How power works

How does power work?

Power in Openworld is a real quantity, counted in watts. A source makes it, cables carry it, batteries keep it, and every lamp or machine asks for its share: nothing runs on thin air. It all runs in the OVM, the game's machine simulation, which plays 20 short turns a second on its own thread and keeps working where no chunk is loaded. Power is conserved: what a consumer gets was given by a source or taken from a battery, minus the small losses of cables, transformers and gears.

Where does power come from?

• Generator: an engine that burns fuel and turns a dynamo. Up to 5 kW, burning only in proportion to what the cables take: one voxel of coal makes 8 kWh, so at full load it eats well under a voxel an hour. It burns any fuel, or the oil and kerosene poured into its tank. Stopped, it keeps its fuel.
• Solar panel: glass over silicon in an aluminium frame. Up to 400 W with the Sun high in an open sky, less in the morning and evening, nothing at night. Clouds and rain cut it, a solar eclipse dims it, and under a roof it keeps only 15 %.
• Wind turbine: blades on a hub turn a shaft; with an electric motor on the shaft, the wind becomes power. It gives more where the wind blows: high, open and stormy.
• Lithium battery: stores 10 kWh and gives or takes 5 kW at most. It costs three lithium ingots from the Furnace. Set it to Auto, charge only or discharge only; its sheet reads like “Charge 63 % (6.3 / 10 kWh)”.

Which cable do I need, and how do I go far?

• Trips: a cable carries volts times amps. Ask for more current than its maximum and it trips for 5 seconds, and everything behind it goes dark. Right-click a cable with an empty hand to read its voltage, current and power.
• Make them at the metal mill: small power cable = 4 copper wires and an insulation (leather, fur, wool, fabric, plastic or tar) for 8; large = 8 copper wires and 2 plastic or tar for 4; signal cable = 2 copper wires and an insulation for 8. Cables placed before the October update keep their old class and keep working.
• No branching: a piece has at most two links. To split a line, place a junction: the power is shared, not duplicated. The signal cable carries only a signal, see logic and automation.
• Too long: past its reach without a node, a line carries nothing and says so. Place a repeater on the way.
• Going far: a transformer, two copper coils on an iron core, joins a small and a large cable, up or down as set on its sheet, and keeps 97 %. Raise the voltage at the plant, cross the land on a large line, lower it at home.

How much power does each machine use?

A consumer takes power only when it works: a lamp whenever it is powered, a machine while it has something to do. A lamp that gets only part of its watts shines in quarters and draws just that quarter. The metal mill, the loom and the sewing machine also work by hand, and about four times faster under power.

How do I light my first house?

1. 1

   Craft a generator

   Iron sheets round two copper coils, two cogwheels and two tallow. Put it near the house and put coal in its fuel slot.

2. 2

   Pick the cable

   Lamps take a small power cable. Hold it and look at the generator: its sockets appear, green for in, orange for out, blue for both, grey if your cable does not fit.

3. 3

   Lay the line

   Start on the generator's power socket, hold the right button and sweep toward a lamp: the line follows your gaze around corners and is placed when you finish on the lamp's socket.

4. 4

   Add a switch

   Put a light switch on the line to cut it when you want. A bulb, a lamp and its switch make the “electric home” goal of the progress path.

5. 5

   Rest the generator

   Add solar panels and a battery. As a guide, six houses lit at night plus a busy workshop want about 8 kW: two generators, or 20 panels and 3 batteries.

Updated 2026-10-22