Nuclear Reactor?

[Panfilo]

I mostly see people talk about using either solar panels for shallow bases or thermal generators for deeper ones, along with bioreactors as well. But what about Nuclear Reactors?

I find that it isn't that difficult to get the resources for Fuel Rods, and so you end up with power generation that isn't dependent on base location, and doesn't need to be refueled as often as the bioreactor.

[Zemecon]

The biggest drawback for nuclear power is that lead still seems to be finite and there isn't really a reliable way to get it other than by finding large lead deposits. That means whatever lead you do get earlier on in your game you will need to store as much of as you can. And after a while it becomes a burdon like everything else being collected that you don't need now but that you have a good idea you will need later. I am not someone who likes to hoard or has gotten into the habit of hoarding but I still find myself needing storage space for lead alone whenever I go looking for copper early on or all I want is one single titanium ore.

The other three power suppliers are all renewable so you can sort of see how nuclear power takes a back seat much of the time.

[Wormling59mep]

I could only recommend this if you cannot get any other types of power. For instance, the Lost River is far down and is cold, and doesn't have much plant life if I'm correct, so if you wanted a base down there a reactor would be a good idea. I would also recommend it if you need a lot of energy fast, but even still it's a bit expensive.

[PreLife]

I honestly don't know why people think that resources don't respawn. They do.

[ImHelping]

The Nuclear reactor has the painful distinction of being the only power source in the game with a finite fuel source that you have to scrounge around for.

Solar? Always on during the day.

Thermal? Always on forever.

While the Bio reactor may have a painfully slow output no matter what you put in it, eddible fish or plants, if you like refilling or four times as often) are always accessible or even grown inside your own base.

Nukes? Well, gotta go out and collect that stuff.

Throw in the fact that the power system in this game is very much "Gets the job done, close enough" on polish. So if you try to use Nukes as emergency power, it will, eventually (which can be quite a long while, depending), get drained anyways from getting skimmed off the top constantly. The whole "Build it last" bit doesn't change that.

The game isn't very "Smart" about power priorities. If you're in the middle of the day, it will draw from your bio reactor. nukes, and thermals a bit every moment your solar panels are anything less than 100% full.

So by the time you're ready to start investing in nukes, you're almost always already in a positoin where you are capable, and better off, just spamming thermals/thermals+transmitters for anywhere the sun can't reach.

With the bonus that it does'nt take half a room to use.

Originally posted by PrehistoricLife:

I honestly don't know why people think that resources don't respawn. They do.

Regardless of this common question in the wild development cycle.

That still doesn't change the whole "Have to go out and scrape it up off the ground" situation the rest lack. Even if it didn't love to skim off the top every moment your solar panels are at 99.9%.

[PreLife]

Originally posted by ImHelping:

The Nuclear reactor has the painful distinction of being the only power source in the game with a finite fuel source that you have to scrounge around for.

Solar? Always on during the day.

Thermal? Always on forever.

While the Bio reactor may have a painfully slow output no matter what you put in it, eddible fish or plants, if you like refilling or four times as often) are always accessible or even grown inside your own base.

Nukes? Well, gotta go out and collect that stuff.

Throw in the fact that the power system in this game is very much "Gets the job done, close enough" on polish. So if you try to use Nukes as emergency power, it will, eventually (which can be quite a long while, depending), get drained anyways from getting skimmed off the top constantly. The whole "Build it last" bit doesn't change that.

The game isn't very "Smart" about power priorities. If you're in the middle of the day, it will draw from your bio reactor. nukes, and thermals a bit every moment your solar panels are anything less than 100% full.

So by the time you're ready to start investing in nukes, you're almost always already in a positoin where you are capable, and better off, just spamming thermals/thermals+transmitters for anywhere the sun can't reach.

With the bonus that it does'nt take half a room to use.

There should be an ion nuke rod to make the reactor more useful late-game.

[kwong20287]

Originally posted by PrehistoricLife:

Originally posted by ImHelping:

The Nuclear reactor has the painful distinction of being the only power source in the game with a finite fuel source that you have to scrounge around for.

Solar? Always on during the day.

Thermal? Always on forever.

While the Bio reactor may have a painfully slow output no matter what you put in it, eddible fish or plants, if you like refilling or four times as often) are always accessible or even grown inside your own base.

Nukes? Well, gotta go out and collect that stuff.

Throw in the fact that the power system in this game is very much "Gets the job done, close enough" on polish. So if you try to use Nukes as emergency power, it will, eventually (which can be quite a long while, depending), get drained anyways from getting skimmed off the top constantly. The whole "Build it last" bit doesn't change that.

The game isn't very "Smart" about power priorities. If you're in the middle of the day, it will draw from your bio reactor. nukes, and thermals a bit every moment your solar panels are anything less than 100% full.

So by the time you're ready to start investing in nukes, you're almost always already in a positoin where you are capable, and better off, just spamming thermals/thermals+transmitters for anywhere the sun can't reach.

