Deuterium Fractionation

[Erenussocrates]

So, how does the mechanics for determining a successful fractionation work? Do the hydrogens that go through the fractionator get flagged when they go through, so you can't use the same hydrogen items to get more deuterium? Or can you create an enclosed ring of conveyors that carry on the same old hydrogens and you can farm infinite new deuteriums out of them? What about multiple fractionators, do the additional ones work the same as the first one and produce additional deuteriums if you put multiple of them on the same line of conveyors that carry the same hydrogens?

[dhitch89]

To my understanding, if a hydrogen doesn't check the 1%, it passes by unaffected. If it does check that 1%, it's consumed to make the deuterium.

So yes, they all work the same, and it goes quicker the more Fractionaters the hydrogen passes through. Best to do so in a looping manner for just that purpose, while still having a supply of hydrogen attached to gradually replace the consumed ones.

[josmith7]

Closed loops of hydrogen work great. Chains of fractionators work great.
And the faster you can shove hydrogen through a fractionator the more deuterium/min it'll generate.



The fractionators have no memory -- so each time a hydrogen enters (even if it's the dozenth time) it does a random check to see if it hit the 'lottery' and gets converted to deuterium. (That happens 1% of the time on average; or up to 2% if you've applied the highest possible proliferation)

Because this check happens each time a hydrogen enters you achieve maximum deuterium production by maximizing the number of hydrogen flowing through each fractionator. (So using faster belts and/or stacking hydrogen)

If you used, and can kept 100% full:
* a loop of Mk.I belt: 1 fractionator would average 3.6 deuterium/min.
* a loop of Mk.II belt: 1 fractionator would average 7.2 deuterium/min. (2x Mk.I)
* a loop of Mk.III belt: 1 fractionator would average 18 deuterium/min. (2.5x Mk.II)
* a loop of Mk.III belt stacked 4x: 1 fractionator would average 72 deuterium/min (4x Mk.III alone)
[And, as mentioned, adding proliferation to the hydrogen increases the default 1% conversion rate and would correspondingly increase these outputs]

So once, you unlock them, using pilers or later pile sorters to increase the throughput of hydrogen around the fractionator belt can be a major win.

Also, using multiple fractionators in a given loop will slightly reduce each one's average output unless you very carefully construct the loop to constantly replace converted hydrogen. However the space efficiency and easy of construction might outweigh the small loss of efficiency for you.