Public excerpt of an in-progress design document. Playtest in progress; this page is incomplete. In-repo docs remain the design authority. Numeric tables and unpublished outlines are not on this wiki.

Renewable Energy Idler

Core Concept

Genre: Component-Based Idle/Incremental Game
Focus: Building realistic renewable energy systems
Main Currency: Energy Credits (EC) earned by feeding energy to the grid
Progression: Upgrade components via lab research (kWh), increase component counts with EC, balance energy allocation between grid (EC) and lab (upgrades)
Platforms: Android, iOS, PC (built with Godot v4.7)

Core Mechanics

Energy Credits (EC): Earned by sending inverter output to the grid (kWh × sell rate × Time-of-Use multiplier × reset multiplier); rates in
Game Loop:
1. Generate energy on the DC Bus
2. Send inverter output to the grid to earn EC
3. Purchase unlocked generators, charge controllers, batteries, and inverters
4. Repeat
Energy Allocation: Inverter AC output is split between grid (EC) and lab (research kWh) via the Power Allocation Slider.
Lab Research: Multi-level progression for each research area. Unlocks higher-tier components and system upgrades.
EC Purchases: Increase component counts or upgrade shared infrastructure. Every generator unit is purchased at tier 1 of its source and then upgraded individually, one tier at a time; generator research level N unlocks tier N+1 as an upgrade target (see Generator Units). Battery and inverter tiers follow a research ladder (tier index N requires Battery Type / Inverter Type level N; Lead-Acid and Modified Sine are starting equipment).
Charge Controllers: One shared charge controller per generation source limits total generation from that source. Human Power bypasses charge controllers (direct to DC Bus).
Maintenance System: Generators and batteries degrade over time. Charge controllers do not degrade. See Maintenance & Degradation.
Persistence: Local JSON save to user://save.json; periodic auto-save plus save on app pause/quit (cadence in Technical Outline.md
Platform-Specific Mechanics:
- Mobile (Android/iOS): Touch-based controls for active Human Power generation.
- PC: Mouse/keyboard controls for active Human Power generation.

Energy Routing

Power flows through a DC Bus model. Lab and grid both draw from inverter AC output, not raw generation.

Power In (Generator + Charge Controller)

Power is generated by source (Human Power, Solar, Wind, Hydro, Ocean, Geothermal).
Generation is reduced by the source’s charge controller efficiency. Human Power is exempt and connects directly to the DC Bus.
The generation sum becomes available to the DC Bus.
Power that cannot be consumed in real time on the DC Bus is clipped (wasted).

Storage (Battery)

The battery is the DC Bus buffer and the lowest priority for both supply and consumption.

DC Bus power not consumed by other means (primarily the inverter) charges the battery up to capacity and DoD limits.
DC Bus demand not met by generation charges down from the battery to its discharge limit.
Battery efficiency applies to both charge and discharge: it slows charge rate per unit consumed and raises discharge draw per unit requested.

Power Out (Inverter)

The inverter is the primary means of removing power from the DC Bus.
Inverter research tier sets maximum AC output capacity.
Inverter efficiency increases DC draw per unit of AC output.
The inverter always attempts rated AC output. If insufficient DC energy is available, it curtails AC output to match available DC (still factoring efficiency).

Power Consumption (Base Load + Grid + Lab)

Base load consumes first from inverter output.
Remaining inverter output is available to grid and lab.
The Power Allocation Slider sets the percentage split between grid and lab, but the lab only draws power while at least one research project is active. With none active, the lab’s would-be share diverts to the grid instead (sold, when the inverter is exporting) rather than being lost.

Power Flow UI

Left-to-right layout in the bottom status bar:

Generation Total — auto-scaling major units every 1,000
Battery Input — auto-scaling major units every 1,000
Battery Stored — kWh of kWh Total (1 decimal place)
Battery Output — auto-scaling major units every 1,000
Inverter Output — auto-scaling major units every 1,000
Fork
- Top: Grid Power — auto-scaling major units every 1,000
- Bottom: Lab Power — auto-scaling major units every 1,000

Icons for Generation, Battery, Inverter, Grid, and Lab are spaced with conduit lines. Marching-ant flow pips indicate flow speed, scaled to fractional inverter capacity at max speed.

