Yes, that was also an old idea from me that I've taken up -- and used in my new Nuclear Power Plant:
In this setup, all Turbines run @ maximum. There's exactly one Storage Tank for Steam in this line, directly after the Heat Exchangers, supplied via pumps at input & output. Every green lamp that is lit indicates that the storage tank has a level of 25k. The big green tick that indicates "System Ready" is only lit if every of the 50 Storage Tanks is completely full; exact value: 1,250,000.
Impressive analysis, I salute you.If it comes to the fullness of tanks, this is what I analyzed. The display of "24k" is a result of rounding. Actually, the tanks are full with a value of 24999:
The difference between "internal levels" instead of a proper pressure system is IMHO the Crux that leads to such unforeseen modes of behaviour.Tertius wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:58 pmIt tells us there are basically 3 fluid levels. A "high" level used by generators. A "ground" level used by pipe systems. And an "underground" level used by consumers. A pump does nothing else but lift input fluid to high level.
[...]
You must not put an ordinary pipe in between. If you do, only the surplus of > 100 is floating over to that pipe and reaching what is behind that pipe. From this point, the limit table in the wiki is applied again.
To get most out of the fluid system, we must use Pumps whenever there's an input or an output (except long pipe lines, but they need a "refresh" in between). So I've developed the following Heat Exchanger setup:
It was quite difficult to find a setup in which I have 100% coverage of electricy (pumps don't run without) as well as a modular system that doesn't look like an accident.
But, what I've wanted to mention a little time ago but then forgot it:
Not only the fluid system has these issues, but the Heat Exchange System as well IMHO. Because we don't have any "Heat Pumps" we can use, we have to handle the things given with a little cheating (taking Nuclear Reactors as a "Heat Pipe" with much better stats but not fueling it). Also, the line segments/stretch has to be as short as possible. Due to the large setup of Nuclear Reactors, this was not an easy point. But I think I've managed it.
Don't forget that this fluid "disadvantages" also affect Oil Processing. The only workaround available are -- Pumps.
That's not satisfying. Of course I've wired every tank to get the overall content (surprisingly, by clicking on a tank it shows me its content as well as the overall content -- but I cannot read it by circuit). What's missing that is an "I am full" notice, if there's no consumption, for example, so there must be something wrong in the overall system, especially in end-game with automatic rocket launches for research.mmmPI wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:18 amYou could link all storage tanks with the same wire, to read the sum of them all, if you want to buffer say 200 000 steam more or less, you could always trigger an alarm or a refuel or allow water in when the number is under 200 000 as was suggested instead of doing something when the steam quantity is exactly 200 000 that maybe missed due to relying on reading 25000 and not 24999 in some tanks.
I don't care if integer or floating numbers: a full system is a full system, and if it doesn't fill up completely if it should, then there's something wrong. A tank patch that has a maximum of 24,999 each is...weird.When you try to read fluid quantity with circuit network with precision, you may need to keep in mind that circuit numbers are only integers, but fluids are not. If you have a fluid quantity between 0 and 1, it will show up as 1 in the circuit network, but if you have 1.3 or 1.7 fluid, it will also show up as 1.
The decimal part is always hidden by the circuit even though the fluid is present. Except between 0 and 1, i think to allow player to detect those very small quantity that could cause problems of fluid (not) mixing. The decimal part is visible by the player when you hover your mouse around a pipe or a tank that has a very low quantity of fluid. "3.7" fluid can show up in the tooltip because the number is small and has few digits. 1405.3 will never show, instead it would be 1.4K
Just my words, so a system that tries permanently to balance directly under the highest level while it should have been full can only impact on UPS, not the other way round.This look like a lot of operation when you factor in the number of pipes and pumps that is dealt with 60 times per second, i think for the game it's still better to do it as few calculation as possible by reducing the amount of things, including pumps for UPS purpose.
A pump is not really a bulk consumer of electricity, so using them to ensure a constant flow with the fastest speed possible contributes much more to a stable & relieable power production. And if someone likes to avoid such inconsistencies at all, then there're solar panels & accumulators available.Also reducing the overkill in pumps for steam progressively, is still safer for power generation than adding them when there are power shortages to try and fix things on the fly whereas for crude oil the matter is less important.