Hi, since the dev update, I've been wondering about how waterwheels and rivers could/will be implemented. Maybe some of my thoughts will be of interest to someone. Because I feel like the current implementation of water really dampens my excitement when it comes to the waterwheel. Because in reality, oftentimes waterwheels need a bunch of associated waterworks. This would be something like digging an alternate river channel that's then dammed and routed over the wheel, or finding a natural place suitable for a waterwheel and others. You can plop an undershot waterwheel in the middle of the river, but it's quite inefficient and IMO, kinda boring. So in real life, the disadvantage of waterwheel is that it can't be used just anywhere. Just like a windmill in a deep valley, waterwheel on a flat land with slowly moving water isn't very useful. It's even less useful without any moving body of water, such as a desert.
A price to pay for inheriting the water mechanics from MC means all of this is waved off with the mighty bucket. As long as you have one singular water source block, from which you take one bucket of water, you have created infinite water. You can take it anywhere. A Nile river in your pocket for the cost of like 5 planks and a string. And with waterwheel, presumably, infinite uninterrupted power source is in your hands. So, if you insist that water 'physics' stay the same as they are, in terms of game mechanics, 'the price' for the waterwheel has to be paid elsewhere. You could make waterwheel very expensive. However, it would still be unsatisfying to see this eternal perpetum mobile once it is completed. Furthermore in a game, where grind is already an issue for many (I only play singleplayer... It's so much work to make steel by myself), this feels like a bad idea. Having to pay for maintenance is even worse, because EVERYONE hates mechanics like that.
What I'm trying to say is, that I hope a fundamental change in how water works is going to happen at some point. If only to make waterwheels interesting and not just a perpetum mobile that can be built anywhere, regardless of geography. In a game that tries to be more realistic, water already feels weird now, before it is tied to waterwheels. For example I built a kitchen in my world recently. I could have put in a barrel with water, so I can make dough, right? Well obviously I didn't. Instead, I took my bucket (10 litres), scooped up 1/5th of a barrel (50 litres). I then poured this 10 litre bucket into a hollowed out stone block (via chiselling - props to devs that this can be done and doesn't spill) and voilà, I have infinite water in my kitchen, contained in my chiseled barrel. The game mechanics are kinda incoherent in this regard. On one hand, gamified not-really-water combined with water usage which is inspired by real world clash in a bizarre way.
I cursory search on google reveals many ways to approach water in voxel game. This includes voxel water with/without pressure, directional flow etc. I understand that it's a different beast when it comes to having continuously flowing water on an infinite procedurally generated world. But I really hoped, that since minecraft realease, there popped up better suited models than 'minecraft water'. Especially considering the boom of voxel based games.
Does anybody know if the devs ever talked about water in the past? And whether changing something this fundamental about the game is even on the table?
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