Time & Simulation

Day Length: One game day at normal speed is a fixed real-time length (
Day/Night Cycle: Realistic 24-hour cycle for the American Midwest, with shorter nights in summer and longer nights in winter (real-world day/night proportions).
Seasons: Four seasons of equal length; new games start on day 1 of Spring (season length and start clock in
Time-of-Use: Hour windows map to the in-game simulation clock (see Economics).
Fatigue Timers: Human Power active-boost timers use real-world time, scaled with game simulation speed.

Offline Progression

The game tracks real time between play sessions (last_played_unix in the save; the frozen interval on mobile suspend/resume) and catches up when reopened:

Very short absences are ignored; longer ones are simulated up to a cap, and the popup says so when the cap kicks in (threshold, cap, and tick size in
Catch-up runs the missed time through the normal simulation in coarse ticks, so weather, storms, degradation, maintenance contracts, research progress, and achievements all behave exactly as they would have live. Maintenance contracts are the intended tool for keeping a farm healthy across long absences — offline farms degrade toward the effectiveness floor without one.
On return, a “While You Were Away” popup summarizes: real time away, in-game days passed, kWh generated, EC earned, research completed, and severe storms endured.

Research Lab System

Research Lab Interface

UI Layout:

Power Allocation Slider: Horizontal slider across the top
- Left (0): 100% inverter output to grid
- Right (100): 100% inverter output to lab
- Real-time feedback showing EC/min and research kWh/min rates
Reset Button: Manual prestige trigger (see Victory Conditions & Endgame)
Message Display: Shows notifications such as "ITEM Research Completed!" when a research item finishes

Research Toggle System:

Toggle Buttons: 14 on/off buttons for research areas
Parallel Research Capacity: Set by Parallel Research level (ladder in
Toggle Logic: Activate up to parallel capacity; deactivate one project before activating another when at capacity. Level 5 removes the cap entirely but does not bypass progression unlocks.
Progress Display: Each toggle shows a live progress bar and a “kWh to next level” remaining amount, both updating every tick as lab kWh accrues — not just when a level completes.

Research Areas (14 total):

Lab Efficiency
Parallel Research
Battery Type
Inverter Type
Solar Generator
Solar Controller
Wind Generator
Wind Controller
Hydro Generator
Hydro Controller
Ocean Generator
Ocean Controller
Geothermal Generator
Geothermal Controller

Research Progression System

Research Levels (0–5 per area):

Level 0: Locked
Level 1–5: Progressive improvements

Research kWh Requirements (before Lab Efficiency reduction):

Authoritative values:

Lab Efficiency: Reduces total kWh cost per level by a fractional percentage (per-level values in

Effective_Required_kWh = Base_Required_kWh × (1 − Lab_Efficiency_Percent)

Lab Efficiency reduces cost; it does not boost research rate.

Parallel Research Energy Split: Lab kWh from the allocation slider is divided equally among all active research projects. More parallel projects means slower per-project progress.

Parallel Capacity: max active projects per Parallel Research level in

Research Unlock Progression

Each research area is either available immediately or gated behind another area’s level; the full unlock chain is not listed on this wiki.

When a new generator type unlocks, its starter DIY Resistor charge controller unlocks immediately, so purchased generators contribute power right away.

Energy Sources & Components

Six generation sources: Human Power, Solar, Wind, Hydro, Ocean, Geothermal. All per-source data — unit caps, tier stats, costs, unlock requirements, storm exposure, and arrival targets — lives in

Generator Units

Every generation source (except Human Power) is a fixed field of unit slots — one slot per potential generator, up to the source’s unit cap (e.g. Solar has 50 slots). Each slot is an independent unit, in the spirit of tower-defense placements: it is bought, upgraded, repaired, and degrades on its own.

Purchase: an empty slot is always filled with a tier 1 unit of that source, at the tier 1 price. Higher tiers can never be bought directly.
Upgrade: an owned unit upgrades one tier at a time (tier N → N+1) at the full price of the target tier. Upgrades are gated by research: generator research level N unlocks tier N+1 as an upgrade target. Upgrading preserves the unit’s condition (effectiveness) and its site variance (below).
Site variance: each unit rolls a permanent output multiplier when its slot is first purchased, representing site quality (shading, terrain, geography). The roll is uniform within a per-source band below peak — Solar sites are nearly uniform; later sources are spread across more varied geography and roll wider bands (values in

and repairs; it is the slot’s roll, not the equipment’s.
Condition: each unit degrades individually (rate and floor in

Repair action restores that unit to 100% (see Maintenance Actions).

