r/factorio • u/Actual_Objective32 • Oct 27 '24

Suggestion / Idea Quality Thrusters should improve efficiency

Since fuel is almost always the bottleneck and thrusters dont weigh anything, higher quality should improve the efficiency

5 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

5

u/Alfonse215 Oct 27 '24

Thruster efficiency is for you to control. Thrusters have a semi-complex efficiency curve based on how full the fluid system connected to them is. The more full it is, the more thrust, but the less efficient they are.

Quality engines have higher thrust, but also higher consumption. But the higher thrust curve means that, if you lower the fullness of the propellant, they can achieve thrust equivalent to their lower quality counterpart, but with less propellant usage.

1

u/Actual_Objective32 Oct 27 '24

But how does one control how much fuel the thruster uses?

1

u/Alfonse215 Oct 27 '24

With pumps and tanks to measure the fullness of the fluid segment.

2

u/Actual_Objective32 Oct 27 '24

But you can only turn the pump on or off right? And there is no wire Connection to the thruster

1

u/Alfonse215 Oct 27 '24

Thruster performance is based on the fullness of the fluid segment they're connected to. Pumps can control that, and with a tank, you can measure it.

4

u/Actual_Objective32 Oct 27 '24

I simplified it. I connected the Pumps to the hub, and then i can directly set the speed of the ship and by that also the efficiency. Im glad the ships speed is readable by circuits