Want a mod that does this

[Z0MBE]

makes it so small power demands are met first before larger ones

[Fel]

It isn't possible to touch the underlying logic of the game with a mod (at least in factorio) so it would not be possible to modify the electric network's code.

On the bright side, it is possible to do this in vanilla by having separate electric network linked together in ways you can control.
You can redo power poles connections with copper wires so it's definitely possible even if it can be a pain if the "small" demands are all over the place and the "large" ones as well.

Sharing batteries but no direct links would work but it would be difficult to maintain when you go towards mega bases because you would need to multiply the surface area (or use modded batteries that have a much greater input and output (storage doesn't matter in this case).

Power switches can also be used to cut off parts of the factory when the power demand is too high, in order to keep the essential portions up and avoid brownouts.


You can also do a different approach and have alarms set to trigger when the power in a batteries goes under a certain percentage, telling you that you need to start working on more power generation (because that's the core issue behind your demand after all).

[Salmon Snake]

What is your purpose for this mod, maybe there are alternative solutions to your problem.

[DCYW]

are you looking for Fluidic power mod?, then I dunno.

[Z0MBE]

Like say that you need to power things but there's a big fat energy sink that takes so much power that the inserters that insert power sources ect have priority / all other things that require next to nothing in comparison get their fair share before the larger power sink

- this or that there hsould be a condition that prioritizes pwoer or soemthign

[Edwin]

What you want doesn't sound feasible for a mod. Unless they reimplement an entire power system from scratch. However, there are several things you can do yourself with some circuit network logic. The simplest is to create an alarm (hook up a speaker to an accumulator and set it to go off below a certain charge) so you get a warning. The other is to use a similar system to turn off certain buildings by hooking up power switches to the same circuit network.

[AzKat 🐔]

can't you get the same results with having switches that will "disconnect" higher electricity consumption parts of the factory when the power gets "low"? Of course, this in case you want to have a "fall back" in case the electricity gets low

[RiO]

Originally posted by Fel:

It isn't possible to touch the underlying logic of the game with a mod (at least in factorio) so it would not be possible to modify the electric network's code.

You wouldn't need to modify the electric network's code. What OP basically is asking for is a relay in the power network which only transmits power if there is a surplus, so that you can put large demands behind such a relay and make them secondary to smaller demands.

It is possible with mods to create entities which only operate when there is surplus power available in their connected network(s). For instance: the Nullius mod has surge electrolyzers which only operate at surplus power priority - i.e. only run when there is excess power available and only consume to the limit of the excess. You use those in particular in the early game to create Steam-based batteries by separating water into oxygen and hydrogen, which you can then combust on demand in turbines configured at surplus power priority generation.

What we're looking for is basically the same thing, but fully abstracted and boxed away into a single entity. A single power generating entity which operates only on surplus power available in any of the electrical networks to which it is connected and which takes that input surplus power and sends it back out onto the same electrical networks to which it is connected - again with a surplus power priority, so it does not activate unless there is draw.

This means any network segment which does NOT have its own persistent power generators available will rely wholy on surplus power being routed to it through that conceptual new entity. Could call it a surge transformer.

Functionally, this transformer would act very much like an accumulator bridging two networks, except it should not have internal battery storage and should not have a cap on the amount of power it can process per time-unit.

...

Now I'm kind of wondering if Nullius doesn't already contain such an entity.

[fractalgem]

Originally posted by mccafferty.max:

Like say that you need to power things but there's a big fat energy sink that takes so much power that the inserters that insert power sources ect have priority / all other things that require next to nothing in comparison get their fair share before the larger power sink

- this or that there hsould be a condition that prioritizes pwoer or soemthign

You can manually prioritize the miners and inserters responsible for power via some switches, the circuit network, and a bit of careful planning. You can also use a couple burner inserters in your power system so that it can more easily boot itself back up if power shuts down, as long as you have some spare coal set aside for this.


Generally speaking, however, if things aren't getting enough power, you plain need to produce more power.