A unit’s output is tier output × condition × site variance, then the source-wide charge controller, weather, and storm multipliers apply as usual.

Human Power

Special case: no EC cost, no charge controller (direct to DC Bus), no degradation or maintenance. Tiers unlock on lifetime kWh generated rather than research (the only source that works this way). Buying a newly-unlocked tier does not replace the previous device — it stacks: every owned device (max one per tier) keeps generating its passive output forever, and only the newest (highest-tier) owned device responds to active-boost clicks. Each new tier doubles base load. Starting configuration: shake flashlight only (starting EC per build type in

Active Boost Mechanics:

Clicks augment generation: active kW is added on top of passive output while the boost is live. Boost is binary — clicks do not stack or multiply — and each click extends it by a fixed window sized so steady clicking keeps it continuous. One click can be banked during an active boost to auto-apply when the timer reaches zero.
Fatigue limits boost duration (see Time & Simulation): a stamina pool drains while boosting and regenerates while idle; emptying it disables boosting until stamina partially recovers. Pool sizes and rates in

Charge Controllers

One shared controller per generation source multiplies that source’s entire output; named tiers only (“Smart” tiers have no special abilities beyond their efficiency values). Controllers never degrade. Ladder and costs in

Shared Infrastructure

Battery Bank System

Count: 5 tiers (upgrade path, not multiple banks).

Authoritative values:

Inverter System

Count: 5 tiers, stackable up to a shared unit cap (

Add Inverter: buys one more unit of the current tier at its flat price (Mechanical Room).
Tier upgrade: replaces every owned unit, so it costs the next tier’s price × unit count (identical to buying that many units outright — no stacking exploit). The bank size and smart-config settings carry over.
Efficiency and smart features come from the tier, not the count.

Authoritative values:

Smart Inverter Features (stack with each tier; all available by tier 5 — Hybrid grants Export at 100% / Research at 100% / Divert to Lab alongside its charge limits, Grid-Tie adds the Export Schedule and Charge-Only Segments, Parallel adds Predictive Export):

Export Schedule: Specify start/end times for grid export.
Export at 100%: Begin export when battery is full.
Research at 100%: Divert excess to lab.
Divert to Lab: Send max available power to lab when not exporting. When disabled and grid export is off, inverter generates 0.5× max output, sending that full amount to lab.
Charge-Only Segments: Up to 3 time segments where inverter will not discharge (Grid-Tie+).
Predictive Export: Projected-gain-based export optimization (Parallel tier).

DC Bus Voltage

Purchasable voltage tiers in the Mechanical Room cumulatively reduce the DC Bus’s base transmission loss (values in components: generation after charge controllers, battery charge/discharge, and inverter DC draw.

Maintenance & Degradation

Degradation

Generators: fixed effectiveness loss per game day down to a floor (rate and floor in

Charge Controllers: No degradation.

Batteries:

Discharge_value = 100 − DoD
Track discharge percentage; accumulate +1 discharge_count per Discharge_value discharged
Track cycle_count
When cycle_count >= battery.cycles: capacity multiplier × 0.8
Capacity starts at 1.0; degrades linearly toward 0.8 based on cycle_count
Charging below DoD% adds a 5 cycle_count penalty at DoD%, then again for every 10% below
Battery effectiveness floor: 50% at 2× cycles; linear scale from 0.8 to 0.5 when cycle_count > cycles

Severe Storms: an instant effectiveness hit to affected generators (see Weather; magnitudes in

Maintenance Actions

Each generator unit tile carries its own Repair button; each source additionally has source-wide Full Maintenance and Maintenance Contract controls. Maintenance is the sole degradation recovery path — instant EC spend, no wait timers.

Action	Scope	Behavior
Repair	One unit	Spend EC to restore that unit to 100% effectiveness (priciest per point — spot fixes cost a callout fee)
Full Maintenance	Whole source	Spend EC to restore all lost effectiveness on every unit
Maintenance Contract	Whole source	Full Maintenance automatically on a fixed day cadence (cheapest per point)

Cost multipliers per action, per-unit maintenance costs, and the contract cadence are in

Maintenance Contract Rules:

Remains active until deactivated; deactivating starts a cooldown before reactivation
EC charged at the start of each contract day based on equipment at that time
Does not trigger if insufficient EC for the full cost

Economics

Energy Credits

EC is earned from grid sales only.
EC purchases: generators, charge controllers, battery upgrades, inverter upgrades, maintenance, and resets.
Every EC cost is specified in

Time-of-Use Pricing

TOU is an EC sell multiplier only — daily windows and multipliers in Global Constants.

