[0.14] Reactors & Atomic Locomotives

[Zerias]

Quick question, how much power are these reactors rated for maximum? Right now using less than 20% of that maximum sends the remaining to cooling towers as waste to prevent overheating. I'm aware it says so on the first post, but that info may be inaccurate as I've had my reactors shutting down at 200*C Core temp instead of the stated 300.

[GotLag]

26 megawatts. I'll update the first post when I get home.

[Redstylt]

26 megawatts. I'll update the first post when I get home.

When do you get home ? ^^

[SpaceMuffins]

https://images.discordapp.net/.eJwFwVsO ... iC9QZ8BReU

[Zerias]

https://images.discordapp.net/.eJwFwVsO ... iC9QZ8BReU

That's not this mod. Whatever the problem is, it's with 'NuReact'.

[GotLag]

Updated the first post to correct the overheat threshold and the sample reactor pics to match the current signal icons.

https://images.discordapp.net/.eJwFwVsO ... iC9QZ8BReU

That's not this mod. Whatever the problem is, it's with 'NuReact'.

I don't recommend NuReact as it's based on an old version of Reactors that is missing some features and bug fixes.

[Zerias]

Can anyone think of a way to prioritize steam engine/turbine output? Currently, all energy producers of the same type scale themselves to energy demand identically. Problem is, I want my breeder reactor at 100% at all times, with only the remaining demand pulled from the fission reactors. For example, say I need 30 MW and have two reactors, one fission, one breeder. Without controls, they both throttle back to about 60%, but the breeder wouldn't be making as much plutonium as it could, thus less MOX fuel, thus reducing the amount of power I get from my uranium. What I would want is a way to have my breeder's turbines at 100% constantly and my fission's at about 20%, fluctuating automatically to match my demand, without just venting excess heat from the breeder as waste [which kinda defeats the purpose of getting the most out of my breeder]. Failing that, I would also be satisfied with an estimation of how many fission reactors one breeder can supply with MOX fuel, so I could just have them ALL running at the same fraction of that output.

Thanks GotLag, for making this mod.

EDIT: Well, I've come up with an answer: Use accumulators to isolate the steam turbines on my fission reactors as demonstrated on the wiki's Accumulator page, while keeping the breeder on my primary. Given that each one only allows 300kw of throughput, I'll need two substations' worth of accumulators [~90] for each reactor, but that also serves as a very nice buffer for power spikes like laser turrets.

[GotLag]

I've added a second kind of turbine (peak load) that produces power with secondary priority, as opposed to the primary priority of the existing base load turbine.

If you change your fission plants to use peak load turbines and your breeder to use base load, when the breeder is active its engines will be utilised in preference to the peak load turbines on the fission plants.

[Zerias]

Neat, thank you! This is much cheaper than 500 batteries per reactor, and way more compact.

[Commander Gizmo]

Can anyone think of a way to prioritize steam engine/turbine output? Currently, all energy producers of the same type scale themselves to energy demand identically. Problem is, I want my breeder reactor at 100% at all times, with only the remaining demand pulled from the fission reactors. For example, say I need 30 MW and have two reactors, one fission, one breeder. Without controls, they both throttle back to about 60%, but the breeder wouldn't be making as much plutonium as it could, thus less MOX fuel, thus reducing the amount of power I get from my uranium. What I would want is a way to have my breeder's turbines at 100% constantly and my fission's at about 20%, fluctuating automatically to match my demand, without just venting excess heat from the breeder as waste [which kinda defeats the purpose of getting the most out of my breeder]. Failing that, I would also be satisfied with an estimation of how many fission reactors one breeder can supply with MOX fuel, so I could just have them ALL running at the same fraction of that output.

Thanks GotLag, for making this mod.

EDIT: Well, I've come up with an answer: Use accumulators to isolate the steam turbines on my fission reactors as demonstrated on the wiki's Accumulator page, while keeping the breeder on my primary. Given that each one only allows 300kw of throughput, I'll need two substations' worth of accumulators [~90] for each reactor, but that also serves as a very nice buffer for power spikes like laser turrets.

I just have all of my reactors dump into a set of tanks. This offers several benefits. First, it grants a buffer of hot water so that the turbines can continue to run even if a reactor has to shutdown for a while. Second, this allows me to use the levels in the tanks to start or stop reactors as needed. Third, it allows me to prioritize my reactors: Each reactor has it's own bank of tanks, which each pump into a primary bank, which in turn feeds the turbines. This allows my breeder reactor to feed the turbines first, and only when it isn't keeping up do the secondary reactors fire up. Likewise, if I shutdown the breeder reactor when it's not needed, the other reactors take over. If there isn't sufficient power demand to use the full output of the breeder reactor, an alternate pipe opens up and shunts the excess into cooling towers. So far it all works automatically based on the demand for plutonium, hot water, and power without any intervention required from the player.

Honestly, I think engineering these kinds of solutions is a great part of this game. It was quite fun trying to sort out the best way to balance all of these pros and cons to get the desired results.

