Friday Facts #420 - Fusion Reactor

[FactorioBot]

Here it is! (beep boop)

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-420

[Terrahertz]

This look amazing , so is there a followup FFF for the other details?

Like fuel economy and what the requirements of this tech are? For instance the Planet on which the tech is unlocked.

[Sunrosa]

Oh wait does this mean crafting machine prototypes can have negative energy costs (produce energy)? I've been waiting a long time for this. This is great! Here's hoping it works with solids too

[dog80]

can we get a line-art mod looks like an old sci-fi film

[husnikadam]

So if I understand the mechanic correctly, the fussion reactor consumes cells and coolant only as needed and it doesn't waste them if the plasma buffer is full?

[Durabys]

So.....I guess EPS plasma conduits are not in the cards for Fusion Reactors?

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/El ... sma_system

[maniak1349]

Overheats? Meltdowns? At least some sort of control or moderation via circuits which will allow to increase output if done correctly?
Was kind of disappointed with nuclear energy when it was introduced without any kind of xFUNx mechanics. Was hoping for some this time around.

[Nedreow]

Looking at it Fusion seems like a straight upgrade to Nuclear Fission. I wonder how the devs plan to keep the old thing from just being skipped over?

[gnutrino]

Oh wait does this mean crafting machine prototypes can have negative energy costs (produce energy)? I've been waiting a long time for this. This is great! Here's hoping it works with solids too

If I'm reading this part right I think no:

Also a machine couldn't make electricity and convert the type of fluid from one type to another at the same time. In the case of the generator it need to have a crafting machine for the fluid conversion, but that meant there needed to be a separate entity addon just to make the electricity.

[Sunrosa]

Oh wait does this mean crafting machine prototypes can have negative energy costs (produce energy)? I've been waiting a long time for this. This is great! Here's hoping it works with solids too

If I'm reading this part right I think no:

Also a machine couldn't make electricity and convert the type of fluid from one type to another at the same time. In the case of the generator it need to have a crafting machine for the fluid conversion, but that meant there needed to be a separate entity addon just to make the electricity.

That's in the section about how they prototyped the design for testers. Not the final build. That's actually the problem I myself am trying to get around right now with making my own mod.

[The Phoenixian]

Ah, excellent! Time to add "dumping neutron-degraded coolant waste" to the list of our crimes.

(Okay, maybe a bit out there as a first thought, but I've been struck by just how much Space Age adds to the Engineer's aesthetic as The Worst Industrialist between recycling as a enabler for conspicuous consumption, space platforms' kessler syndrome in a box, mining archeological dig sites, and the sheer amount of neutron radiation many fusion fuels, especially D-T, throw out in comparison to fission comes up a lot in circles that discuss it.)

[Uxi]

Has the max pumping rate of the Offshore Pump been increased from 1200 to like ~3000?
Otherwise I don't understand how the 4 pumps can supply enough water for that 2x4 Nuclear build.

[Fridge]

Here's hoping that if the natives stop the coolant flow that we get Fusion bomb scale explosions!

[CyberCider]

It’s FUSION Sapphire!

[BrainlessTeddy]

Thats pretty cool and all but I would lie if that image of a spaceship powered by a fusion reactor didn't make me want a space harbour. Just imagine. Every planet having a space harbour of sorts where local spaceships (platforms ik, but i'll just call them ships) and long distance ships meet. And if you are for example on a relatively close planet to the sun there will be a lot of ships powered by solar but every now and then there will be other ships arriving and departing for longer journeys to more distant planets which rely on more exotic fusion power.

Now that I think of that it reminds me of the train station in Manchester. The local trains where running on gas or diesel probably but there were the occasional electric powered trains that apparantly are mostly going towards London.

Edit: Grammar

[aka13]

Looks good, and an interesting puzzle for sure.
I still have hopes for a more complex power system, like RealisticReactors, which is more fun&dangerous to tinker with that simply a pattern puzzle...

Looking at it Fusion seems like a straight upgrade to Nuclear Fission. I wonder how the devs plan to keep the old thing from just being skipped over?

By gating it behind planetary progression, where you can't get it before you create X different science packs.

[Shuisman]

Looks very cool! Excited to use this!

Now that I see the chemical reactor on the space platform, i think it should have an alternate smoke animation. In space it would be more of straight diluting jet, rather than a structure that entrains external fluid (air), mixes, creating vortices and so on…

Screenshot 2024-07-19 at 14.32.53.png (1.5 MiB) Viewed 10298 times

[SoShootMe]

Overheats? Meltdowns? At least some sort of control or moderation via circuits which will allow to increase output if done correctly?
Was kind of disappointed with nuclear energy when it was introduced without any kind of xFUNx mechanics. Was hoping for some this time around.

Nuclear power in current Factorio presents some design challenges, but the biggest is pipe throughput which to me feels more like a nuisance than a challenge (possibly obviated by fluid handling changes in 2.0). Then there's fuel-saving control, but the complexity in that (which adds interest, for me at least) is "forced" by the inability to use reactor temperature, and with abundant fuel, unnecessary anyway. Arguably part of the design challenge, but finally, there's the logistics arising from the burnt result and recycling, but they don't add much.

I can see some new design challenges with Fusion power, but mostly different rather than more/less. I often find fluid logistics somewhat annoying (aside from the pipe throughput issue which may not be a factor in 2.0) so increasing the requirement for that is not a big win as far as I'm concerned... Overall, without things such as you mentioned my first impression is "underwhelmed" .

Looking at it Fusion seems like a straight upgrade to Nuclear Fission. I wonder how the devs plan to keep the old thing from just being skipped over?

My guess is it will be more expensive (to build and/or cumulative technology cost to unlock). But also it sounds like the intention is for different situations to favour one or the other to a meaningful extent, ie it's not really a "straight upgrade" anyway.

[FasterJump]

The fusion system looks great!

I don't really understand the semi-closed cycle of the coolant (is the plasma made of coolant?), but I'm sure that it will make sense later.

I like the idea of playing with the coolent temperature: some real life generators (from coal to nuclear) have fluids to convey energy (via change of state) and fluids to cool down the first fluid.

Seeing the generators turn on or off like a cellphone battery icon would have been great, but I'll try not to rant about the new fluid mechanic here!

[The Phoenixian]

Looking at it Fusion seems like a straight upgrade to Nuclear Fission. I wonder how the devs plan to keep the old thing from just being skipped over?

My guess is it will be more expensive (to build and/or cumulative technology cost to unlock). But also it sounds like the intention is for different situations to favour one or the other to a meaningful extent, ie it's not really a "straight upgrade" anyway.

Given how the FFF update talks about import requirements, and the mention of it coming up at around the same time as the final planet, it wouldn't surprise me if Fusion's deal is trading space and potential efficiency for a vastly more complicated crafting chain. If it pulls from the end of the tech tree then I could see it potentially requiring a crafting chain split across multiple different planets in order to function. Contrast fission power where, even at the worst, the entire chain can be crafted on just Nauvis and exported. (Assuming the fuel cells are light enough to launch in bulk, anyways.)

Add in mention that Fusion appears to require an electricity draw to function means a cold start is going to first require ramping up some other generator, even above and beyond other power plants.