On 5/3/2019 at 5:22 AM, Szczuku said:
My world gave me 2 natural gas geysers so I'm thinking about setting up Natural gas generators+ fertelizer makers and pinch pepernut farms for all that polluted water. I'm not sure however how to make them so that nothing breaks/overheats/becomes too full.
And i would also like to ask what power sources do you guys usually make. And I'm talking about simple but effective and not limited ones
Your question is not a simple answer. It is going to depend on a lot of factors: What resources you have available, what technology you have researched, and what systems you're wanting to run. Your answer is also going to change as you reveal more of the map.
Here are some points to consider when developing your power:
- Dupe power doesn't cost resources, but does cost dupe time. If your dupes are running on hamster wheels, they can't build your base or research new stuff. However, late in the game when you've got a lot of dupe idle time, throwing some hamster wheels in can reduce the resource cost for keeping your base power running.
- Coal is cheap and easy. Its a great source for early in the game, or for out-of-the-way locations that don't need a lot of power. Coal generators will run until they're out of coal unless they're also connected to a smart battery (or other logic) that controls their run time. Ialwaysbuild coal generators with a smart battery to control them.
- Natural Gas generators produce a good amount of power each. The limiting factor is your access to natural gas. A geyser will provide enough gas to run 1 generator continually and have some left over. A good geyser will run 2 or 3 (not counting dormancy). Natural gas is also a byproduct from various other things, such as an oil refinery or fertilizer production. However, if you want to produce natural gas expressly for running natural gas generators, then the only way to do it is to boil the natural gas into petrol and then into sour gas, cool it down until it condenses into methane, then warm it back up into a gas again. It isn't easy, but for massive amounts of natural gas, that's the only way to go. You also need to remember that NG generators produce byproducts that have to be managed. Polluted water and carbon dioxide can build up and cause problems if you don't manage them.
- Petroleum generators produce a LOT of power. Like NG generators, they also produce a lot of other byproducts that need to be handled. Most maps have 1 to 3 oil reservoirs. For 1kg/s of water, you can produce 3333.33g/s crude which can be refined (or boiled) into crude. Basically, if you have water, you have power.
- ALL generators (except hamster wheels and solar) produce heat as a byproduct. Depending on how complicated you want to get, you can move the heat around through various means including aquatuners, and get it somewhere that you can use it.
- Steam generators run off heat. You can use the heat from boiling crude into petrol, or from condensing sour gas to methane. Unless you're using a volcano, they're not really a good source of power for your base to use -- but they are an excellent way to remove heat.
- Hydrogen generators have no byproducts (other than heat). Some will say they're the best generator, others will say to never use them. Here's why: They burn hydrogen. In the early game, hydrogen mostly just gets in the way. It makes a decent gas for cold rooms, since wheezewarts are the most effective when in hydrogen. Its also a power source for AETNs. However, other than that, hydrogen is mostly just in your way early in the game. That changes COMPLETELY when you hit space. Hydrogen rockets are the most efficient at getting dupes up into space. You'll be wanting a LOT of it at that point, and the only way to get it (reliably) is by using electrolyzers. So, if your plan is to go to space, you probably don't want to be burning your hydrogen -- you want to save it.
Basically, you're going to want to build power generators based on what resources you have available. You also want to consider how you get the resources they need, what their byproducts are, and how much power you need. For example, with #2 I said that 'coal is cheap and easy.' This is true, but coal is also a somewhat limited resource as it is only renewable through hatch poop. This means that coal is excellent for power early in your base when you're digging out biomes. Its also great as a backup power source, or as an intermittent source in an area not connected to your main grid. However,you'll run into some serious problems if you try to run a 20kw grid off only coal.
You asked for "power sources that are simple, effective, and not limited." That's impossible. All power sources in the game have limitations. All power sources in the game have difficulties. All power sources can be effective.Yes, you can run your base entirely off natural gas, but you'll need to build a complex system to boil crude oil into sour gas, then cool it down into methane before warming it back up to burnable natural gas. So, while natural gas may fit your 'not limited' requirement, it isn't simple.You will have difficultyif you try and limit yourself to a single source of power. Your power sources are not going to be effective if you don't manage their waste products (or night time for solar, or dupe availability for hamster wheels). Your power sources will be limited if you can't produce the resources they need. Once you understand the limitations and requirements of your various power sources, you can build a network that runs reliably and efficiently.
Just now, greggbert said:
I only mean that hydrogen should be the first you should burn because it produces almost no waste is in inefficient to store for later.
While you are correct that hydrogen doesn't have any waste (other than heat), I disagree with your statement that it should be burned first. There are a number of methods to store hydrogen for later use and more experienced players will definitely want to save it for their space program. There is some merit, however, in making the argument that for new players, hydrogen can be an effective early power source. Since hydrogen is a byproduct of producing oxygen with electrolyzers, it does need to be managed either by storing or burning.
