Pure Iron Alt vs. Alloy Iron Alt recipe?

[Rezznor7]

I am starting to set up a much larger facility just for the mass production of iron bars. I have the alt recipe of Iron Alloy Ingot which seems like a nice output bonus even though I would have to truck in copper from enough sources a bit further away. If the research option shows up for Pure Iron Ingot, should I go that route with water being pumped in, keep the Alloy recipe, or just stick with the 1to1 smelter original option?
I do believe there are some Alt recipes that actually work out worse than the original, but I guess it all depends on the situation and available resources/products at hand.
I am currently with the Mark IV belts and can easily bring in 480/minute iron and copper ore... actually now that I think on it some more the Alloy recipe would only require ~200 ore/minute, so if I have the 480 ore coming in I could get ~1000 bars output. Hmmm, I will have to give this a try and see if it conflicts with any of my copper producing needs. Would also require a huge increase in power consumption, but my fuel plants are expanding and not dropping my coal plants, yet.

[lpnlizard27]

Pure ingot recipes are better imo. Your basically turning water into iron.
Where the alloy recipe can boost output for sacrificing copper, which although not rare could be better spent on other things.

The copper alloy recipe is much more useful as Turing iron into copper is a much better trade.

Also if you find the recipe for iron wire grab it. This will allow you to make any copper product that requires cable or wire and save any copper nodes for the production of copper sheets, which you'll need allot of.

[Avatar 720]

It depends on what stage of the game you're in. Pure Iron is incredible, but it's something you really need to dedicate a lot of resources to setting up, and preferably not need to tear down at a later date if you need to re-arrange production lines.

If you're still at a stage where re-arranging might be fairly common, or you're not exactly pressed for iron or copper, then Iron Alloy is perfectly serviceable, but heading into tier 7-8 you'll want to start making the switch to Pure Iron.

I'd say try and plan an area for your Pure Iron even if you're not aiming to build it right now, and bear it in mind for further expansion. You will eventually want to transition into it completely.

[nfgman]

Iron is so abundant, never had the need for pure iron but that was my starting location.
Pure copper, on the other hand, is essential. 240:600
Pure caterium never seemed worth the resources to build for the advantage, even though many of the nodes are near water.

In a pinch, do what you need to do.

[Maehlice]

By combining both Copper and Iron Alloy Ingot recipes, you can boost overall Ingot production by something like 30%, so it's not a bad deal for something so easy to set up.

If you have the space and time, Pure Ingots are boss. I absolutely LOVE looking out over 100-something Refineries spitting out thousands of Ingots, Sheets, Crystals, & Concrete. I find it absolutely satisfactory. ;)

[Rezznor7]

I just got the pure Iron recipe, but the power drain is just too much for my system to handle to keep the 480/minute desired output. I will stick w/ the Alloy recipes for now until I have enough Fuel plants up and stable.

[Tenzek]

Turbo fuel is a game changer.

[Maehlice]

Originally posted by Rezznor7:

... until I have enough Fuel plants up and stable.

Originally posted by Tenzek:

Turbo fuel is a game changer.

You don't even have to wait for either.

480 Compacted Coal generates about 5GW power inside 67 Coal Generators.

[Rezznor7]

Originally posted by Maehlice:

Originally posted by Rezznor7:

... until I have enough Fuel plants up and stable.

Originally posted by Tenzek:

Turbo fuel is a game changer.

You don't even have to wait for either.

480 Compacted Coal generates about 5GW power inside 67 Coal Generators.

Alas, I do not yet have that recipe. Been waiting for that for a while still. Hasn't come up as an option during research.