[IngoKnieto]

First of all this mod is awsome

However I do have one minor issue with my reactor: I have basically build the sample reactor with a few extras to visualize functionality and usage, it smoothly runs around 97% power output (which is by the way visualized by the 10 green lights on the right), but it does not need the cooling tower on the left. The core temperature never rises above 150 degrees. Is that normal?
The only way I can get the core temperature above 150 degrees is when I cut off the input pumps. I suppose the cold water input is cooling the reactor so much, that it doesn't need the cooling towers. Can that be, is that how it is supposed to work?

This is my reactor, see the signal values on the right...

reactor.png (1.87 MiB) Viewed 9871 times

[GotLag]

The reactor runs at a minimum of 20% of max power, if you are always using at least that much power from the turbines then it won't need a cooling tower. However, if the power drain falls below 20%, then it will begin to overheat.

[IngoKnieto]

.. and with two turbines runnig at full capacity I use 100% of the power. Ok, thanks, understood so far
This was actually a bit confusing, the difference between Reactor power output and Reactor power output usage was not clear to me.

And could you also maybe clear up one thing regarding the power priority for me? I made some tests, but I'm not sure if this is correct: if I increase the power need in my base then...
- first Base load steam turbines are used
- then the regular steam engines
- last the peak load steam turbines
Is that right?

Thanks for your help!

[GotLag]

Sorry for the slow reply. Regular Factorio steam engines and Peak Load Turbines have the same priority, so the same percentage will be used from each. You are correct that Base Load Turbines are used first.

[IngoKnieto]

Thanks, I figured it out myself by now

And including solar panels and accumulators I think the full "power priority list" is this:
1. Solar Panels
2. Base Load Turbines
3. Peak Load Turbines and regular Steam Engines
4. Accumulators

Please correct me if I'm wrong...


BTW, I read that Factorio v0.15 will have nuclear power included, but from what I read the functions and features are by far not so got as in the Reactors mod. So please continue the mod also in v0.15!

[GotLag]

Solar panels and base load turbines are both primary-output, steam engines and peak load both secondary-output, accumulators are tertiary.

I'll definitely be having a look at how 0.15 reactors behave, and how their fuel cycle works. If I'm not happy with that I'll be remaking this mod, although there will have to be some changes in light of how power generation is going to be changed in 0.15.

[Zentriffic]

I'm wondering if any of you have made a blueprint that you'd be willing to share.

[xeln4g4]

I'm wondering if any of you have made a blueprint that you'd be willing to share.

If you want my advice, i know it's time consuming to set everything up ... but in my experience:

1) I had a lot of fun figuring out myself how to make this thing working and how to optimize it
2) In the process of 1) i leart a lot about decider and combinators ... which i hadn't very clear yet

Point 2) alone made me happy to have spent so much time setting everything up. So my advice it's to try yourself, the explanation of the modder are very clear and you should just follow what he says in the opening post. Golden rule: you need a LOT of water to be pumped in!ù

Final note: this mod is wonderful, i had a look on wiki on how things work in the real world and i have to say the modder simply did a GREAT job, you "must" continue this in 0.15 no matter what!!!! Congratulation!

[GotLag]

I'm wondering if any of you have made a blueprint that you'd be willing to share.

If you want my advice, i know it's time consuming to set everything up ... but in my experience:

1) I had a lot of fun figuring out myself how to make this thing working and how to optimize it
2) In the process of 1) i leart a lot about decider and combinators ... which i hadn't very clear yet

Point 2) alone made me happy to have spent so much time setting everything up. So my advice it's to try yourself, the explanation of the modder are very clear and you should just follow what he says in the opening post. Golden rule: you need a LOT of water to be pumped in!ù

Final note: this mod is wonderful, i had a look on wiki on how things work in the real world and i have to say the modder simply did a GREAT job, you "must" continue this in 0.15 no matter what!!!! Congratulation!

Thanks! I'm not sure they're that realistic, but it's meant to be more than just another version of coal to burn, and I like to think I succeeded in that regard.

I'll most definitely be looking at 0.15 reactors and seeing how they work. If I think they can be improved upon, I will update this mod accordingly.

[tommygunner70]

I'm not aware of any way to make accumulators that only power certain entities, but there are other things you can do.

One thing you can try is putting a small steam engine between your reactor and the pump leading to your turbines. If you are careful with your power poles you can then have these engines powering the reactor and pumps only, and the turbines only feeding the rest of your grid:

I like that setup but see a major flaw.
if you don't have any power to begin with, the setup will do nothing but overheat as the blue water pumps need power to get water into the reactor.

I have a coal based power backup for the reactor support with a auto power bridge;
I have an Accumulator sitting on the power generation side, with a power switch between it and the reactor support side. with a logic wire going between the accumulator, power switch and a transport belt.

the Accumulator sends out A
the Power switch Enable condition is A > 80
the belt enable condition is A < 81

The moment my factory uses more power then is available. the accumulator will discharge and once it is discarged past 80%, the power switch breaks the connection isolating the power generator from the reactor support and the transport belt allows coal to reach my back up boiler. this also works well if you've managed to get stuck without nuclear fuel, to stop the reactors overheating and to kickstart them later. as soon as there is enough power again the power switch makes the connection again and the coal backup is turned off/starved until needed again.

Example: