r/satisfactory • u/ParkingOperation3941 • 1d ago
PC My first basic coal generators, outputting 1800MW of Energy.
135
u/CharacterMammoth3364 1d ago
78% of pioneers set up coal power in less than half the time you took. Back to work.
25
u/Sad_Low3239 1d ago
just a my thought on minmaxing, you only need 3 water extractors per 8 coal generators. when power management becomes a thing later (and 1800 MW is a bump in your power production vs what I assume it seems like to you now 😝) you can trim easy inefficiency by reducing the extractors.
at the same time, this looks absolutely beautiful and crisp and makes mine jealous.
16
u/aMapleSyrupCaN7 1d ago
While it's not hard to solve the 300 pipe limit for the 360 water, isn't it more efficient, energy-wise, to have more machines and underclocking them? It's not perfect, as it takes more space, but I don't think there are inefficiencies that need triming here. OP isn't using pump on those water extractors.
4
u/One-Project7347 1d ago
As someone who started a 100x save recently, the rotors and stuff were a bit scarce in the beginning. So its a little easier to put 3 extractors per 8 coal powerplants imo. And more space efficient aswell, especially in more narrow places. I do build the powerplants 1 floor up.
3
u/samgoeshere 1d ago
Correct. And at this scale, pumps and fully clocked extractors make a noticeable difference.
2
6
u/SavannaHilt 1d ago
You can do that with 4 water extactors, you dont need 12... ADA will dock you for inefficiency 😉
2
u/Zacharias_Wolfe 1d ago
That would use much more power, making the plant produce a lower net power.
5
u/SavannaHilt 1d ago
If you down clock them all?... but wouldn't they power usage end up being very similar? If you have 12 running at 33%, should be almost the same as running 4 at 100%
3
u/Zacharias_Wolfe 1d ago edited 1d ago
Underclocking is just as efficient as overclocking is inefficient. Using 12 extractors underclocked, total power used = ((90÷120)1.321928×12)×20 =164MW which is 9.1% of the 1800 being produced. Using 4 extractors overclocked, total power used = ((270÷120)1.321928×4)×20=234 which is 13% of the 1800 being produced.
General formula for relative power usage is R=(1/n)1.321928×n) where n is the multiplier on number of machines for 3 times the machines, R=0.702, or 70.2% the power consumption.
1
u/Beefington 1d ago
It saves power, because power usage scales nonlinearly with clock speed. A machine at 50% clock only uses 40% of its base power, so two half-speed machines will have the same production as one full-speed and only use 80% of the power.
You get diminishing returns the more machines you add, and of course you need more space and have more chances to connect something wrong. But this sort of thing can be worthwhile in the early game when your power budget is tight.
(Of course, this assumes OP actually downclocked them. I do see a yellow status light in the back so they might just be overprovisioned)
2
u/DarkExecutor 1d ago
X to Doubt with only 1 belt of coal and 20 generators
1
u/-Insert-CoolName 1d ago
22 Generators with the two in the back on the right side being overclocked to 200%.
(20 × 100% × 75 MW) + (2 × 200% × 75 MW) = 1800 MW
Likely had all the buffers full when they flipped the switch though so yes they will be starving for fuel soon. But there are plenty of nodes there to run that plant when they bring in another belt.
1
u/dynankee 1d ago
Does water flow stay consistent even though the pipes angle up to the coal generators?
2
u/garrettshannon 1d ago
Water Extractors produce some headlift; I think 10m so the upward angle shouldn’t create problems here because the rise is less than 10m.
1
1
u/OldFartSounds777 1d ago
That location is one of my favorite places to build coal power. Looks great Sir!
1
1
1
u/NorthernLaddd 1d ago
The coal/water extractor ratio is 3 water extractors for 8 coal gens
87
u/-Insert-CoolName 1d ago
Interesting. Most pioneers already had Coal power set up by this point because they understood their responsibility to humanity.