What is the most efficient engine?

[Sorrowful Cat]

I am really having trouble finding any relevant information on this that is up to date. I want to learn(or more accurately re-learn) how to make efficient engines for my crafts.

A year or so ago the most efficient engines were fuel engines and I got pretty good at making them but now the game has changed a lot and I have not kept up. Steam engines used to be too resource intensive but they seem to have had a massive overhaul.

I know the default answer is almost certainly just going to be RTGs and batteries but I want to know if fuel and steam engines are even worth it and if they are how do I make them work efficiently. The next answer will probably be a hybrid engine but I need to know how to make engines that are efficient first.

After testing around a tiny bit steam piston engines, fuel engines and turbine engines all seemed kind of resource intensive and I couldn't make an efficient version of any of them. I looked in the in-game guides but they don't give accurate up to date information. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[FourGreenFields]

RTGs. Duh.

Fuel engines if RTGs don't count and you're ready to throw powerdensity out of the window. Cylinder, surrounded by carbs, surrounded by supers, then a crapton of radiators connected to the crankshaft. >1k power/mat.

Steam is more efficient for most reasonable powerdensities, but suffers if the load isn't constant.


For anything meant for combat you want either steam or fuel. RTGs take hours to pay for themselves, and are bigger (-> harder to armour).

If I'm not mistaken, the fuel engines on this platform are still pretty good:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2122956449

[NoobMaster69]

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[The n00b A]

RTGs + eletric engine > Custom Jet Generator > Large Steam engines with 6 stages compounding (re-feed exhaust) > fuel engines with 4 turbos > medium & small steam engines with 4 or 5 compounding stages > Steam Turbines + eletric engine

Beware that custom jets cant be placed on fortress and structures.

[The n00b A]

Here's how steam engines work currently:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2431270971


Here's the best fuel engines designs i know:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2159739515

[BlackTemplar]

My equation for efficiency. Just enough RTG power to stay afloat and upright. When not in battle my ships dont move. Jet engine power plants set to charge batteries. 100% battery charge. They dont turn on unless the battery gets under 96 - 98%
If you drive ship around never go full speed and your RTG's operating stabilizers should never lower battery under 99%
Now make your custom jet generators powerful enough to run all systems at full speed and in full broadside. But keep them off till you need them.
You dont need bread boards or ACB for this set up. The Battery charge mechanic is built in.
Its simpler and way more durable than steam. Zero waste out of combat. Totally compatible with large steam drives with the energy motor thingie in bottom right corner of steam stuff.

[Dakota]

Currently supercharger engines are the most optimal with around 1200 power per mat when setup properly. RTGs are of course infinite power per mat, but they have a very high barrier to entry and you have to have batteries and electric engines to get power out of them too which results in RTGs taking up massive space but also massive costs.

Take generating 1000 power for example, this would require 11875 mats worth of RTG and battery. In comparison a 1k power 1k ppm supercharger brick only requires 1035 mats. At 1 material used per second and a 10840 mat difference this would take you around 3 hours to pay off the cost of the RTG.

This functionally makes RTGs non viable for combat craft as they run the risk of potentially having an RTG destroyed in that 3+ hour span of running and going further into more time to repair off repairs whereas the supercharger engine could die entirely 10 times over and still be under budget. Basically only use them on cargo vessels or things that are very unlikely to ever get in a fight if you put them on anything at all.

[Sorrowful Cat]

Thank you all for the replies, this is very useful information. I will use it wisely to genocide unite Neter.

[Xeno42]

i believe the small steam electric generators can easily get to something like 650power/mat which isnt that bad. power to mat efficiency isnt the biggest cost in the game. i worry more about damage to mat efficiencies as thats is usually the real mat burner

[Major0Noob]

since the resource zone buff awhile back; efficiency isn't very important
set a combat mode of up to 100/s and cruse of 10ish and everything's fine

fuel engines haven't gotten enough love by the devs, either supercharge or inject. anything creative is a hassle and outperformed in every way by steam and RTG

turbines are ok, the total volume including the batteries is high though

steam piston's are kings of everything now; PPM, PPV, and total output. there was a point where the boilers were fusion powered lol

[DeadRite0]

I typically run triple expansion steam engines with with a system of valves and ACBs to control steam use and starting the engine in simple, then switching to complex.

[Sorrowful Cat]

Originally posted by pgbelles:

I typically run triple expansion steam engines with with a system of valves and ACBs to control steam use and starting the engine in simple, then switching to complex.

I have no idea what most of that means. I have used ACB to control burn rate but that's about it. What is "triple expansion" and how do you switch steam engines from simple to complex?

[FourGreenFields]

Originally posted by Sorrowful cat:

Originally posted by pgbelles:

I typically run triple expansion steam engines with with a system of valves and ACBs to control steam use and starting the engine in simple, then switching to complex.

I have no idea what most of that means. I have used ACB to control burn rate but that's about it. What is "triple expansion" and how do you switch steam engines from simple to complex?

Multiple expansion means you take one set of pistons' outputted steam, and feed it into another set of pistons. Improves efficiency, costs density. IIrc typically done with equal number of pistons in the stages, which is close to optimal.

AfaIk controlling boilrate isn't much of a thing anymore. Just ensure the pressure is at max, then the mat consumption drops anyway.