Water filtration machine and power

[adritheonly]

I am running 2 filtration machines with 2 bioreactors and 3 solar panels. The power is not showing an increase, i.e. currently hovering around 700, not falling but not climbing to 1250 either. How many solar panels do I have to add to avoid my base running out of power when I am away for a while. Also, on the side, do indoor plants keep growing if there is no power. (Newb as you may have guessed)

[sgrey]

Originally posted by adritheonly:

I am running 2 filtration machines with 2 bioreactors and 3 solar panels. The power is not showing an increase, i.e. currently hovering around 700, not falling but not climbing to 1250 either. How many solar panels do I have to add to avoid my base running out of power when I am away for a while. Also, on the side, do indoor plants keep growing if there is no power. (Newb as you may have guessed)

To power one water filtration machine you need 4 solar panels. One water filtration machine requires 51 energy per minute while solar panels produce only 15 energy per minute and a bio reactor 50 energy per minute.

[adritheonly]

Thanks. I figured, by monitoring over a few game days, that I should be OK as long as the bioreactors are fed before I leave. Fairly shallow so the solar panels should help me not to get back to a dark base even if the reactors run out.

[sgrey]

Originally posted by adritheonly:

Thanks. I figured, by monitoring over a few game days, that I should be OK as long as the bioreactors are fed before I leave. Fairly shallow so the solar panels should help me not to get back to a dark base even if the reactors run out.

that depends in what order you built them. If you build any of the solar panels after the bio reactor, then they are simply not working at all.

[adritheonly]

Originally posted by sgrey:

Originally posted by adritheonly:

Thanks. I figured, by monitoring over a few game days, that I should be OK as long as the bioreactors are fed before I leave. Fairly shallow so the solar panels should help me not to get back to a dark base even if the reactors run out.

that depends in what order you built them. If you build any of the solar panels after the bio reactor, then they are simply not working at all.

Oh wow, really? That is exactly what I did. The max power does go up to 1225 when the WFMs aren't working. Does that mean that I was simply lucky or because the bios are in a different building to the solar panels, which I put on the moonpool?

[sgrey]

Originally posted by adritheonly:

Originally posted by sgrey:

that depends in what order you built them. If you build any of the solar panels after the bio reactor, then they are simply not working at all.

Oh wow, really? That is exactly what I did. The max power does go up to 1225 when the WFMs aren't working. Does that mean that I was simply lucky or because the bios are in a different building to the solar panels, which I put on the moonpool?

No, basically the power sources in Subnautica are used in the order you build them. Each one has a resource and until it exhausted the next power source won't be used. So if you build your bio reactor first, then that bio reactor will be used for everything until it's power generation limit is exceeded and then the next power source will be used, etc.
So if you build 1 solar panel, then bio ractor, then 5 solar panels and another bio reactor, only 1 solar panel will be used and then you bio reactor will be used for any power that the first panel cannot provide, until it's resources is exceeded as well. You do have your total power as the sum of all your power sources. But your power sources are not used in parallel, but sequentially.
It's a system that the game doesn't explicitly tells you and you have to figure it out. So you should remove all your power, build a few solar panels first, then the bio reactor. This way your bio reactor won't be used as much.

And also different fishes and fruits and other things produce different amounts of energy in the bio reactor. The best one is Oculus, which you can find in the jellyshroom cave and then breed them in the ACU. The next best thing is the reginald because those also provide the best amount of food in the game.

[adritheonly]

Thanks, that makes sense. OK, I will re-built the solar first then the two reactors. As far as fuel I'm using Bulbos and using the Reginalds in the tank for food. Currently in the Jellyshroom cave and have seen occuli but the little buggers are too fast so I am going back for a grav trap to improve my chances.

[sgrey]

Originally posted by adritheonly:

Thanks, that makes sense. OK, I will re-built the solar first then the two reactors. As far as fuel I'm using Bulbos and using the Reginalds in the tank for food. Currently in the Jellyshroom cave and have seen occuli but the little buggers are too fast so I am going back for a grav trap to improve my chances.