Revenue (EC) = Grid_kWh × Sell_Rate × TOU_Multiplier × Reset_Multiplier

The sell rate sets how fast reinvestment compounds: equipment costs are derived from payback-time targets that stretch from a couple of minutes at tier 1 to the better part of an hour at tier 5 (rate and per-tier payback columns in

Base Load

Starting base load = half of passive shake flashlight output; each new Human Power tier doubles it.
Active parallel research adds a percentage per active project beyond the first (rate in

count of currently active research toggles.

Weather

Daily Weather

Each game day is assigned a weather state before it starts.
Weather follows American Midwest patterns and probabilities, built with tunable weights for regional/difficulty variants.
Routine weather applies globally; generators are affected by type (e.g., clouds/rain reduce solar, high winds boost wind).
Use real-world output modifiers where applicable.
Wind hourly fluctuation: on top of the day’s routine condition, wind output is further scaled each in-game hour by a deterministic gust factor (range in — Weather & Storm Risk), so wind varies hour to hour rather than holding one value all day. Solar, hydro, ocean, and geothermal are unaffected.
Forecast: 5-day outlook shown to the player, including severe storm warnings when detected.

Severe Storms

After daily weather assignment, roll for a severe storm event; at most one severe storm per day. Storm types, daily chance, weights, affected sources, output multipliers, and effectiveness hits are in

Output: Affected sources multiply output by the storm’s multiplier for that day (stacks with routine weather).
Degradation: Each affected generator takes the storm’s effectiveness hit immediately (respects the degradation floor).
Forecast: Storms appear in the 5-day forecast when scheduled; icon and tooltip identify storm type and affected sources.

Achievements

All achievements persist across resets. Optional targets; not win conditions.

Research-Focused

Achievement	Target
Research Pioneer	Complete any one research item
Parallel Processor	Research 3 areas simultaneously
Lab Master	Achieve 50% lab efficiency
Generator Titan	Reach Level 5 in any generator research area
Research Empire	Reach Level 5 in all research areas

Entertainment

Achievement	Target
Shake It Up!	Generate 100 kWh with shake flashlight
Pedal Power Star	Generate 1,000 kWh with shake flashlight
Sun Worshipper	Generate 1,000 kWh with solar in a single day
Wind Whisperer	Generate 500 kWh with wind in a single day
Tide Rider	Generate 10,000 kWh with ocean in a single day

Challenging

Achievement	Target
Energy Mogul	Earn 100,000 EC in a single month
Grid Master	100% allocation to grid, 0% to lab for 30 consecutive days
Off-Grid Legend	Keep battery above 80% for 7 days
Maintenance Master	Keep components from dropping below 85% effectiveness for 30 consecutive days

Milestone-Based

Achievement	Target
First Spark	Generate 100 kWh total
Renewable Pro	Reach 10 kW mixed generation capacity
Grid Stabilizer	Earn 50,000 EC
Energy Empire	Build a 200 kW system with all energy sources

Progression & Unlock System

Research Gates: All energy sources except Human Power unlock via the research progression chain (see Research Unlock Progression). Total kWh generated does not gate wind/hydro/ocean/geothermal.
Human Power Gates: tiers unlock on lifetime kWh generated (values in
Starting State: Shake flashlight only; starting EC per build type in
Bottlenecks:
- Research level limits component types and efficiency
- Charge controller limits per-source generation
- Inverter capacity caps AC output
- Battery determines storage and buffer behavior
- Parallel research capacity limits simultaneous projects (until Level 5)

User Interface

Simulation tick order and signal wiring are defined in Technical Outline.md

Research Lab View

Element	Data Source	Behavior
Power Allocation Slider	`GameState.research_allocation`	0–100% inverter output to lab; emits `allocation_changed`
Research toggle grid	`GameState.research_system`	14 toggles; states below
Reset button	`GameState.reset_multiplier`	Confirmation dialog showing EC cost
Message display	`GameState.research_completed` signal	`"ITEM Research Completed!"` toast
Economics panel	`GameState` stats	EC/min, EC earned today, maintenance spend today, lab kWh/min

