Breeder Reactor Design

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Physicist

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Jul 29, 2019
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So I've been working on breeder reactors extensively.

This is my best design so far. Note that 4 uranium cells recharge 142 cells in one go. I invented this design in survival first, then refined it to max theoretical efficiency with the planner. Only 2 meltdowns led to this design!

On a side note I cranked the IC2 configs up: 100 blast size for nukes (up from 35), and 125 for reactors (up from 45). Nuclear explosions need to be devastating.

Planner Link
bZ0WxnA.png

I have an unhealthy obsession with reactor efficiency and love a little risk.

I'm not looking for a better pre-planned design to copy.

I am looking for other subtle hints about directions to go if it can be made better; note that my component usage is restricted to only a few types of things. I didn't have materials to do TONS of experimentation, so this is where I'm at, and none of my experiments with other component types worked as well as this.

I hesitate to use single-use coolants because of the maintenance factor, but if they can be lower maintenance than replacing the cells, I'd consider it.

I've done this entirely in survival only without looking at any cheat images, and intend to continue that way, but I think I've reached max efficiency without some new inspiration.
 

ShneekeyTheLost

Too Much Free Time
Dec 8, 2012
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Lost as always
As of the experimental fork, breeding reactors died.

Single-Use Coolants don't exist anymore, except as LHZ's, which consume tons of lapis and cost more EU to keep it supplied with lapis than it generates.

Check out CRCS for the latest version of that concept, I linked it in the other thread I responded to you in, which can produce very high efficiency (EFF: 6) and still produce around 2k EU output.

Also, you only need a single-cell uranium cell to breed with, you don't need to use a quad, and in fact using a quad does absolutely nothing and requires a stupid amount of cooling. You can have most of that filled in with copper plating for a higher overall heat before you get to critical levels and increase your breeding efficiency.
 

Physicist

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
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I'm hoping experimental improves nuclear and reinstates breeders, but, for now, I'm having fun with 1.5 IC2 reactors. The configurable nukes look delightful, but are horribly underpowered.

And yes, quad cells do make the depleted cells recharge 4 times faster. You make an interesting point, though, about extra room for plating. Looks like I can net more cells recharged per fuel unit if I replace the quad with single, convert cooling to plating, and bump the heating cells to a 64x stack.

(87.9 re-enriched with a single cell and extra plating, or 142 re-enriched with the quad and extra cooling. The quad is way faster if I want it now now now, but way less efficient.)
 

Omicron

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Jul 29, 2019
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I'm hoping experimental improves nuclear and reinstates breeders (...)

Probably not likely to happen. IC2 experimental now has a different heat-sensitive mechanic via MOX fuel. It does work very handily as an improvement too - the one currently powering my base pulls 480 EU/t from just two dual fuel cells and two reflectors. Uranium in the same setup would only output 80 EU/t (albeit for twice as long).

The feature is currently buggy, though, so take these figures with a grain of salt.
 

netchip

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
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Probably not likely to happen. IC2 experimental now has a different heat-sensitive mechanic via MOX fuel. It does work very handily as an improvement too - the one currently powering my base pulls 480 EU/t from just two dual fuel cells and two reflectors. Uranium in the same setup would only output 80 EU/t (albeit for twice as long).

The feature is currently buggy, though, so take these figures with a grain of salt.
I really enjoy reading your posts. For instance, the tree breeding post was really helpful, for those super saplings. You are doing a lot of original projects, I think you should make a Let's Play :)
 

Omicron

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Jul 29, 2019
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Oooohh, I better not :D 95% of the people here would be bored to tears by my playstyle.

Some guys find a certain amount of zen in mining... I find it in operating machinery. I almost never build fully automated setups, they're always semi-manual. Sometimes I spend an entire Minecraft day doing nothing but running around my base, taking things out of here and inserting things into there, and standing there watching items float through pipes or the energy meter on my storage climb, making zero progress on anything at all. As a result, I generally take forever to finish anything, and even the things I finish are not the most impressive because my building approach is "as little as necessary". I don't think I've built a boiler larger than 12 LP (not even HP) since, like, 1.4.7... before the Ultimate pack came out. :p

Another example of how weird I am: I played one single map with Applied Energistics and then ditched the mod because it bores me - too automated, too few "floaty items", nothing for me to do or watch.
 

MigukNamja

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Jul 29, 2019
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Oooohh, I better not :D 95% of the people here would be bored to tears by my playstyle.

I resemble that remark !

I bore my daughter. She wants me to go out of the base, explore, kill Endermen, Blazes, Ghasts etc.,. I do that from time to time to amuse her and when I need Ender Pearls, Blaze Rods, Ghast Tears, etc.,.

But, for my own amusement, I have fun shuttling back and forth in a 100 square block area between my ExtraBees machines and alvearies. I can do that for hours while working on a difficult species. I could not fathom using CC to automate bee breeding - that would take away all my fun !

My style of playing would also make for an *extremely* dull "Let's Play" video.
 

Merendel

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Jul 29, 2019
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Another example of how weird I am: I played one single map with Applied Energistics and then ditched the mod because it bores me - too automated, too few "floaty items", nothing for me to do or watch.

AE is still very useful for compact storage if nothing else. Also you can mix AE automation with more visualy pleasing transport methods. In my last build I riged up my AE auto proccessing to dump furnace/pulverizer recipies into a chest. From that chest I had a railcraft item loader that loaded up a chest cart then launched it down a track over hoppers. Hoppers extracted items from chest cart and put them into machines and the cart would return to the loader for more. the bank of machines output into BC pipes which flowed back into an interface for storage. I could still order up stuff through the automation or if I wished manualy cart items over to the chest for proccessing and it was fun to watch.
 

Physicist

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Jul 29, 2019
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If not a LP series, some videos (but not full tutorials) showcasing things could be fun to watch (assuming you have a personality, and lets face it, not all of us do).

I had a potion assembly line in vanilla 1.5 shortly before the 1.5 prerelease that I was working on showcasing, but video editing is tough when you only have the 30-seconds at a time edition of Fraps.