Factorio Forums

AWESOME UPDATE!

But now I'm completely lost... has anyone figured out the new optimum boiler to steam engine ratio? Right now it looks like an offshore pump can support 40 steam engines, but that's all I can figure out. I'd appreciate the help, just started a new map.

1 boiler to 2 engines

Thank you!!

Kelderek wrote:1 boiler to 2 engines

How can I see this in the game? I tried 3 and 4 engines on a boiler and I can't figure out how to tell two is the correct number....

Mr. Tact wrote:

Kelderek wrote:1 boiler to 2 engines

How can I see this in the game? I tried 3 and 4 engines on a boiler and I can't figure out how to tell two is the correct number....

To test the setup, first make sure your factory pulls more power than 2 steam engines produce.
Then disconnect all steam engines except 2. You'll see them running at full power.

If you add a 3rd engine at the same boiler, you can watch the steam bar in the engines drop until it reaches 0, and they will stop working correctly.

Zeblote wrote:

Mr. Tact wrote:

Kelderek wrote:1 boiler to 2 engines

How can I see this in the game? I tried 3 and 4 engines on a boiler and I can't figure out how to tell two is the correct number....

To test the setup, first make sure your factory pulls more power than 2 steam engines produce.
Then disconnect all steam engines except 2. You'll see them running at full power.

If you add a 3rd engine at the same boiler, you can watch the steam bar in the engines drop until it reaches 0, and they will stop working correctly.

Exactly.

From the data:

• Water's specific heat is 0.2 kJ / (°C unit). (this suggests that 1 unit of water is approximately 48 grams)
• the boiler's power is 1.8 MW.
• The target temperature for the boiler is 165.
• Water starts at 15 degrees.
• The steam engine can use up to 30 units of steam per second.
• The shoreline pump can produce 1200 units of water per second.

So:

• the boiler can heat 1.8M / 0.2k = 9000 °C units of water per second.
• the boiler tries to heat water by 150 °C.
• the boiler therefore converts 60 units of cold water into hot steam per second.
• A single boiler can thus provide exactly enough steam for 2 steam engines.
• A single pump can provide exactly enough cold water for 20 boilers and thus 40 steam engines.

This working does not attempt to consider piping flow rate losses.

The boiler is listed as having an effectivity of 0.5; this means that while it gets 1.8 MW of power from burning, it uses burnables at a rate of 3.6MW, or 1 coal / 2.22 seconds.
At this rate, you need 9 (exactly) coal/second coming in to a single pump's power station, requiring (a little under) 18 standard electric mining drills to keep it fed. Which is rather a bit more than the, uh, 4 or so you needed in 0.14.

Vornicus wrote:The boiler is listed as having an effectivity of 0.5; this means that while it gets 1.8 MW of power from burning, it uses burnables at a rate of 3.6MW, or 1 coal / 2.22 seconds.
At this rate, you need 9 (exactly) coal/second coming in to a single pump's power station, requiring (a little under) 18 standard electric mining drills to keep it fed. Which is rather a bit more than the, uh, 4 or so you needed in 0.14.

You're talking about a single water pump which means 20 boilers and 40 steam engines right? If that's the case, it seems reasonable to me considering you get 900 kW of energy from steam engines now, so that is a nice 36 MW of power. I have no problem with making them consume more fuel than previously, we're getting more reasons to use coal than we had before which I kind of like. I barely ever used coal in the past, now I need it for things like military science packs (grenades). There is also the coal liquefaction recipe in here too (though I haven't unlocked that yet).

Also the devs said in the Friday Facts that it is now a 1:2 ratio

Vornicus wrote:At this rate, you need 9 (exactly) coal/second coming in to a single pump's power station, requiring (a little under) 18 standard electric mining drills to keep it fed. Which is rather a bit more than the, uh, 4 or so you needed in 0.14.

Although that one pump is feeding 40 generators instead of 10, so the coal/MW works out at least close to the same.

Phasma Felis wrote:

Vornicus wrote:At this rate, you need 9 (exactly) coal/second coming in to a single pump's power station, requiring (a little under) 18 standard electric mining drills to keep it fed. Which is rather a bit more than the, uh, 4 or so you needed in 0.14.

Although that one pump is feeding 40 generators instead of 10, so the coal/MW works out at least close to the same.

Exactly the same, actually: coal's energy content hasn't changed, and the effectivity of boilers hasn't changed, and steam engines are still 100% efficient. The update only changed the way you lay out your power stations, not how good they are at converting coal to electricity.