So I didn't use guppies a ton during the campaign, as I found them inconvenient if there was any possible way to connect the networks. Now that i'm working on the alpha section and doing levels like virgilw - thesource, I really need to master using guppies.
The problem is that I can't seem to get remote networks to produce energy either for that network or to charge a guppy to take back to the command node. In watching videos from when virgil was making the game, he builds a network of collectors with a guppy. These collectors stay powered down (no green collection field) until he builds a guppy to go back to his main network and then they start collecting, contributing new energy back to the main network. When I try the same thing, the collectors/reactors don't function and just sit there dead. Instead the guppy that build that remote network in the first place charges the remote guppy and the energy just gets traded back and forth.
What am I missing?
You aren't missing anything, the energy and AC guppy's were left out of the game.
So is there no way to utilize remote areas to generate energy? On maps similar to thesource it would be a serious disadvantage if my energy production was capped by the small areas i could put my command nodes.
1.CN can move so once you secure an area larger than your starting area you might want to move there.
2. Terafoming can make a lot of free space out of unusable terrain, teraform either to smal 3x3 plateaus depending on the least teraforming needed or into a single flat area.
Yeah, energy guppies were deemed too complicated in beta... would have been a cool thing to have, but way too many problems.
On the plus side, those remote collectors still help a lot in having guppies distribute packets to a large amount of forces, since you can connect everything via a network.