[MIKEROSOFT666]

Time to start building a scalable nuclear solution. Mine the Uranium, process it until you have hundreds or thousands of fuel cells and start building 8 and 16 Reactor power plants. Put them in different locations with power switches connecting them to the total network. But really, if you build enough nuclear can you now ultimately oversupply your needs ? I haven't built a mega base yet but I'm working on it. So I only have had problems with coal power. I'm producing 4.5 Giga Watts at the moment with room for expansion. I may have to train water in to support nuclear expansion but... you know... whatever it takes.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by MIKEROSOFT666:

Time to start building a scalable nuclear solution. Mine the Uranium, process it until you have hundreds or thousands of fuel cells and start building 8 and 16 Reactor power plants. Put them in different locations with power switches connecting them to the total network. But really, if you build enough nuclear can you now ultimately oversupply your needs ? I haven't built a mega base yet but I'm working on it. So I only have had problems with coal power. I'm producing 4.5 Giga Watts at the moment with room for expansion. I may have to train water in to support nuclear expansion but... you know... whatever it takes.

There are a couple of interim things that you can do when you hit that power bump before you can get nuclear up and running.

You can set out solar panels and connect them to your new ore patches (make sure that the ore patch is NOT connected to your main power grid) and let the solar panels run the miners when the sun is up. Belt the ore to chests that are filled by inserters while the sun is up and on the other side of the chest you use inserters that are hooked to the main power grid and will continue to feed your smelters when the sun is down.

When you first set up advanced oil processing use your light oil to make solid fuel and use that solid fuel to feed boilers. After you have nuclear set up you can come back and add assemblers to create rocket fuel and stop using your solid fuel for power.

As far as using trains to haul water, you are much better off hauling the fuel to the water than the water to the reactors. It takes far fewer trains to move the fuel. I always build my nuclear plants adjacent to large lakes.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2620119878

[RiO]

Not gonna lie: seeing all those nuclear reactors and turbines lined up neatly along the water front, working hard in unison, kind of does things for me. Making my heart beat with joy.

Very nice layout.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by RiO:

Not gonna lie: seeing all those nuclear reactors and turbines lined up neatly along the water front, working hard in unison, kind of does things for me. Making my heart beat with joy. :happy_creep:

Very nice layout.

Thanks it takes 3 of these set ups to power my mega base.

[GreenBeanN1]

Nice lay-out. Must be somewhere around the 1YV on that power cable.

[Z0MBE]

Originally posted by MIKEROSOFT666:

Time to start building a scalable nuclear solution. Mine the Uranium, process it until you have hundreds or thousands of fuel cells and start building 8 and 16 Reactor power plants. Put them in different locations with power switches connecting them to the total network. But really, if you build enough nuclear can you now ultimately oversupply your needs ? I haven't built a mega base yet but I'm working on it. So I only have had problems with coal power. I'm producing 4.5 Giga Watts at the moment with room for expansion. I may have to train water in to support nuclear expansion but... you know... whatever it takes.

Bruh have you seen my powerplants? Try close to 80 reactors stacked

When you "oversupply" your reactor just heats up until it can't - with a mod called reactor interface you can turn it off when it heats up too high and wait till it cools off before it turns back on - if you're oversupplying you can also fill steam buffers - you can actually make a circuit that's capable of storing excess steam in buffers until you reach a point at which point you can turn the reactor off completely until the steam is spent.

You can also use a mod that uses electricity to make steam and you can use this whole opperation as a diy accumulator - same effect - steam goes into buffer and if things are net positive you can come to a point where there's always enough steam in the buffer to create power when you need it

[MIKEROSOFT666]

so cool. I just learned circuit networks and control the inserters feeding fuel to the reactors by monitoring the steam in the storage tanks. When we hit 180k ( a little over 50% of the current tanks' capacity), they throw another log on the fire. So not burning through fuel like a madman and not missing a bipa-watt of power.

Tonight I started working on construction trains... each car has filter locked slots so I only get the stuff I want in each car. If I run out of inserters at an outpost, I can send the train back to my station for an auto-reload. I love this game.