Thruster efficiency

[Atten]

I think its need to rework thruster logic. I have several thrusters in a row. On one side: 15% fuel and 100% oxidizer - 95% efficiency. On other side: 100% fuel and 15% oxidizer - same 95% efficiency. it is ridiculous - different proportions, different burning and same efficiency.

[The Black Baron]

I've personally come to find out that having oxidizer and fuel both slightly below 50% fill in the thruster to be the optimal way to travel. Which seems to yield the highest efficiency for me.

I'm not entirely sure if it actually the optimal way, it just seems to work .

[POWER WITHIN USER]

Thrusters burn both fluids at the same rate.

I'm not entirely sure if it actually the optimal way, it just seems to work .

There's no 'optimal' way. There's obviously a minimum production per second you need to hit but If chemical plants produce more, then the thrusters will go slightly faster.
What matters is that the platform is moving but not too fast for it to take damage.

If you have several high efficiency drives you'll fly faster than with a single one, but it obviously takes more platform to do that and the turret DPS requirements are higher.
You can also use a single, higher quality thruster at higher efficiency.

[Atten]

Originally posted by POWER WITHIN USER:

Thrusters burn both fluids at the same rate.

No, its not. At least it has different flame picture. If burning is in 1 to 1 proportion in any case - then graphical bug present.

[Atten]

Here is 95% efficiency on all thrusters - why flame are different?
https://imgur.com/a/BkIj0CP

[Ishimuro]

i think flame colour is set by amount of stuff inside, left side has more red, right side more blue as you input the depending fluid at these sides

[Khaylain]

Originally posted by Atten:

Originally posted by POWER WITHIN USER:

Thrusters burn both fluids at the same rate.

No, its not. At least it has different flame picture. If burning is in 1 to 1 proportion in any case - then graphical bug present.

Yes they do. See https://wiki.factorio.com/Thruster saying that they burn the same amount of fluid of each per second.

[Atten]

Originally posted by Ishimuro:

i think flame colour is set by amount of stuff inside, left side has more red, right side more blue as you input the depending fluid at these sides

In that case it is wrong. Flame "color" should depend on efficiency, not on limits in tank. If you drive your car - exhaust not changes if you have full tank or empty.

[Marosh]

Originally posted by Atten:

Here is 95% efficiency on all thrusters - why flame are different?
https://imgur.com/a/BkIj0CP

Because you limited just one fluid per side. oxidizer on the left side and fuel on the right side. The pipe is not connected to your pump, so the other liquid on each side is on full blast which leads to the different color. It is just visuals.

Doesn't matter, because the liquid is consumed in equal amounts, bottlenecked by the fluid from the pump, which leads to 95% efficiency. So you are fine.
Most people aim for ~75% efficiency, thou.

[Galileus]

Originally posted by Atten:

In that case it is wrong. Flame "color" should depend on efficiency, not on limits in tank. If you drive your car - exhaust not changes if you have full tank or empty.

Well, as far as I know it's not the full or empty tank, but how many tanks the driver has in his pocket. If we are sticking to realism, let's stick to realism!

[Marosh]

Originally posted by Atten:

Originally posted by Ishimuro:

i think flame colour is set by amount of stuff inside, left side has more red, right side more blue as you input the depending fluid at these sides

In that case it is wrong. Flame "color" should depend on efficiency, not on limits in tank. If you drive your car - exhaust not changes if you have full tank or empty.

The smoke from exhaust changes depending on your gasoline mix. One of the first warning signals. The thruster is not your gas tank, it is the chamber that burns the fuel mix.

It is also a game. The devs are nice enough and made it visuals only and not affecting the efficiency at all.

[old_one_15]

Originally posted by Atten:

Here is 95% efficiency on all thrusters - why flame are different?
https://imgur.com/a/BkIj0CP

If you have more fuel than oxidizer, the thruster will consume all the oxidizer and an equal amount of fuel. If you have more oxidizer than fuel, the thruster will consume all the fuel and an equal amount of oxidizer.

The color of the exhaust changes based on whether the thruster is burning fuel-rich or oxidizer-rich, which is something that happens in real life.

[Atten]

Originally posted by Marosh:

The smoke from exhaust changes depending on your gasoline mix.

Exactly. Gasoline mix = efficiency. According to numbers - efficiency is the same for all thrusters. Why colors different?

[Atten]

Originally posted by old_one_15:

The color of the exhaust changes based on whether the thruster is burning fuel-rich or oxidizer-rich, which is something that happens in real life.

But as we known from discussion - mix is ALWAYS 1 to 1, and not depends on levels in tank. So why colors are different?

[Atten]

My opinion, that coders made mistake and connect color with tank level. On my opinion it should be connected with efficiency level.

[Marosh]

Because the devs decided it should not affect efficiency. It looks neat and is a good visual guideline, if someone underproduces both fuels in unequal amounts.