Lightning Rod Generator