Help Me Understand Coal Power Plants

[Timberwolf]

I started a game with a starter town near a coal mine, coal processor, coal storage, and coal power plant. As expected, I needed to kick-start the plant by temporarily supplying power and auto-buying some coal to get coal production going.

Everything worked fine for a while, but then, I started having people not show up for work at the coal plant and I'd lose power for the town and coal production. Then people started not working in mining or processing either. Now, for the most part, my buses go between the town and the coal area empty, even though there are always between 40-60 people at the town bus stop.

What did I do wrong, and how can I fix it?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2806485299

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2806485311

[Bufnitza]

Hi and welcome.

Your assumption is not faulty, but the game doesn't work the way you expect it to work.

As a sidenote, it's generally not recommended to have a coal power plant (or any sort of power plant) until you really expand enough to need one. Until you reach about 1.5-2.0 MW of consumption, you're better off importing electricity. You'll get the money back once you start exporting the 18MW from the power plant, but it's a hefty investment to do so early. It's also not a moneymaker, as after you start exporting, the price plummets to an abysmal value.

What you didn't do so optimally there:
1. You attached the Power Plant directly to the coal processing plant. This is bad because you don't allow much buffer when your processing plant isn't working and if your power plant runs out of coal, your processing plant can't produce any coal. Chicken & egg problem. Ideally, your processing plant would use an intermediate small aggregate storage which would hold enough coal to supply the power plant for as long as the processor doesn't work due to lack of raw materials or staff.
2. Staffing. Staffing in this game is... peculiar, to say the least. It is close to levels of art to be able to make a fully functional and efficient supply chain. You'll have to get used to productivity oscilating, as some people work more than others (depending on factors like loyalty, health, happiness and the time they travelled to work). Furthermore, there's no staff buffer (waiting room) between shifts, so inadvertently, you'll end up with your coal power plant producing at any time between 40% and 100% productivity. This is also valid for your mines and processing plants, which is why it's essential to always have buffer storage (that goes for other supply chains as well).

Don't feel discouraged, though. This game is a game of trial and error and failure is the best way to improve. It's sort of like Dark Souls in a way...

[Elessar_warrior]

Usually after you exclude the obvious mistakes of bus line setup the issue most likely is that you have to have a bit of a saturation of workers at the start.

[Bufnitza]

All of the above being said, here's what I usually do at some point when I get into coal (which is usually after I've already set up things like food, alcohol or clothing):

1. Set up your 1-2 mines to dump into a small aggregated storage.
2. Set up a coal processor to take from the SAS and dump into 2 Large Aggregated Storages.
3. Build a train aggregate loading station and hook the two LAS to it (you might need to use conveyor connections).
4. Set up a distribution chain from here using a Rail Distribution Office. You might want to supply Coal from here to Small/Large Aggregate Storages attached as inputs to Coal Power Plants, Steel Mills, Brick factory, etc. You might even export the surplus if you have particularly rich production.

One of the worst things you can do is start to cram everything around the mining area. That usually leads to a bunch of spaghetti conveyor belts which leads to a lot of frustration. Specialize the industrial zones... make the steel mill separate from the bricks factory and put the coal power plant somewhere out of the way of other industry. The reason for the latter is that you want to have a dedicated bus line that feeds staff on a quick cadence so that the power plant is always active (I recommend small buses with up to 10 capacity, arriving at most every 30 RL seconds each). You can get away with your other industries slacking, due to how aggregate storage (and generally storage) acts as a buffer whilst your factories are on low production, but you cannot store energy, which is why the moment that your power plant runs out of staff, your entire republic grinds to a halt.

[Bufnitza]

And even if it goes without saying, I'll assume you're a novice and I'll explicitly say this: do not go into bulk industries, such as coal and iron unless you already have a robust rail system. You will struggle a lot if you don't, as road transportation is incredibly inefficient at moving bulk aggregates and laying 5km of conveyor belts all around your republic looks ugly as hell.

Gravel and asphalt are the only exception to the above rule, as you need to set them up first thing if you play using self-building.

[barry.zandstra]

It's difficult to tell what the issue is. Are there workers waiting at the bus stop, or is it clogged with "passengers"? And those buses? There are not very many people in your Republic yet, the total number includes children, who can't work, and there are three shifts to fill every day. Are all your workers perhaps already employed in town, leaving none to go to the bus stop? It says you have 0% unemployment, so maybe there are just not enough workers.

BTW, if you are playing with pollution enabled, you need way more distance between pollution sources and housing. Also, you will want to feed coal into the power station with a conveyor engine in order to fill the 100 ton buffer so you don't need to buy/truck coal every time there is a hiccup. But never put an engine between an unloading facility and a storage, or the distribution office will not be able to see how full the storage is.

[pzkpfw_v_panther_ausf_g]

Long story short: give us a picture of apartment's window. Let's see what's wrong with people :)
If they were coming initially then it's all set up well. Maybe they left because of hunger?

[Timberwolf]

Wow! You've all been super helpful! I want to send a hearty thank you to each one of you. Thank you so much!

[moa]

You can add a little (unconnected) wind turbine at the coal processor as a backup, if you have a stable supply of workers an intermediate storage is not necessary.

Power plant and coal processing do not need many people. I think you are using two separate bus lines (screenshot 1): one to the right bus stop and the other to the stop in between the factories. I would suggest only delivering people to the middle one. When having only one line you can then adjust the amount of people you pick up from town to not have them drive in circles:
- Enable line spacing or add an end station to the line
- Divide the line length by 400m to get the amount of buses you need.
- Set amount of people to pick up at town to a minimum (with your type of bus its ~4 people at 10%)
- Monitor both factories and slowly increase the amount you pick up until they get about 60%-80% filled (or what ever percentage gives you 100% production for your loyalty/happiness levels).
They will work for longer if the trip takes longer, so the 80% number stays even in winter.

[manfred.stabentheiner]

1) 2 of your fabriks can reach with walkways or tunnels if you make it
2) you have 2 busstation near your fabrik ...you need only 1 to reach the fabriks
3) you need 1 wire from border to one of your switches with import 100 %
4) you need 1 wire from your powerplant to another border to export 100 % ( never touch it with another wire)
5) you need more worker 0 % worklees is bad 1 to 5 % is fine

[Pfirsich1966]

Everything has been explained so far, but it will be more helpful to go through the tutorials.
The tutorials from bballjo will also help!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFJZNm-LmBIpRFF3-Z9iCUe0jCuP-vF_s

[MG83]

https://external-preview.redd.it/ib26_Zp2oy8EcFuUKDrQgW-8LYOPPoW4G2VJ_y7Oizc.gif?format=mp4&s=5f1f81f9e342fdeac06194d76b9a7bb7f7783128

UN LIMITED POWAAHHH !

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2344394956
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1994286074

[Mudkest]

Originally posted by Bufnitza:

3. Build a train aggregate loading station and hook the two LAS to it (you might need to use conveyor connections).
4. Set up a distribution chain from here using a Rail Distribution Office. You might want to supply Coal from here to Small/Large Aggregate Storages attached as inputs to Coal Power Plants, Steel Mills, Brick factory, etc. You might even export the surplus if you have particularly rich production.

just want to point out, if you're planing to use a rail distribution office for aggregate, connect the storage directly to the train station. do NOT use a conveyor tower as then the distribution office cant see how full the storage is and it wont work.