engine effectivness and preferances

[stoicboss101]

ok, so with only a couple hundred hours i found myself in a delimma as my shis began to get larger. rtg's are expensive and not super effective for large power outputs, expecially for energy weapons.
what is everyones perference in terms of engines?
steam engine or fuel engine? what configuration of these do you use for efficiency or power? which is more cost effective in the end?

up until this point i havent needed this info. thanks guys!

[KTR-19 Human Folded Towel]

Ive used both in seperate ships, Steam engines take up quite a bit of room unlike the reg Engines! I havent really noticted a diffrence, i dont think EMPS can really effect steam engines so theres a plus, Make sure you build plenty of escap valves, pipes / rewires, in combat its not too uncommon to see your Boiler blowing if you dont manage it right!

[CHOO CHOO]

I like fuel engines because they respond to changes much more quickly than the slow buildup of steam. Not blowing up is also a plus. Also, you can just make one efficient, modular engine prefab and chain as many of them together as you need for any given vehicle; without much planning.

I do use steam engines for anything that has massive, constant power draw - railguns, usually.

[FourGreenFields]

Fuel engines can be much more efficient. Even an ejectors-only engine will beat steam in power/material ratio, if your refinery is decent (best possible refinery has an efficiency of 299). Big steam engines eat too much material imo.

My currently biggest ship uses fuel as main, but can't sustain LAMS and shields on fuel alone, so I added a small steam-turbine setup to charge the electric engines, if they spent too much energy.

[Mortazel]

I highly suggest an efficient fuel engine: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=862257160

...with an efficient refinery: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=795822798

Hope that helps - have fun!

[An Ning]

If you have an "invincible" build, you CAN have enough RTGs and batteries for a few million power -just be ready for the cost of the ship to triple (then again, somethign to be said for being able to fight forever without needing to worry about fuel)

[xchrisx88]

Steam Engines
are still garbage imo, they still burn way too much resources, but I guess are easier to build than a Fuel Engine
BUT, I do see some use for the turbines to create battery power

Fuel Engines
is the bread and butter, no matter if you want a fuel guzling monster or as efficient as possible,
it comes down on how efficient your refinery is
I like to combine a fuel guzzling engine with a electric one as "eco-mode", so outside of combat the fuel engines is off and the electric engine works the propellers

Eletric Engine
can be very space efficient if you dont need much power,
in the end it comes down to how fast can you refill your batteries, to keep the engine running

[stoicboss101]

So far I haven't built anything invincible, since I have a thing for realistic ships and subs.

I've never used steam before, so I may give it a try, but with a ship that is constantly repairing itself and it's mates I don't want to worry about resources getting tight. Having a massive cruiser shut down because of no money isn't good.

My inexperience with fuel engines doesn't help, but I have been using them for their power output on my particle cannon cruiser.

Any advice for fuel engines?

[CHOO CHOO]

Turbochargers are your friend. They're fiddly to attach, but they give you an efficiency boost when the engine runs at max output - and that's how it should be running, because if you don't need all the power then you actually need a smaller engine.

[stoicboss101]

Are they now? I'll look into using them. All I've used is superchargers (since they are easy lol

[Ohm is Futile]

I second Mortazel's links.

Also, my thoughts:

RTGs: they can be worth it for very small builds that don't require much power. They can be worth it if whatever is using them will spend a lot of time producing power before dying, since they can eventually repay for themselves over a long period of time compared to fuel/resource costs of other engines. That said, I'd say it can easily take over 5 hours of game time for a larger RTG design to get into the realms of cost-efficient.

Steam engines:

Originally posted by KTR-19 Shotgun Surgeon:

Ive used both in seperate ships, Steam engines take up quite a bit of room unlike the reg Engines!

What? Steam engines are incredibly space-efficient imo. They are amazing for smaller builds and tight spaces. They are also a bottomless pit for resources. If you are playing with centralized resources, they also spare you a lot of logistics. They're not horrible and for short periods they're more cost-efficient than RTGs. They're less complicated than fuel engines and I'd say they're pretty good for a newer player.

Fuel engines:
These are where it's at for larger designs. They are more space-efficient than RTGs and cost less resources as fuel than steam engines. The more fuel-efficient the engine, the less space-efficient it is. This also depends on whether or not you have a good refinery setup.

Originally posted by xchrisx88:

Eletric Engine
can be very space efficient if you dont need much power,
in the end it comes down to how fast can you refill your batteries, to keep the engine running

Meh, I find that electric engines are not that space-efficient. Sure, the engine itself is one block, but the maximum power output per second is determined by how large the batteries are. And given you also need something to charge the batteries with, I find they end up not being worth it in most cases...

[Dawn]

My favorite engines type are Fuel i have a few presets (including one that is ingame that i use a TON) but most are built by friends. steam on the other hand can either be very compact or be super huge and very complicated. realy its just what you need them for and what room you have

[xchrisx88]

Originally posted by Ohm is Futile:

I second Mortazel's links.

Also, my thoughts:

RTGs: they can be worth it for very small builds that don't require much power.

Originally posted by xchrisx88:

Eletric Engine
can be very space efficient if you dont need much power,
in the end it comes down to how fast can you refill your batteries, to keep the engine running

]Meh, I find that electric engines are not that space-efficient. Sure, the engine itself is one block, but the maximum power output per second is determined by how large the batteries are.

[/quote]

you kinda disagree with yourself right there xD
but thats what I meant, for very small crafts that almost dont need any power

[Ohm is Futile]

Originally posted by xchrisx88:

you kinda disagree with yourself right there xD
but thats what I meant, for very small crafts that almost dont need any power

Haha, yeah, I see your point. You got what I meant though.

[stoicboss101]

i am impressed with the efficiency of fuel engines, but how to do refuel small vessels?

[Ohm is Futile]

Originally posted by stoicboss101:

i am impressed with the efficiency of fuel engines, but how to do refuel small vessels?

With centralized resources, having a mobile refinery is pretty simple to maintain. On localized resources, you may actually want to have a dedicated tanker vehicle that does not enter combat at all.