Roboport consumption tooltip is incorrect

[DaleStan]

According to the tooltip for a (normal quality) roboport, its maximum consumption is 2.1 MW. However, the electricity network graph for a network containing a single roboport shows a consumption that spikes to approximately 5 MW, substantially more than the claimed 2.1 MW.

The expected behavior is that the peak draw shown on the graph matches the peak draw reported in the tooltip.

[Loewchen]

That is flow into the buffer which is higher than consumption.

[DaleStan]

Then (1) why is it reported on the graph under consumption, and (2) why is flow into the accumulators' buffers reported correctly?

[eugenekay]

From the definition for Roboports in factorio-data/base/prototypes/entity/entities.lua:

Code: Select all

    energy_source =
    {
      type = "electric",
      usage_priority = "secondary-input",
      input_flow_limit = "5MW",
      buffer_capacity = "100MJ"
    },
    recharge_minimum = "40MJ",
    energy_usage = "50kW",
    -- per one charge slot
    charging_energy = "500kW",
   

For the steady-state case and long-term network averages, 500kW Per Charge Slot * 4 Charge Slots + 50 kW Drain = 2.05MW which rounds to 2.1MW using Factorio's 1-digit of precision. This is what the Tooltip is referring to.

However, Roboports have an internal 100MJ buffer as well. This allows Roboports to still charge robots if you do not have 2MW of Generator capacity available, using the Buffer. If this Buffer is emptied (by charging a Robot during a Brownout, or at initial Construction) then it will recharge at "up to 5MW" (input_flow_limit) until the Buffer is full. This is greater than the "2MW" value because otherwise it would never fill up during normal use.

Accumulators have a much simpler definition (Line 5243):

Code: Select all

    {
      type = "electric",
      buffer_capacity = "5MJ",
      usage_priority = "tertiary",
      input_flow_limit = "300kW",
      output_flow_limit = "300kW"
    },

I hope this helps!