Factorio Forums

Originally asked in the FFF thread, but I think it got buried pretty fast amid all the hype:

FFF wrote: The steam comes out of the heat exchangers at 500 degrees, which is the maximum a steam turbine can utilize. A steam engine in comparison can only make use of steam up to 165 degrees - which is what a normal boiler produces. So if you use a steam turbine with normal boiler, it will work, but the turbine will have a poor efficiency. And if you use steam engine with heat exchangers, it will work, but a lot of the heat will be lost for no benefit.

Old steam engine used up to 100 degree water, at 6 fluid / sec. With this change to 165 degree steam, how will that affect the fluid used in both engines and boilers? Will it still be 6/sec [60] for engines but with a higher power production due to higher temp involved?

... This also allows for some new designs which is very nice. The ratio of boilers to steam engines is exactly 1 boiler to 2 steam engines now.

How much cold water will the new boilers require ~ double? [12/sec], or higher 30+/sec? [120, 300]
What about the reactor boilers using heat pipes ~ will it use the same amount of water to make 500 degree steam as the regular boiler will make 165 degree steam?


Can other fluids still be used/destroyed in the engines, or will they only accept steam input now? If not, can other fluids be used in the new boilers instead?

Looking forward to the challenge of rebuilding my large steam power plant!
[PS. I'm aware of the upcoming [x10] to all fluid amounts, I'm specifically asking about the new boiler & engine water use ratios, and if they have changed radically.]

The exact values are to come.
What is already known is that a single boiler will supply exactly 2 steam engines with 165 degree steam.
And looking at nuclear design heat exchanger seams to feed 1 steam turbine with 500 degree steam.

Water in/out seems also to have been changed dramatically - I have no idea how to stack boilers from 0.15 out

brunzenstein wrote:Water in/out seems also to have been changed dramatically - I have no idea how to stack boilers from 0.15 out

The water only goes to boilers. You should be able to place them side by side like before and have the water flow through as many of them as you want. I don't know how many boilers can be fed by a single offshore pump, but I expect that the offshore pump had its numbers tweaked too.

So for example lets say you run a string of boilers east to west side by side (connecting on the short 2-tile-wide sides). You would then run a pipe for steam along say they north side of those boilers and on the south side you would have space to feed fuel. You send the steam pipes to your steam engines for power.

With a 2x3 boiler shape now you will have lots of options for how to connect them. Each side that has a pipe connected would still have at least one tile available to place an inserter for fuel. From the way that the pictures looked I think the water enters/exits on the short side (the 2 tile sides) and the steam flows out the long side (the 3 tile side).

Just wait for Tuesday and try it out.
Such speculations won't help anyone.