coal power??

[infernalgadget]

just about to start coal power ...do i need a biomass burner to power the coal power ???

[stealthXG]

Only to power the water extractors, then you can remove them once the coal generator starts running.

[BlackHeart]

have a backup "jump starter" bio plant that u can turn on in case you coal stops and needs a .. jump start

[Rezznor7]

Only for the initial start to power to water pumps and coal miners. Once the coal plant starts producing and the water and coal supply is constant, then you can remove the bio burner and just use the coal power.

[Commander19]

I still have all my "bio plants" left and connected even if I have coalpwer running because if the cual power would stop of some reason, my "bio plants" will start and keep the "early state setup" of miners running. besides the "bio plants" don't use fuel while coalpower is running so I keep them fueled as well.

[kLuns]

You need the biomass power to supply the coal generators. From the moment all generators are full and the supply is steady, coal power can take over the biomass completely.

[Blake]

I've just built and connected my first coal generator. Was disappointed to see it's only around twice the supply of a biomass generator. Means I have to build lots of them and play with water pipes and flow rates etc. All fun I suppose...

[Man's Best Friend]

Well, yes, but the far more important feature of coal power is that it's the first power source you can fully automate. Not to mention that even an impure coal node with a Mk1 miner can supply 2 coal power plants on its own without overclocking. 150MW that once built you never have to pay attention to again.

[Trehek]

Originally posted by SkyFall:

I've just built and connected my first coal generator. Was disappointed to see it's only around twice the supply of a biomass generator. Means I have to build lots of them and play with water pipes and flow rates etc. All fun I suppose...

A row of eight coal generators is a nice unit. 600 MW generated minus water extractors, consuming 120 coal and 360 water (exactly three extractors) per minute. As a fully automatic facility, it's so much nicer to have than 20 biomass burners. And scaling it up with additional 120 coal units is pretty easy.

[SourHammer]

Research sulfer and run it and the coal through some assemblers and you got compacted coal. !20 compacted coal can run 16 coal generators , since it burns about half as fast as normal coal.

[Obz3hL33t]

Once you build a bank of power storage the biomass burner becomes obsolete for any application except portable power.

For that application it's quite useful to have, though. "50 MW Required!" No problem, 2 burners later, crate's open!

You can also power a "portable science lab" with it, like at a Caterium node. Ore to ingots to Quickwire, 30MW can go a long way while you're tinkering with the MAM.

[kLuns]

Originally posted by SourHammer:

Research sulfer and run it and the coal through some assemblers and you got compacted coal. !20 compacted coal can run 16 coal generators , since it burns about half as fast as normal coal.

You get less MW per resource and use a more rare resource in the process. There is much more coal on the map and you get more MW per resource.