are steam turbines underpowered?

[Drancon101]

I've recently converted my old diesel submarine to nuclear power, but im finding out that the steam turbine isn't really cutting it in generating power for the sub's batteries. The nuclear reactor itself is fine and functioning, but for some reason the turbine is only able to power up to a medium generator, to a max power output of 122. It for some reason isn't even charging the batteries, or it is charging the batteries but the power draw of the idle systems (Not including the electric motor that powers the propeller) is greater than what the generator can put out.

I tried using the large generator since I had the space for it, but the turbine could barely turn the thing, and that I had more power output with the medium gen. I was wanting to fit a second turbine into the sub, but there isn't enough room on the inside for another turbine.

Is it just me or do these steam turbines seem a bit weak?

[DrunkenTee]

This is just a random idea that I haven't tested. Why dont you use an electric motor connected with a small battery to start it up, and that electric motor connects to nothing but generators to generate power

[Drancon101]

Originally posted by DrunkenTee:

This is just a random idea that I haven't tested. Why dont you use an electric motor connected with a small battery to start it up, and that electric motor connects to nothing but generators to generate power

This is similar to an idea I was wanting to try out. I was thinking on completely re-wiring the entire submarine's electrical connections to a much more efficient layout. But the problem with that is that it would take a lot of time to do, and also the submarine's electrical systems worked fine before when I had the diesel setup on it. The diesel engines would turn the propeller and a optional generator. And it worked, the generator recharged the batteries in the subs current configuration. The problem is, is that the turbine isn't producing enough power to recharge the batteries at a noticeable pace (Granted the diesel engines did take forever to put charge into the batteries, but it was at least noticeable).

Im also finding out that the steam turbines tend to stop working if they get too pressurized, and that the steam condensers don't convert enough steam to water fast enough to keep the turbine spinning. So what I did was add a steam shunt that releases the steam, and doing so improves the rpm's of the turbine. But that isn't even good enough to spin the generator better.

Im almost ready to post my submarine to the workshop, maybe someone can look at the reactor setup. Its my first reactor set up, but it functions properly, only till the turbine gets overpressured. I would fix that issue if I could, I already tried, but there is only so much I can do with the space given to me

[fixius01]

i got 420 on to medium generators using a diesel burner with 6 turbines

[Drancon101]

Originally posted by fixius01:

i got 420 on to medium generators using a diesel burner with 6 turbines

Im stuck with only using one turbine cause I don't have enough space for more lol X3

[fixius01]

this is a bit more compact
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2631230181&searchtext=diesel+burner

[Sampak]

Steam engines are impractical for anything but novelty, and have been since introduction pretty much. Also, some recent ninja update I'm to understand broke how steam works which causes too much to be produced, and a condenser cannot keep up as you found. This has broken nearly all creations that were stable before.

To give you an idea, I have a ship that goes ~ 17-20 kts, barely weighs 14--15,000 units, and with a couple medium engines can likely go well beyond 20kts, as in my experience with a few boats that size. How many turbines did it take to get to 20kts with steam power? 5. I can barely fit them in the rear portion of the hull and keep a low enough CoG and fr/rear balance, so I had to slap the boiler and stove, condenser as forward as I could.

[Lystent]

There was a thread that was started from nuclear energy, and transitioned to steam power not long ago. Key point I've taken is that steam power is underwhelming without exploits:

-steam pipe pumps: basically gives you max pressure effects without having to go max pressure
-Partially engaged clutches: power slip isn't quite calculated correctly, thus giving you more power than you should have
-modular engine flywheels: acts as capacitors that help magnify the effects from partially engaged clutches.

[Lystent]

Originally posted by Sampak:

Steam engines are impractical for anything but novelty,...

without exploits, I'd still disagree on two accounts:
-Nuclear submarines. They don't have to surface to recharge like diesel-electrics.
-Nuclear in general. may be weaker, but lasts longer.

Edit: unless you are just referring to coal power.

[Drancon101]

Originally posted by Lystent:

There was a thread that was started from nuclear energy, and transitioned to steam power not long ago. Key point I've taken is that steam power is underwhelming without exploits:

-steam pipe pumps: basically gives you max pressure effects without having to go max pressure
-Partially engaged clutches: power slip isn't quite calculated correctly, thus giving you more power than you should have
-modular engine flywheels: acts as capacitors that help magnify the effects from partially engaged clutches.

