Why not build all Boilers and Steam Engines at once?
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 12:23 pm
Is there a problem with building a "full setup" of Boilers and Steam engines at once?
My usual setup is that I build all Boilers at once, usually 16 (I've found that 13-14 isn't enough) in several rows, with Underground Piping between so I can more easily move around. Then I build a conveyer belt to move Coal around. I make an Inserter for each Boiler, but for almost all of them I disable the Inserter by turning it the wrong way ("R" key) so that initially only 2 or 3 of my Boilers are "active". I then add the first Steam Engine.
Later on I add more Steam Engines, one or two at a time, ending up with one "block" of 6, and another "block" of 4, all connected in linear fashion (because it's my understanding that you mustn't split the steamy hot water), but the two blocks separated by Underground Piping so that - again - I'm well able to run around and fight aliens when they come visit me.
Also, is it actually necessary for me to "disable" already-built Boilers? It seems to me that they turn off, cease consuming their stored Coal, if they're not needed, i.e. if the water reaching them is already at 100 C. So should I just have them all enabled from the get go?
But would it actually be a problem if I just plonk down all 10 Steam Engines at once, all connected up? That way, I just have to enable the Boilers 1 or 2 at a time, as my electricity need goes up. It's just, I still have only an extremely limited understanding of how the whole Boiler/Steam thing works, so I'm not sure if it'd cause problems or not.
(I did try adding an 11th and even 12th Steam Engine to the same piping system, but that caused massive loss of water, rapidly dropping to under 2.0 and apparently on its way to 0.0. To get it back up to over 8.0 I had to remove almost all of my Steam Engines, so I only had 2 or 3 left, then once water rating went up high again I re-added so I had a total of 10 Steam Engines. So I know with certainty not to do that.)
My usual setup is that I build all Boilers at once, usually 16 (I've found that 13-14 isn't enough) in several rows, with Underground Piping between so I can more easily move around. Then I build a conveyer belt to move Coal around. I make an Inserter for each Boiler, but for almost all of them I disable the Inserter by turning it the wrong way ("R" key) so that initially only 2 or 3 of my Boilers are "active". I then add the first Steam Engine.
Later on I add more Steam Engines, one or two at a time, ending up with one "block" of 6, and another "block" of 4, all connected in linear fashion (because it's my understanding that you mustn't split the steamy hot water), but the two blocks separated by Underground Piping so that - again - I'm well able to run around and fight aliens when they come visit me.
Also, is it actually necessary for me to "disable" already-built Boilers? It seems to me that they turn off, cease consuming their stored Coal, if they're not needed, i.e. if the water reaching them is already at 100 C. So should I just have them all enabled from the get go?
But would it actually be a problem if I just plonk down all 10 Steam Engines at once, all connected up? That way, I just have to enable the Boilers 1 or 2 at a time, as my electricity need goes up. It's just, I still have only an extremely limited understanding of how the whole Boiler/Steam thing works, so I'm not sure if it'd cause problems or not.
(I did try adding an 11th and even 12th Steam Engine to the same piping system, but that caused massive loss of water, rapidly dropping to under 2.0 and apparently on its way to 0.0. To get it back up to over 8.0 I had to remove almost all of my Steam Engines, so I only had 2 or 3 left, then once water rating went up high again I re-added so I had a total of 10 Steam Engines. So I know with certainty not to do that.)