How the heck many Coal Power Plants do you need?

[Honorable_D]

I've got 6 up and running with like 10 power slugs invested into them and I feel once I get these refineries up and the other production buildings going I'll be power starved again.

I see the Fuel Power Plant but haven't unlocked it yet because I just got to techs 5-6...

I mean, I have 3 PURE coal deposits all really close together so coal production isn't going to be an issue but the power plants are huge and I already have 6 of them juiced up with power slugs.

[Mansen]

Keep in mind coal plants only produce as much power as is needed - not their maximum output.

[Qwazzy]

In my first save I ended up with three different coal plants at different spots around my spawn region, but they weren't optimized for proper water/coal ratio because I didn't really understand it. There are helpful tools out there that let you know how many coal plants and water extractors you can use with each coal node so you can get the max use of them.

If it still feels like you don't have enough power for everything, you may want to find some more coal nodes further out and perhaps truck them closer to your base with tractors or trucks. (Or build more generators further away and connect them with a long line of power poles)

[Honorable_D]

Yeah, all 6 of my plants are way up in the hills with a very long power line leading down the mountainside to my main base. Kinda funny that something like 800 megawatts gets to my main base through a single run of powerposts. Thankfully hostile lifeforms can't destroy your stuff cause just losing one of those power posts would shutdown my entire factory.

[Tombstone]

I found that once I had oil fuel generators I had more power than I ever needed so dont be too worried

[Mister Fabulous]

I don't know how much room you have, but 2 coal generators at 100% consume the same amount of resources and generate the same amount of power as one running at 250%. Slugs are a finite resource (technically) and I'd recommend building another generator instead if you can.

If size is a concern, fuel generators and the refineries that feed them are both even bigger. And you're gonna need a LOT of them. I have no alternate recipes yet and have just broken into oil production. I have 25 refineries to process 600 oil making rubber and plastic and make the bi-product into fuel for 13 generators. And some more refineries to deal with the overflow.

What I'm saying is, it gets worse... but in good way :p

[LoboFH]

There are high tier energy sources: nuclear, geo thermal, fuel. You will have enough energy.

[Honorable_D]

Holy crap, you built 25 refineries? I was thinking like 5 or so. Man, I'm small time...

[esotericist]

Originally posted by Mister Fabulous:

I don't know how much room you have, but 2 coal generators at 100% consume the same amount of resources and generate the same amount of power as one running at 250%.

can you elaborate on how 100% + 100% = 250%?

I would expect a machine running at 250% to produce, well, 250%

[Urban Shaman]

Pre-pipes coal power was probably the easiest to set up. It wasn't the most efficient (nuclear was), but the hassle of setting up a nuclear power plant is... a bit crazy. The ease of setting up racks upon racks of coal generators (and the abundance of coal) made it almost a no brainer, even compared to fuel generators.

Currently (with pipes), coal is far less useful. Now, unless my info is outdated, the best way to power your factory is with oil, via some alternate recipes which include a water-bottling process... It's less of a hassle than nuclear, more of a hassle than coal or regular fuel generators, but very efficient.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpq6skTLziU

[Freedom]

8

[Jork]

8

[Urban Shaman]

Originally posted by Honorable_D:

with like 10 power slugs

Waaait a minute.

Let me stop you for a second there. While there's nothing wrong in using power slugs, depending on them for a base design is not sustainable. Yes, there's a lot of slugs around, so using them isn't a problem. But one should always consider a base design that is scalable. Resources are infinite, the slugs are not.

PS. Using slugs for drills / extractors is probably the ideal approach...

[Honorable_D]

Yeah, it does seem like the slugs are kinda a crutch and I didn't really like relying on overclocking to meet production needs but this is my first real dip into this sort of game and making these massive ass factories with like 10 constructors for a single type of resource is kinda beyond me at this time. Haha

[Dolgun]

8 coal power plants, 3 water plants, 120 coal per min = 600 MW without power shards.

[JanZaber]

Originally posted by Honorable_D:

Yeah, all 6 of my plants are way up in the hills with a very long power line leading down the mountainside to my main base.

Sounds like your coal generators run out of water. Hight matters in this game so make sure to check the pressure. If the speed is steady from one pipe to another then continue. If not and it is decreasing then replace the pipe that still had a steady reading.

Also, two water generators fills up one pipe. Keep that in mind.