You can just go and dump 8 out of 10 reginalds in the bio reactor and those buggers will multiply very quickly back to 10 again. You can also extend your ACU to the second floor and get more fish. Reginalds provide very high amount of energy and last a long time. Not as much as Oculus, but still very long. Oculus will be just ridiculous, they can power your base for almost 2 hours real time.
But with 2 bio reactors you will likely need either 2 ACUs or have a couple of floors taken by one.

[adritheonly]

Yeah, I'm embarrassed to admit that I have two large room ACUs stacked and yes, there is a multitude. So I can actually do away with the Bulbos that is messing with my interior decorating When I add the Occuli the setup should be perfect enough. You have been a real help!

[sgrey]

Originally posted by adritheonly:

Yeah, I'm embarrassed to admit that I have two large room ACUs stacked and yes, there is a multitude. So I can actually do away with the Bulbos that is messing with my interior decorating When I add the Occuli the setup should be perfect enough. You have been a real help!

I always stack ACUs and also make a ton of windows so that I can see them from the outside

[adritheonly]

Originally posted by sgrey:

Originally posted by adritheonly:

Yeah, I'm embarrassed to admit that I have two large room ACUs stacked and yes, there is a multitude. So I can actually do away with the Bulbos that is messing with my interior decorating When I add the Occuli the setup should be perfect enough. You have been a real help!

I always stack ACUs and also make a ton of windows so that I can see them from the outside

Did that to the top large room, also adding a glass roof so I can watch the sky from my bed, reinforcing the bottom all round for strength. Now if only I can figure out how to remove the UI to take a screenshot. It is so different from my last game.

[Ignis]

The order is the build order at first, but after a load it's arbitrary.

So don't bother with it and just understand that your total power decreasing is just the normal behavior no matter how many power sources you have, as long as your base requires more power than the current drained one can produce alone.

Also, the bioreactor has the worst input rate of all, a solar panel at the surface level will produce 1.25 energy per second during the day.

A bioreactor is a constant 0.833 energy per second.

PoC that it changes each load: https://youtu.be/yscDT2rZcek

[adritheonly]

Originally posted by Ignis:

The order is the build order at first, but after a load it's arbitrary.

So don't bother with it and just understand that your total power decreasing is just the normal behavior no matter how many power sources you have, as long as your base requires more power than the current drained one can't keep up alone.

Also, the bioreactor has the worst input rate of all, a solar panel at the surface level will produce 1.25 energy per second during the day.

A bioreactor is a constant 0.833 energy per second.

So, if I build one solar panel first, I can add the rest in no particular order? In which order will they then be drained? The first solar panel will obviously be first but after that?

[sgrey]

Originally posted by Ignis:

The order is the build order at first, but after a load it's arbitrary.

So don't bother with it and just understand that your total power decreasing is just the normal behavior no matter how many power sources you have, as long as your base requires more power than the current drained one can produce alone.

Also, the bioreactor has the worst input rate of all, a solar panel at the surface level will produce 1.25 energy per second during the day.

A bioreactor is a constant 0.833 energy per second.

PoC that it changes each load: https://youtu.be/yscDT2rZcek

So the power order changes every time you load a save? Or is it dynamic during a session? This is interesting, I didn't know this was done.

[Ignis]

Originally posted by adritheonly:

So, if I build one solar panel first, I can add the rest in no particular order? In which order will they then be drained? The first solar panel will obviously be first but after that?

Originally posted by sgrey:

So the power order changes every time you load a save? Or is it dynamic during a session? This is interesting, I didn't know this was done.

It changes each time you'll load your world. So you shouldn't bother about the build order and it won't last.
You don't have a reason to care about it. If you really want something that is constant between loads, there is a mod for that. https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/1304

[sgrey]

Originally posted by Ignis:

It changes each time you'll load your world. So you shouldn't bother about the build order and it won't last.
You don't have a reason to care about it. If you really want something that is constant between loads, there is a mod for that. https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/1304

Thanks, this is good to know. I remember people discussing how power works and that it's based on build order, but I didn't remember ever hearing that it was random on game load.

Then here is this question: if I use power transmitter to transmit power from multiple solar panels or from multiple thermal reactors, does power transmitter basically becomes "just one" power sources and replaces the others or are they still random? Like, one solar out of five would be used and then a bio reactor, for example?