Electricity Pylons & Connectors

Electricity pylons are used to simplify the creation of large power distribution networks, that would otherwise require the tedious placing of many red copper cables. For example, placing just 10 large electricity pylons can transmit power over a distance that would otherwise require 1,000 cable blocks.

Usage

Before you can use pylons and connectors to transfer power, you must craft a cable drum in order to make the connecting cables between the nodes. This cable drum can be crafted like so:

This cable drum is not consumed when linking nodes, and therefore can be reused indefinitely.

Once you've placed two nodes down, right click on the first node with the cable drum to begin the linking process. Note the distance measurement in your UI, this will help indicate if your connections are too far apart. Next, right click on the node you wish to connect to. There is no limit to the number of nodes that can be connected to one another.

However, every node has a connection distance and connection type that must be obeyed in order to successfully link. The connections between nodes of two different types will always be limited by the shorter of the two connection distances.

For connection types, single connections can be linked together freely, but triple and quad connections require a substation or transformer of the correct type in order to adequately step up/down the voltage to allow for connection. For example, the large electricity pylon requires a substation to connect to your regular grid components. This means that you'll need at least two substations to effectively transfer power.

Node Types

Electricity Connector

The simplest and smallest of the connectors, this can be connected directly to any machine power ports or cable blocks.

Range: 10m
Type: Single

4

Electricity Pylon

A slightly higher range yet still simple connector, the base can be connected directly to machines and cables

Range: 25m
Type: Single

4

Medium Electricity Pylon

Now we're heading into more complex territory, this pylon can't be connected to regular cables and machines, and requires the use of a medium transformer. There is a wooden and steel variant of this pylon.

Range: 45m
Type: Triple

2

Large Electricity Pylon

The largest pylon type, capable of transmitting power great distances easily. This pylon requires the use of a substation in order to be connected to your grid.

Range: 100m
Type: Quadruple

2

8

4

Transformer Types

Medium Electricity Pylon with Transformer

The transformer for medium pylons is simple to craft, it just requires a regular pole with the transformer added on.

Range: 45m
Type: Single to Triple

Substation

The substation, required for connecting large electricity pylons, doesn't use a pylon in it's crafting, but creates two at a time.

Range: 20m
Type: Single to Quadruple

8

12

8

2

Known Issues

There is a bug where poles in unloaded chunks, the red copper wires will partially disconnect from the tops. This is not just a visual glitch, these poles are actually disconnected, fortunately, this lets you know which ones need to be reconnected.

Trivia

In the game files, there are textures for Cable Drums of all the other types of wires (e.g. aluminum, normal copper, gold). Presumably, these wires would provide different power transfer rates or have benefits and disadvantages with each.
- Either this idea was postponed for more important additions or dropped entirely.