Research toggle states:

State	Visual	Interaction
Locked	Gray	Tooltip shows unlock prerequisite
Available	White	Click to activate
Active	Green	Click to deactivate
Completed	Blue	Level 5; toggle disabled
At capacity	White + badge	Click shows toast; must deactivate another project first

Component View (Generation Tab)

The center of the tab is a unit grid: one tile per unit slot of the selected source (scrollable), replacing any aggregate buy/upgrade controls. The grid stays tight and fluid at any UI scale — tiles wrap to the available width with no large empty regions.

Each unit tile shows, top to bottom:

Slot title — source unit name and slot number (e.g. “Solar Panel #7”)
Tier name of the installed unit (e.g. “Polycrystalline”), or the slot’s empty state
Action buttons — Buy (empty slot, tier 1 price) or Upgrade (next tier + price; disabled when research-gated or at top tier), plus Repair (price; disabled at 100%)
Condition bar — that unit’s individual effectiveness

Element	Data Source	Behavior
Source list	`GameState.sources`	Left rail; one entry per energy source
Unit grid	Per-source `instances`	One tile per slot; per-unit Buy/Upgrade/Repair intents
Bottleneck indicator	`GameState` routing	Warns when inverter or controller caps output
Efficiency meter	Output vs theoretical max	Includes weather, degradation, research
Maintenance controls	Per-source/battery	Full, Contract (see Maintenance)
Tooltips	`data/ui_strings.json`	Keys: `source.{id}.`, `tier.{id}.`

System Overview (Status Bars)

Element	Location	Data Source	Refresh
Power flow diagram	Bottom status bar	`energy_stats_updated` payload	Every simulation tick
24-hour production graph	Bottom status bar	`GameState.hourly_generation[24]`	Each in-game hour
5-day weather forecast	Top status bar	`WeatherSystem.forecast`	Day boundary
Time / season / EC	Top status bar	`GameState` clock + `energy_credits`	Every tick

Production graph: Line2D or production_graph.gdshader plotting last 24 in-game hours of total generation (kW). Ring buffer in GameState; no per-source lines in initial build.

Platform Hotkeys (PC)

Key	Action
`1`	Generation tab
`2`	Mechanical Room tab
`3`	Research Lab tab
`4`	Achievements tab
`R`	Reset allocation slider to 50%
`M`	Open maintenance on focused component

Mobile uses touch targets (48×48 px minimum) and swipe between tabs; no hotkeys.

Educational Formula Display

Expandable Details panels on Generation and Research Lab show live values for formulas in Educational Elements. Updated via state_updated — not recomputed in UI scripts.

Victory Conditions & Endgame

Win Condition: None; endless play
Reset Trigger: Manual button in Research Lab UI
Reset Multiplier: EC gains multiply by the current reset multiplier, which doubles with each reset until it hard-caps at 1024 (growth factor, cap, and cost ladder in
Reset Cost: grows with the square of the multiplier while income grows linearly with it, so each successive reset takes progressively longer to afford and the loop self-paces.
Reset Scope: All progress resets except reset multiplier and achievements
Milestone Achievements: Capacity targets (e.g., 200 kW) are optional goals, not win conditions

Educational Elements

Transparency: Display calculations for energy production, research costs, EC earnings, and efficiency
Real-world Connections: Components mirror real-world equivalents

Key Formulas:

DC_Generation = Σ(Source_kW × Charge_Controller_Efficiency)  [Human Power direct]

DC_Bus_Loss = Base_Loss − Voltage_Tier_Reduction

Inverter_AC_Output = min(Rated_Capacity, Available_DC × Efficiency)

Lab_kWh_Rate = Inverter_Output × Lab_Allocation% / Active_Research_Count

Effective_Required_kWh = Base_Required × (1 − Lab_Efficiency%)

Inverter_Total_Capacity = Per_Unit_Capacity × Unit_Count

Revenue (EC) = Grid_kWh × Sell_Rate × TOU_Multiplier × Reset_Multiplier

Reset_Cost = Reset_Base × Reset_Multiplier²

Constants (sell rate, base bus loss, reset base) live in