Geothermal Energy Bug

[Michael]

Hey Stewards,

I’ve run into some issues with geothermal energy in Frostpunk 2 and wanted to see if anyone else has experienced the same problems:

• Geothermal Power Not Used After Whiteout: During one of my playthroughs, I noticed that after a whiteout event (with adaptive pumps installed), the geothermal power stopped being used by the generator entirely. It’s only happened in this particular playthrough, but it was frustrating as the generator would no longer draw from the geothermal reserves.
  
  
• Excess Geothermal Energy While Other Energy Types Are in Deficit: There’s also an issue where I have a surplus of geothermal energy, but other energy types are in deficit. Despite the geothermal surplus, the generator isn’t providing enough heat, almost as if it’s ignoring the available geothermal power.

Has anyone else run into these issues? Is this a bug or am I missing something with how the energy systems interact post-whiteout? Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[Smokers are Jokers]

same issues think it is a bug with geothermal

[shinkim4077]

Did the get the final adaptive upgrade for the generator? I did and for some reason the generator would not burn any coal or use any steam. Right now I've researched the upgrade but never built it. Gonna check again later to see if it was just a fluke. All I know is that I built it while the white out was on and it ruined that save. Had to go back a little.

[Michael]

Originally posted by shinkim4077:

Did the get the final adaptive upgrade for the generator? I did and for some reason the generator would not burn any coal or use any steam. Right now I've researched the upgrade but never built it. Gonna check again later to see if it was just a fluke. All I know is that I built it while the white out was on and it ruined that save. Had to go back a little.

Ahh! That might be the key to the developers finding/resolving this bug!
My issue where geothermal power became unusable in a specific save (my first bullet point, "Geothermal Power Not Used After Whiteout") occurred after I added an additional geothermal plant to an extraction district during a whiteout event.

[Michael]

It would also be really nice to set fuel prioritization for generators using adaptive energy sources... It's annoying when oil/coal are at deficits (reducing stored reserves) when I have unallocated/"extra" steam that can't be stored for colder months.

I could potentially understand if this was for a lore reason (ex: if the mix has to be a certain percentage of each source), but I haven't seen this explained anywhere in-game.

[☭ Calabresa ☭]

Originally posted by Michael:

It would also be really nice to set fuel prioritization for generators using adaptive energy sources... It's annoying when oil/coal are at deficits (reducing stored reserves) when I have unallocated/"extra" steam that can't be stored for colder months.

I could potentially understand if this was for a lore reason (ex: if the mix has to be a certain percentage of each source), but I haven't seen this explained anywhere in-game.

You can choose one fuel to prioritize, you need to research and build the generator upgrade in order to select which fuel will be more efficient, and that will be prioritized.

[Michael]

Originally posted by ☭ Calabresa ☭:

Originally posted by Michael:

It would also be really nice to set fuel prioritization for generators using adaptive energy sources... It's annoying when oil/coal are at deficits (reducing stored reserves) when I have unallocated/"extra" steam that can't be stored for colder months.

I could potentially understand if this was for a lore reason (ex: if the mix has to be a certain percentage of each source), but I haven't seen this explained anywhere in-game.

You can choose one fuel to prioritize, you need to research and build the generator upgrade in order to select which fuel will be more efficient, and that will be prioritized.

Thanks for the tip! I haven’t personally tried that upgrade yet. I was a bit hesitant because I’ve always had a mix of fuels and was worried I might forget to switch the fuel method, ending up with no power in my generator even though I have reserves of some fuel.

That said, I really think geothermal energy should always be prioritized over other fuel types, since it’s ephemeral and can’t be stored. It seems like it would make the most sense to use it up first, before burning through other fuel reserves that we can actually stockpile.

[☭ Calabresa ☭]

Originally posted by Michael:

Originally posted by ☭ Calabresa ☭:

You can choose one fuel to prioritize, you need to research and build the generator upgrade in order to select which fuel will be more efficient, and that will be prioritized.

Thanks for the tip! I haven’t personally tried that upgrade yet. I was a bit hesitant because I’ve always had a mix of fuels and was worried I might forget to switch the fuel method, ending up with no power in my generator even though I have reserves of some fuel.

