CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA

Solar Lawn Lamps, Solar Street Lights and Micro Solar Cells

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#68,329 opened on Sep 25, 2023

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Description

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Even though they exist in real life and are fairly common as expensive lawn decorations or as features of modern urban design, there's a lack of any solar-powered lamps of streetlights. There are many versions and variants of both available commercially.

A survivor would make good use of them when scavenging for light sources/solar electronics, and in cities, they can make night raids more engaging/complex if city street lights remain active due to being solar powered rather than reliant on the energy grid, letting survivors see threats in the night but also limiting their ability to sneak around safely.

Solution you would like.

Introduce 'micro solar cell' as a electronic spare part, for use in devices that are too small to use the current fairly large solar cells (0.25L , 0.50kg, 6x6 cm), like the proposed Solar Lawn Lamps would be.

Add 'Solar Lawn Lamp' as a furniture item, found on lawns or gardens as decorative lights that are powered entirely by solar energy. More expensive households (e.g. Mansions) are more likely to have these. They might illuminate as much as a reading light, light-strip or a flashlight.

Add 'Solar Street Light' as a furniture or building feature of certain city blocks, replacing the standard electric street lights. These would illuminate whole sections of a town, collecting solar power during the day and turning on during the night.

Mechanically, they could be as simple as a lamp that turns on/off depending on time of day (clock-based), temperature (with regards to seasons) or illumination (off in 'bright' squares, on in 'very dark' squares). They may either be like many of the lab lights with their 'infinite' illumination, with the caveat that they turn off during the day and only exist outdoors, or they could be battery powered like most appliances, with their charges increasing whilst outdoors in sunlight.

Describe alternatives you have considered.

Having the solar lamps have sensors or options to determine when they're on or off (like setting an alarm, or by detecting temperature, or by detecting ambient light/darkness in its square).

Adding a solar battery charger as another appliance/tool. So you don't have to assemble a whole electrical grid or a special vehicle to recharge batteries.

Chaining up electric zombies and using them as batteries and aggressive flashlights.

Additional context

Some examples of 'lawn' solar lamps: https://reviewed.usatoday.com/home-outdoors/best-right-now/best-outdoor-solar-lights

And of street lights, specifically in Boston: https://soluxio.lighting/solar-projects/soluxio-solar-decorative-street-lights/

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