System Loop Guide

Solar Arrays: A Believable Power Loop

A good solar-array system should increase power, consume manufacturing capacity for upkeep, and lose efficiency under high radiation exposure. This keeps the loop readable, fair, and realistic.

For more believable behavior, add a helper node that models maintenance quality. That helper can consume manufacturing skill (instead of raw manufacturing capacity) and feed efficiency back into the panel output.

Recommended Draft Shape (Two Nodes)

Node: solar_arrays
Category: energy_system
Start: 40.0
Max: 100.0
HigherIsSafer: true

Positive edge:
- target: power
- effect: add
- amount: +0.05 per day
- interval: day

Negative edge:
- target: manufacturing_capacity
- effect: decrease
- amount: 0.15 per day
- interval: day

Conditional edge:
- when radiation_exposure > 70
- target: solar_arrays
- effect: decrease
- amount: 0.35 per day
- interval: day

Node: solar_array_maintenance
Category: maintenance_system
Start: 55.0
Max: 100.0
HigherIsSafer: true

Positive edge:
- target: solar_arrays
- effect: add
- amount: +0.02 per day
- interval: day

Negative edge:
- target: maintenance_skill
- effect: decrease
- amount: 0.10 per day
- interval: day

Conditional edge:
- when radiation_exposure > 65
- target: solar_array_maintenance
- effect: decrease
- amount: 0.20 per day
- interval: day

Why This Works

• Power output is steady and measurable.
• Direct manufacturing cost prevents free scaling.
• Helper-node maintenance skill introduces crew quality as a second lever.
• Radiation condition creates a natural maintenance pressure.
• The loop is easy to reason about during draft voting.

Common Mistakes

• Only positive edges and no maintenance cost.
• Start value higher than max value.
• Tradeoff ratio below 1.00 (draft should be rejected).
• No failure/degradation condition tied to environment.
• Using only one node when system reliability should be separable from output.

Tip: if solar arrays sit at 40 percent, output may look small depending on configured amount and interval. Validate net effect in per-minute view and forecast horizons.