Is it worthwhile to get rocket fuel right off the bat or stick with solid fuel?

[Maverick Mullah]

I know rocket fuel has higher acceleration bonuses, but I don't know if that's enough of a reason to forgo solid fuel and make a beeline for it. Any advice? Thank you.

[Fel]

Since it holds less energy than its ingredients (even just the 10 solid fuel are worth 120MJ compared to the 100MJ of the rocket fuel) it's not really all that good as a fuel for vehicles unless you really need those extra percents (which are mostly towards acceleration).

It's better to stick to solid fuel until you can start handling uranium and make nuclear fuel since it has even better acceleration on top of holding a lot more power.

[Stellar Remnant]

Originally posted by Fel:

Since it holds less energy than its ingredients (even just the 10 solid fuel are worth 120MJ compared to the 100MJ of the rocket fuel) it's not really all that good as a fuel for vehicles unless you really need those extra percents (which are mostly towards acceleration).

It's better to stick to solid fuel until you can start handling uranium and make nuclear fuel since it has even better acceleration on top of holding a lot more power.

One stack of solid fuel is 600 MJ.

One stack of rocket fuel is 1000MJ or 1GJ.

Rocket fuel is also 9.5% faster than solid fuel.

Seems like a good tradeoff to me.

By the way, rocket fuel is an excellent fuel for vehicles.

[Fel]

It's a good tradeoff when you are sufficiently settled but his question was about rushing it.
This means that the big loss in potential energy will matter more as he wouldn't have a factory as stable as you would have if you worked your way up normally.

[Stellar Remnant]

Originally posted by Fel:

It's a good tradeoff when you are sufficiently settled but his question was about rushing it.
This means that the big loss in potential energy will matter more as he wouldn't have a factory as stable as you would have if you worked your way up normally.

For vehicles, it's really not a loss. Take a look at this reddit post from a month ago. For trains, rocket fuel ends up being 7-8% better than solid fuel regardless of trip length.

[Fel]

Wow, I really didn't expect the difference to be that big, thanks for the link (and the proof that I was wrong).

[Maverick Mullah]

Originally posted by MiniHerc:

Originally posted by Fel:

It's a good tradeoff when you are sufficiently settled but his question was about rushing it.
This means that the big loss in potential energy will matter more as he wouldn't have a factory as stable as you would have if you worked your way up normally.

For vehicles, it's really not a loss. Take a look at this reddit post from a month ago. For trains, rocket fuel ends up being 7-8% better than solid fuel regardless of trip length.

So rocket fuel is viable even if you rush it without proper production over solid fuel. I'll beeline then! Thank you very much for your help.

[Maverick Mullah]

Originally posted by Fel:

It's a good tradeoff when you are sufficiently settled but his question was about rushing it.
This means that the big loss in potential energy will matter more as he wouldn't have a factory as stable as you would have if you worked your way up normally.

That's pretty much the issue with my factory since I'm not all that experienced yet.

[Fel]

Rushing for a technology like that is also a good way to prepare for the run to launch a rocket in less than 8 hours and it is a valuable experience that teaches you a lot about what you need to do in order to speed things up (usually increasing mining and production in all stages including with burner miners before power).

[Arcane]

I just use coal as fuel so far. I don't see much need in upgrading it to solid/rocket/uranium fuel. Cars and tanks are working fine on coal. Trains go just fine too. Maybe over super long distances there will be a small difference but I don't feel it is impactful at all at smaller scale.

[Fel]

It makes a big difference for vehicles.
Acceleration means reaching the maximum speed faster, which directly reduces the time for travel.
The maximum speed has a lower bonus but is even more impactful.

Trains are usually where fuel matter since they travel a lot (no matter if it's short or long trips) but even the tank benefits from better fuels quite a bit.
A tank that accelerates faster and has a higher maximum speed has an easier time kiting and dodging projectiles from spitters and worms.
This means that it can be helpful much longer and the uranium cannon shells (explosivce or not) can make short work of nests and even big and behemoth enemies.

Of course coal works just fine but better fuels do have a noticeable impact.

[Maverick Mullah]

Originally posted by Fel:

Rushing for a technology like that is also a good way to prepare for the run to launch a rocket in less than 8 hours and it is a valuable experience that teaches you a lot about what you need to do in order to speed things up (usually increasing mining and production in all stages including with burner miners before power).

Always has sounded maddening to me how people manage to do that. I've spent thirty hours on my factory and only now am considering starting Chemical Science since I got done with the rest of the stuff.

[AlexMBrennan]

Maybe over super long distances there will be a small difference but I don't feel it is impactful at all at smaller scale.

If you have a lot of traffic then the acceleration bonus will improve the throughput of your intersections regardless of distance travelled.

[Maverick Mullah]

Originally posted by Arcane:

I just use coal as fuel so far. I don't see much need in upgrading it to solid/rocket/uranium fuel. Cars and tanks are working fine on coal. Trains go just fine too. Maybe over super long distances there will be a small difference but I don't feel it is impactful at all at smaller scale.

I'm no expert, but it makes a difference in overall efficiency and effectiveness as Fel above me has described it with expertise and a touch of brevity far beyond my current level of understanding.

[Fel]

Originally posted by Maverick Mullah:

Always has sounded maddening to me how people manage to do that. I've spent thirty hours on my factory and only now am considering starting Chemical Science since I got done with the rest of the stuff.

When you are still trying to figure things out, it's definitely out of reach.
With enough experience you will find that it doesn't take much effort to automate things that seemed complex earlier, so you spend less and less time deciding on what to build and where.

At that point it becomes pretty simple to just directly increase the production at each step, drastically cutting down the research times and producing enough to continue building your fairly large factory without pausing.

[Maverick Mullah]

Originally posted by Fel:

Originally posted by Maverick Mullah:

Always has sounded maddening to me how people manage to do that. I've spent thirty hours on my factory and only now am considering starting Chemical Science since I got done with the rest of the stuff.

When you are still trying to figure things out, it's definitely out of reach.
With enough experience you will find that it doesn't take much effort to automate things that seemed complex earlier, so you spend less and less time deciding on what to build and where.

At that point it becomes pretty simple to just directly increase the production at each step, drastically cutting down the research times and producing enough to continue building your fairly large factory without pausing.

I've already noticed I'm starting to ever so slightly become more adept at stuff I found daunting before, so it's been quite the journey. I really love how this game was designed from the ground up to not waste your time so you're your only limitation to overcome and improve upon.