Hydrogen engines/tanks i don't understand

[IsaacDragonHeart]

So what are they used for ive been messing around trying to figure them out but they just suck up so much ice and run out its pointless the power to resource requirements(ice) seems rediculous idk maybe iam doing this all wrong thanks for your help if you leave a comment

[Raytruth]

2 words Moar boosters! I mean, more tanks. Surely 1:1 is not a good ratio. When you have enough lift power you can take ice with you and refine it real time with a good amount of oxygen generators. I personally don't consider the 3 differents propulsion system separated from eachother. Hydrogen thruster for example has more power then the other 2 but it consumes, so i usually build a primary propulsion system for my ship relative to the use i planned for it (space, atmo or both) then i add an hydrogen system around that, because the "kick" you have with those would require lots of the other 2 systems thrusters to compensate.

[Buzzard]

Hydrogen engines can be a handy power source under the right conditions. Bases on/near ice lakes or up in the polar regions, or on moons... pretty much anywhere ice is plentiful, really. For rovers, the hydrogen engine can work well enough, especially with a good ice/hydrogen reserve on board. Space craft, running ions, still fine... more or less, since space craft rarely have to fight against full gravity.
Atmospheric fliers... not a good match. The engines aren't going to put out a high enough power for the weight that must be lifted. It technically could be done, but it's never going to be a happy thing.

For the engine, you must supply hydrogen gas, and lots of it. At full load, a small-grid engine will consume the full output of a O2 generator, while the large-grid engine will need TWO O2 gens. Hydrogen can be drawn from an external H2 tank as a buffer/gas tank for those periods where ice is not available or unsuitable to carry around (rovers and such). The engine DOES have a small-ish internal tank that nothing else can take from.

Power output - the engine will produce enough power to run 5 O2 gens by itself. If the engine is the sole power source, then it'll only run 4 due to conveyor power needs, as well as anything else that must have power. An engine running at less than max output will consume less H2 gas

I haven't played around with engines lately, but there were a 'fun' bug with engines freshly built not filling their internal tank automatically. The fix is to turn off, then on, the engine and it will usually draw normally. Sometimes it was necessary to reload the world from a save to make it work.

[Pembroke]

if you don't have enough solar the H2 engine is your fallback. It can also reduce the recharge time of your batteries provided you've the ice available.

Otherwise, yeah, using an H2 engine pretty much fades away once you've got enough solar panels in your mother ship. Still useful in emergencies or as a power source for parasite vessels if you don't want to wait for the batteries to recharge.

Maybe they ought to make the progression a bit harder so that you've a clear longer phase when the H2 engine is your only power source for ships?

[Cthulhu]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=824486353&searchtext=hydrogen+rebalance

[Mr B.]

It's not you, generally they suck. The problems are linked - storage being crap, and consumption being so high. If they addressed the consumption (and gave different tank options for small grid), they would be more usable.

Currently, it's really only useful for making big ugly ships to get out of atmo, or as a backup if all else fails.Though even backup makes no sense as a backup battery bank would be far easier and better to use.

[mid endian]

On a survival Planet start, they are necessary for getting into space. It's possible to do so with lots of ion engines, but very power-hungry. Hydrogen thrusters push out the most thrust in any environment, and have the lowest power consumption.

Regarding hydrogen tanks that are full or empty, their mass will be the same. Before you get off into space, make sure those tanks are full, so you don't have to carry as much ice around.

[callme-jk]

I think the main-problem at all is now: (with the block / in the community since they add this)

Hydrogen engines/tanks .vs. Hydrogen-Thrusters/tanks.... and we see the peepz dont get it... xD

One thing is the power-block with the name: hydro-engine with a tank inside....
the other thing is this story about coming in space.... with hydro-thrusters....

Maybe, we need a block re-name mission... and let us first talk about.... what we are talking about.... not easy with the starting post... LOL and yeah, its not the first time, that we are talking abount two diff. things with this.... Oo -.-

maybe its a good idea to delete the tanks inside of the hydro-engines.... and all know what we are talking about... ??? again, power-engine .vs. coming into space-story...! I think we are talking more about power-engine block.... (it fits more to the text, when we read it!) ;)

[IsaacDragonHeart]

Wow thanks guys for all the info and help!!!!!

[CAT_life2]

I had a instance where the Hydrogen engine was super useful the other day, I left my miners battery running and it was docked next to a port, and it discharged then I had to move ship for recharge, and the Hydro engine was enough power to limp to the recharge port.

[Daynen Drakeson]

H2 boosters are good for faster acceleration, making them good for getting a ship up to speed or pulling sudden maneuvers, like in a fighter. Unfortunately the weight and size requirements can somewhat offset this bonus. I tend to use them in conjunction with a secondary booster set so I can just run ions/atmos when I'm travelling, then turn on the H2 when I need to get mobile. The overall efficiency of H2 tech is still somewhat dismal overall, but I'd rather it not be buffed TOO much, otherwise it becomes the ONLY viable option. More shapes and sizes of H2 tanks would help a bit.

If you're using them on a large capital ship it makes sense to have some ice storage for long trips. If you're using them for shorter duration roles then just having a couple tanks is usually sufficient in my experience. It'll make your ship bigger, but it'll take some burden off your powerplants and give you a backup propulsion system if you drain your power too.