That said, I really think geothermal energy should always be prioritized over other fuel types, since it’s ephemeral and can’t be stored. It seems like it would make the most sense to use it up first, before burning through other fuel reserves that we can actually stockpile.

That upgrade is AMAZING, you should definitely try it. There's no way to botch it, there will always be one fuel type being more efficient, even if you forget to switch it to another. You'll have tons of extra fuel stored, and sometimes prioritizing Oil will actually give you more resource abundance than choosing Steam, because of how efficient Oil already is, together with the upgrade it's absurdely overpowered.

But if you have a lot of Steam, that upgrade can make other fuel types completely irrelevant until your city has a lot of heat demand that you'd need to complement the Steam.

Edit: I think you feared that the generator would only use the selected fuel and you'd forget to switch to another, that's not the case. The selected fuel will be more efficient, and prioritized, but it will still use all other fuels available automatically if more heat is needed.

[Kazeck]

Originally posted by Michael:

Originally posted by ☭ Calabresa ☭:

You can choose one fuel to prioritize, you need to research and build the generator upgrade in order to select which fuel will be more efficient, and that will be prioritized.

Thanks for the tip! I haven’t personally tried that upgrade yet. I was a bit hesitant because I’ve always had a mix of fuels and was worried I might forget to switch the fuel method, ending up with no power in my generator even though I have reserves of some fuel.

That said, I really think geothermal energy should always be prioritized over other fuel types, since it’s ephemeral and can’t be stored. It seems like it would make the most sense to use it up first, before burning through other fuel reserves that we can actually stockpile.

It will use all fuel it just prioritizes in terms of efficiency.

That said I do think Geo should Always be used first.

[phoenixds24]

I haven't had an issue where the geothermal did not come back online after a whiteout. However, I have had issues getting generators to use geothermal. If it's not set to the preferred fuel type, it will be below oil as the primary fuel source, since geothermal is normally 1:1 fuel to heat, like coal. This unfortunately means any satellite city with geothermal needs to be in oil debt, otherwise it will not use any geothermal source. Wish the satellite cities could get the adaptive generator, too, but alas.

[>//The_FALCON]

even if steam is infinite, you should always prioritize the source you use most of, as it will give you the most save

remember, steam can't be stored but it also doesn't go away when it isn't used so it shouldn't be 100% always prioritized

[Michael]

Originally posted by >//The_FALCON:

even if steam is infinite, you should always prioritize the source you use most of, as it will give you the most save

remember, steam can't be stored but it also doesn't go away when it isn't used so it shouldn't be 100% always prioritized

I get what you're saying, but in all of my playthroughs, geothermal/steam energy has always been near-infinite, like oil lasting multiple thousand weeks.... Since it can't be stored it only makes sense to me to be used first before other sources that can be stockpiled.

[xfor]

Imo it's simply a bug that generator does not always use steam first, no matter how efficient it is. You can't do anything else with steam, neither stockpile, use as input for other buildings or send to other colonies/outposts.

[birchrus01]

Definitely a bug. tried again on utopia builder. Fairly certain its the final generator upgrade that ♥♥♥♥♥ it all up.

[Little_Neo]

Just built the final upgrade a bit ago and yeah now I can't use steam power at all. In the Generator menu it shows the fuel mix and none of the selections, even specifying steam for intake optimization, will use any steam.
Coal can still be used, but it appears that it will only use literally 1 coal at most lol.

[Airatome]

Working perfectly for me so far

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1601580/discussions/0/4851029895192476188/

But I am exclusively using steam on a Utopia playthrough where Generator III
upgrade for Adaptation path is different from the story mode.

To use steam efficiently in story mode you have to have chose Embrace the Frost path. In Utopia its researching the Adaptation Generator tech, which will lock you in from that point forward.

Works like this: the moment OIL becomes even more efficient than it already is compared to coal or steam? Particularly if you research and build Progress/Defeat the frost Engine Upgrade 3 which makes it HIGHLY efficient? Your Generator will exclusively burn through oil until it has none left before ever touching anything else.

The moment I introduced coal or oil to my above city? It uses partial oil or coal even with steam as a priority. As a backup.

But as the above shows, going exclusively steam powered is not only possible, but highly viable. With the right path.