With the bonus that it does'nt take half a room to use.

There should be an ion nuke rod to make the reactor more useful late-game.

Would work well if your base is in a lava zone and use thermal too.

[Panfilo]

That's true, though after obtaining the Prawn suit drill arm I'm finding that getting sufficient lead and Uranite isn't a problem. You can stock up on reactor rods and build a locker full of them next to the reactor.

[Zemecon]

I still don't see why anyone would bother with nuclear when they have thermal, though. It is 24-hour renewable energy. I had more than 3000 energy in one of my previous saved games that way, just by littering the DGR path to the Lost River with thermal plants. By that time you would be practically choosing to invest your time and effort into nothing if you made a nuclear reactor. It is best to save nuclear for areas like the Sparse Reef and the blood kelp zones instead. As well as the Lost River, depending on where you go.

[Wormling59mep]

Originally posted by Salinité:

I still don't see why anyone would bother with nuclear when they have thermal, though. It is 24-hour renewable energy. I had more than 3000 energy in one of my previous saved games that way, just by littering the DGR path to the Lost River with thermal plants. By that time you would be practically choosing to invest your time and effort into nothing if you made a nuclear reactor. It is best to save nuclear for areas like the Sparse Reef and the blood kelp zones instead. As well as the Lost River, depending on where you go.

Blood Kelp is full of the blood sack things, so it's good for the bio reactor. I always carry the materials for a bio reactor and small seabase just incase, because bio energy is the most reliable, if slow.

[Zemecon]

Originally posted by Wormling59mep:

Originally posted by Salinité:

I still don't see why anyone would bother with nuclear when they have thermal, though. It is 24-hour renewable energy. I had more than 3000 energy in one of my previous saved games that way, just by littering the DGR path to the Lost River with thermal plants. By that time you would be practically choosing to invest your time and effort into nothing if you made a nuclear reactor. It is best to save nuclear for areas like the Sparse Reef and the blood kelp zones instead. As well as the Lost River, depending on where you go.

Blood Kelp is full of the blood sack things, so it's good for the bio reactor.

Actually, no it isn't. Or it wasn't. I wish it was, but the last time I tried to put blood oil into the bioreactor the game would not let me. Someone please tell me that has changed in this current update because I haven't tried it myself yet.

EDIT: Added three words.

[Wormling59mep]

Originally posted by Salinité:

Originally posted by Wormling59mep:

Blood Kelp is full of the blood sack things, so it's good for the bio reactor.

Actually, no it isn't. I wish it was, but the last time I tried to put blood oil into the bioreactor the game would not let me. Someone please tell me that has changed in this current update because I haven't tried it myself yet.

If that's the case I think you should bring a reactor.

But why would you want to base there? It's so creepy, (the blood crawlers make my skin crawl ), and not somewhere I would want to spend my time.

[El Destructo]

A single nuclear reactor can supply enough power to run several water filters at once, which isn't a bad deal in a small satellite facility. Good source of travel water. It's probably overkill for most other things.

Fabricator work and battery charging is generally infrequent and small enough of a drain you can get by with literally anything else with less effort, or more sustainably.

[AquaX]

The current power grid is made to draw from the earliest thing you made first to the last.

Ex: you made 6 solar panels, then 1 bio reactor. That base will always draw from those 6 solar panels first before drawing from the bio.

[ImHelping]

Originally posted by Salinité:

Originally posted by Wormling59mep:

Blood Kelp is full of the blood sack things, so it's good for the bio reactor.

Actually, no it isn't. Or it wasn't. I wish it was, but the last time I tried to put blood oil into the bioreactor the game would not let me. Someone please tell me that has changed in this current update because I haven't tried it myself yet.

EDIT: Added three words.

Took a quick peek and added a bioreactor to my little outpost tower by the Containment facility.

Blood Oil as of this moment in experimental does not let me put it into the bioreactor. Complete with the funny message "You can only put organic items into the bioreactor". You don't say. I guess even the tons of seeds clearly visible inside don't count?

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1125713170


Unrelated quirks. Every single time I was building or dismantling something in my outpost. It redoes the "Prawn docking" animation, though mostly that means just hearing it over and over and over (with one glance down the hallway when in the right spot to see it in action).

Originally posted by AquaX:

The current power grid is made to draw from the earliest thing you made first to the last.

Ex: you made 6 solar panels, then 1 bio reactor. That base will always draw from those 6 solar panels first before drawing from the bio.

This still doesn't change the whole "Will draw power from everything else once your first thing is at 99.99% power rather than maxed out" situation.

So even if you build solars first, then thermal, then bio, then FINALLY Nukes... It will still skim off the top in the middle of the day when your literal dozens of solar panels dip below 100%.

It's a "Eh, close enough" design that doesn't have as much of an impact with self sustaining power sources. But with fuel consuming ones, eventually they will run through their fuel evem when they had zero need to use it. Though it does draw the process out.

[straykaiya]

There are thermal vents in almost if not every biome. That is why thermal is so well mentioned.