Ieldra, this is brilliant. I've bolded one line that I hope you can attack one more time; I can't make my brain accept it, even after I understand the math and understand what you're getting at. Its also the most complex piece of information, so, good luck with that.It is actually rather hard to explain this in a reasonably easy-to-understand way....I spent quite some time on better phrasing. What do you think of this (also @Blood Asp, please check this for possible mistakes ):
"Optimal Flow and Maximum Output:
Optimal Flow is the amount per time unit of gas, steam, superheated steam or plasma that generates a Large Turbine's nominal output. It depends on the turbine type and the built-in turbine item. The value listed in the description of the turbine item ("Optimal Steam Flow") applies to Large Steam Turbines. Values for HP, gas or plasma turbines differ and are calculated as described below. Any Large Turbine's nominal output is calculated from the "Optimal Steam Flow" as follows:
*In a Large Steam Turbine: Nominal output = Optimal Steam Flow per tick / 2
*In a Large Gas or HP Turbine: Nominal output = Optimal Steam Flow per tick
*In a Plasma Turbine: Nominal output = Optimal Steam Flow per tick * 40
Examples:
*A Large Plasma Turbine using a "10000L/sec" turbine item has a nominal output of (10000/20) * 40 = 20000 EU/t.
*A Large Gas Turbine using a "10000L/sec" turbine item has a nominal output of (10000/20) = 500 EU/t.
*A Large Steam Turbine using a "10000L/sec" turbine item has a nominal output of (10000/20) / 2 = 250 EU/t.
From this, Optimal Flow can be calculated as Optimal Flow = Nominal Output / Fuel Value per L. Examples:
*Steam has a fuel value of 0.5 EU/L, so optimal flow is 250/0.5 = 500 L/t, which of course equals the listed value of 10000L/sec.
*Biogas has a fuel value of 32 EU/L, so optimal flow is 500 / 32 ~ 16 L/t
*Helium plasma has a fuel value of 4096 EU/L, so optimal flow is 20000/4096 ~ 5 L/t.
A turbine's actual output is Nominal Output * Efficiency%/100. A turbine can work with up to 150% of its optimal flow, but no power will be generated from the surplus. If supplied with less, the turbine will still run, but an additional efficiency modifier will be applied to the output. FlowEfficiency = ActualFlow/OptimalFlow."
@Blood Asp, it sorta bothers me that a lot of the math and/or variables here are totally unknown to the player. Since all the variables are known to the system, could you please consider extending the tooltip to show optimal flow per turbine type?
Optimal Flow :
Steam: X
Biogas: Y
Helium Plasma: Z
I realize if there's a ton of fuel types the tooltip can get long but I think that's way better for the end-user. Otherwise they need to keep digging up this thread to find the math.