How to make electricity after coal?

[City Builder]

I've pretty much run out of coal, there might be a single piece here and there but in general not enough to keep coal generators working.

Is there a way to make a synthetic coal so as to keep the generators producing electricity or am I supposed to find some other way of powering my base?

TIA

[InstableMonster]

One of the other many generators, mainly hydrogen

[City Builder]

So basically I'm supposed to use something that makes hydrogen so that I can use a generator that uses hydrogen to make power?

The only geyser that I've found is a chlorine geyser and there are no pockets of hydrogen anywhere near me (it's all just polluted oxygen or carbon dioxide or the void). The plants that produce wood don't seem to want to grow so I'm guessing it's time to start over again and be more frugal with my resources or maybe I can make it to the surface and place some solar panels.

[InstableMonster]

Look at your research tree, there is a search function, search for electrolyser

[Ellip]

Look for a natural gas geyser(there's usually 1 or more on a map) to make use of a natural gas generator for water and power. You could also dig down to the oil biome for oil to refine into petroleum and use that in petroleum generator. You can also find a volcano to use the magma to power a steam turbine for power or use the heat in the oil biome and magma there to power one. Lastly you can dig upwards for solar panels which is free power but requires a lot of setup and steel which takes a lot of time and resources.

[The Tempted Man]

Originally posted by InstableMonster:

Look at your research tree, there is a search function, search for electrolyser

1 electrolizer won't even raise the gauge on the generator.... Hydrogen is the worst power solution if you considerto not have a geyser as your source.

[the fungus]

Those common blue/purple crawling creatures (i forgot their name) produce coal when they eat things.

[SKull]

1: Hydrogen + electrolyzers
2: Natural gas.
3: Oil-petroleum.

[City Builder]

Thanks, found a hydrogen geyser shortly after the last post here an hour ago.

Question now is should it be (Geyser, Power generator, Battery)
GPPPPPBBBBB
Or can it be

GPBPBPBPBBBPBB

[Warm Fuzzies™]

Originally posted by The Tempted Man:

Originally posted by InstableMonster:

Look at your research tree, there is a search function, search for electrolyser

1 electrolizer won't even raise the gauge on the generator.... Hydrogen is the worst power solution if you considerto not have a geyser as your source.

actually, 1 Electrolyzer produces hydrogen at 112g/s, and one Hydrogen Generator uses Hydrogen at 100g/s.

So, it does in fact raise the gauge. You can even hook up a gas storage tank to the system to pocket Hydrogen at 12g/s.

The problem is that people tend to try and draw to much power from a Hydrogen Generator system, of which it only produces +800W, an amount you can easily go past, more so if you are trying to use the Hydrogen Generator to power the Electrolyzer and Gas Pump system that feeds the Generator.

That system alone requires 2 Pumps and 1 Electrolyzer, which is a power draw of 600W/s, leaving you a net gain from one Electrolyzer of just 200W.

Not very much at all. Could power a fridge pretty efficiently lol.

[gussmed]

Generally speaking, after coal comes power from a natural gas geyser. However, you can't always find one of those, so the next reliable source is petroleum.

Hydrogen does produce power, but cracking water to get hydrogen, and then separating out the hydrogen, uses almost all the energy you get from the hydrogen. The point of electrolyzers isn't power, it's getting oxygen from water.

(Note that in the real world, cracking water into oxygen and hydrogen requires more energy than you can get from burning the hydrogen. There's no such thing as perpetual motion, so H2O + enerrgy -> H2 + O -> H2O + heat does not generate excess energy).

Hatches do produce coal when they eat rock (or anything). The main reason to start a Hatch Ranch early is low-cost conversion of metal ore to refined metal via Smooth Hatches, but a secondary reason is coal via regular Hatches and Stone Hatches.

Also worth noting is the importance of smart batteries and automation. Unlike hamster wheels, coal generators (and other generators) don't shut off when your batteries get full. So if you don't shut off the generator with a smart battery, you're wasting fuel on unused power.

As for the layout question - the game really doesn't care. Pipe hydrogen into a generator, it generates electricity. Where the generators are, where the pipes are, and where the wires lead doesn't affect much.

[Bokonon]

Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies™:

actually, 1 Electrolyzer produces hydrogen at 112g/s, and one Hydrogen Generator uses Hydrogen at 100g/s.

So, it does in fact raise the gauge. You can even hook up a gas storage tank to the system to pocket Hydrogen at 12g/s.

The problem is that people tend to try and draw to much power from a Hydrogen Generator system, of which it only produces +800W, an amount you can easily go past, more so if you are trying to use the Hydrogen Generator to power the Electrolyzer and Gas Pump system that feeds the Generator.

That system alone requires 2 Pumps and 1 Electrolyzer, which is a power draw of 600W/s, leaving you a net gain from one Electrolyzer of just 200W.

Not very much at all. Could power a fridge pretty efficiently lol.

This. But ... the numbers are a little deceiving. Warm Fuzzies, please don't take this as bashing or me saying you're wrong because you're not I just want to add a little context.

For the 112g/s of hydrogen you're also getting 888g/s of oxygen which will enable you to get rid of all the Oxygen Diffusers you have (500g/s oxygen) which will save you 120W each.

I've got a SPOM (Self Powered Oxygen Maker) using 4 electrolizers and 7 pumps. it keeps 3+ Hydrogen Generators 100% full (4th has enough to run but is never full) plus 3 full pipes of oxygen.

You're getting more than just the hydrogen and the power it generates if using electrolizers.

[cainboy]

One source of broken power I havent read mentioned is a Solar farm from shine bugs.
I was making more power than i needed indefinietly with roughly 17 solar farms loaded with shinebugs.

This map I'm using hydrogen as my primary power source, 2 electrolyzers, 1 pump, and the occassional use of power of a seive and pump, and I have 2 hydrogen gens running most things, *(as I progress i'll add onto this, and after I grab sustainability, i'm swapping over to ethanol)

mass hatch ranching can net you a lot of coal....

NG, Steam, Petrol, are also nice.. there are tons of options.

But like most players heat problems, its not about the solution, but about mitigating the problem.
Where is your power being consumed? what can you do to save more power?

[SpacePanda001]

Originally posted by cainboy:

One source of broken power I havent read mentioned is a Solar farm from shine bugs.
I was making more power than i needed indefinietly with roughly 17 solar farms loaded with shinebugs.

I THINK this is intended, as an incentive to use two disparate branches of the tree to create power, as a lot of the 'broken' mechanics along the way in development seemed to have included this

[cainboy]

Originally posted by SpacePanda001:

Originally posted by cainboy:

One source of broken power I havent read mentioned is a Solar farm from shine bugs.
I was making more power than i needed indefinietly with roughly 17 solar farms loaded with shinebugs.

I THINK this is intended, as an incentive to use two disparate branches of the tree to create power, as a lot of the 'broken' mechanics along the way in development seemed to have included this

The reason I dont think its "intended", is because the info on the Solar Panel states it "must be subject to vaccuum", or something to that effect.
Not sure if its a relic from an older version, *(in which case, shinebugs are obv legit), or if it was put in and they havent gotten around to 'fixing' it, in which case pardon the pun, its buggy.

[ho84]

Originally posted by City Builder:

I've pretty much run out of coal, there might be a single piece here and there but in general not enough to keep coal generators working.

Is there a way to make a synthetic coal so as to keep the generators producing electricity or am I supposed to find some other way of powering my base?

TIA

some of the players ranch large amount of hatch that poop coal every cycle