Do the flywheels attach directly to the turbine? I would not mind applying these exploits to my engine if the game won't properly let me run the reactor without exploits

[Lystent]

Originally posted by Drancon101:

Originally posted by Lystent:

There was a thread that was started from nuclear energy, and transitioned to steam power not long ago. Key point I've taken is that steam power is underwhelming without exploits:

-steam pipe pumps: basically gives you max pressure effects without having to go max pressure
-Partially engaged clutches: power slip isn't quite calculated correctly, thus giving you more power than you should have
-modular engine flywheels: acts as capacitors that help magnify the effects from partially engaged clutches.

Do the flywheels attach directly to the turbine? I would not mind applying these exploits to my engine if the game won't properly let me run the reactor without exploits

They need the matching modular engine clutch (as an adapter).

[sea.dart]

I tried running 8 or 10 turbines in series and couldn't get enough power to run a generator or a boat propeller directly. I was going to hook them up so the outputs are all in parallel but never got around to it. But yes, I believe the turbines are fundamentally broken and useless for boats without using a bunch of random exploits and hacks. They seem to work for locomotives, but not boats.

[Lystent]

I was able to get my nuclear sub to go ~10 knots without exploits (turbines were in series). With exploits, I have a ~80 knot nuclear airship (and the sub goes over twice as quick).

[fixius01]

Originally posted by Sampak:

Steam engines are impractical for anything but novelty, and have been since introduction pretty much. Also, some recent ninja update I'm to understand broke how steam works which causes too much to be produced, and a condenser cannot keep up as you found. This has broken nearly all creations that were stable before.

To give you an idea, I have a ship that goes ~ 17-20 kts, barely weighs 14--15,000 units, and with a couple medium engines can likely go well beyond 20kts, as in my experience with a few boats that size. How many turbines did it take to get to 20kts with steam power? 5. I can barely fit them in the rear portion of the hull and keep a low enough CoG and fr/rear balance, so I had to slap the boiler and stove, condenser as forward as I could.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2810015499

it goes over 25 knot on turbine power

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally posted by Sampak:

Steam engines are impractical for anything but novelty, and have been since introduction pretty much. Also, some recent ninja update I'm to understand broke how steam works which causes too much to be produced, and a condenser cannot keep up as you found. This has broken nearly all creations that were stable before.

For some reason the devs thought they'd need to increase the water to steam ratio by somewhere around 1000% (always with the delicate balancing...).
Now 1l of fresh water generates 100l of steam.

Most basic way of handling this change is to add a pump to the boiler heat input and only turn it on with pressure below 5 (for 350 steam) AND temperature below 110. As long as the heating fluids temperature is reasonable (between 130-150) this will prevent the boiler from exploding.

In terms of power you have to use large electrical pumps for steam, to max out turbines at 1.8l/s, so each turbine should get ~160 output from a geared up large generator.

Considering a large diesel engine can get ~370 power output from a geared up large generator, the steam turbines are the weakes form of propulsion in terms of power/mass.

They're still extremely underwhelming, taking into account that they require the most complex setup compared to diesel, jet turbines or modular engines.

My most recent 55m nuclear ship is using 63(!) steam turbines, each maxed out at 1.8l/s and barely reaches 35 knots.

The entire propulsion system of reactor, boiler, condenser and turbines+pumps weighs roughly 38k mass.
A 16cyl 5x5 modular engine would weigh around 2.5k mass and blow the nuclear setup out of the water.

Originally posted by Lystent:

Originally posted by Sampak:

Steam engines are impractical for anything but novelty,...

without exploits, I'd still disagree on two accounts:
-Nuclear submarines. They don't have to surface to recharge like diesel-electrics.
-Nuclear in general. may be weaker, but lasts longer.

Edit: unless you are just referring to coal power.

You can use jet turbines without exhausts inside sealed rooms for a fraction of the mass a nuclear setup would need.

Steam turbines are very underwhelming.

[Goobs]

In before someone comes in and says:
"Steam turbines work just fine for me! You just need to spend 3 weeks tweaking your heat and boiler management, spam pumps, and devote 50-80% of the mass of your vehicle to stacking dozens of turbines"
like they usually do..