The Machine (Steam Engine Layout)

[Ilnor]

http://i.imgur.com/rdmOjJH.jpg?1

I got sick of starting games and then having to stop what i do because i run out of power
I found a nice coal pit and setup THE MACHINE nearby

Also i remember having to build multiple steam engine setups throughout my last play
Figured just start the game and focus on making a big power supply
I don't use laser turrets but now i'm thinking i should

[drs9999]

Wow, I had never used/needed more than 10 steam engines

Short question: have the connection at the end of two "engine-columns" any effect? If yes, how big is the effect?

[Ilnor]

Short question: have the connection at the end of two "engine-columns" any effect? If yes, how big is the effect?

I don't know to be honest

Three reasons i use it

One, It looks cool
Two I just have a suspicion that it helps the flow
Three I can easily look at the engines to see if the set is flowing

So the fouth set of eight might be blue at the end meaning it's not working
I'll start checking out my coal production ASAP since it'll either be a clog or running short on coal

[Dakkanor]

i like the vertical feed for the coal, it'd scale much better than most perpendicular systems I've seen. with all the coal engines AND the boilers in a telatively tight space it becomes easier to handle in general.

Do you have a separate coal mine for power generation?

Are you planning to develop a solar farm to help reduce coal usage during the day?

do you have an idea of the optimal ratio of Pump : Boiler : Engine? this could let you know the most efficient way of building large systems without unexpected consequences

[drs9999]

do you have an idea of the optimal ratio of Pump : Boiler : Engine?

I think I figured out that the Boiler:Engine ratio depends on your setup. Meaning that it is something different if you have 10 engines set up in 5 rows or if you have 10 rows with only 1 engine after the boilers. And I think the temperature-loss, because of the higher number of pipes in the second setup, cant explain that at all.

[Ilnor]

Do you have a separate coal mine for power generation?

Are you planning to develop a solar farm to help reduce coal usage during the day?

do you have an idea of the optimal ratio of Pump : Boiler : Engine? this could let you know the most efficient way of building large systems without unexpected consequences

Yes i have a separate coal mine for power generation
Coal tends to run out by mid-late game if i share it, Which i have done in the past
Play for the long run and you'll have a good time

No, I've never even used solar
My reasoning is that since creeper attacks happen at night a lot (It's random but hey let's just say half are at night) Then laser turrets don't work
Not that i've even used laser turrets that's just the logic i use
I try to think of the long run and what i might build in the future

The optimal ratio of pump to boiler from what i understand is supposed to be 1:1
From experience i've found that unless you can feed all the boilers 100% full, 100% of the time then the ratio goes down
So in actuality it comes out to less
Before this save i ran 6 steam engines to 10 boilers and never had a single problem
I recommend this setup because boilers don't consume consume coal unless they're heating up water and it's not as intense to power 6 engines (By intense i mean you need fast belts and high efficiency on your belt)

This is the first time i've run 8 engines per 10 boilers, I can't say whether or not it'll work efficiently once i get the power consumption up to 50-80% since i'm not that far in yet
I do expect to encounter problems once the engines run hotter, But i also expect to have fast / express belts researched way before this even becomes an issue and i'll change out the yellow belts


I literally setup a simple coal / iron production with burner drills and then built this machine hoping that i won't have to build more power.. ever.
I like turrets with bullets a lot, If you encompass your main factory / base at all the choke-points the ammo tends to last for awhile if you use tight clusters of turrets

[Mysteria9]

Short question: have the connection at the end of two "engine-columns" any effect? If yes, how big is the effect?

I'd like to know that too!

[Ilnor]

Already answered that i'll put the quote in the response

[SilverWarior]

I usualy store coal in chest and then feed it to boilers so the layour is:
Conveyer - Retriver - Chest - Retriver - Boiler
While this approach uses more space and resources it helps maintaining supply of coal even if for some reason coal production goes down. And since each wodden chest can store 1K of coal it can provide coal supply for boiler for quite some time. Offcourse it takes quite some time for chest to get fully filed. But if you use this setup right from the start and supply coal fast enough this is no problem.

As for defending you base it can be done with all of your turrets just in one place. How? Currently creper AI is quite dull. When they launch an attack they always head toward your way and will only attack other structures (radars, lab, turets) only if they come close enough to them while trying to attack you. Note they will tack other structures (pipes, mines, power plants and even trees) if they estimate that by doing so they could get to you faster than going around.

So best way to defend yourself is to predict when the attack would happen and hamg close your turrets at that time.
I know I was still managing to survive after 2h of gameplay in second level of Beta campaign despite the fact that I was only using Turets with normal bullets (18 of them) and the number of crepers per attack has already exceded 200 (based on checking levels control.lua file to see how big wawes would get after that time). And no I didn't use Laser turets for my protection since power supply couldn't handle them.

[Ilnor]

Yea i do this early game
But then i get sick of having to run to my turrets every wave so i eventually push out and setup a perimeter

It's usually such a nice size that i don't even hear the gunshots

That's actually how i did my first play through
Just strategically setup turret camps of 6-8 and ran to them every wave