What is the best way to get power after just joining a server in the unleashed mod pack? Low resources required?
Best starter power source?
- Thread starter Jack0928PC
- Start date
My personal favorite is a Steam Engine. But you have to have the resources for it. (1x Silver, 1x iron, 3x redstone, 11x copper and some wood/sticks/cobblestone)
The best starter without any real resources is a Stirling Engine. (only 'difficult' ingredient is 1x redstone and 1x iron for the piston)
These engines are without much babysitting ánd without gold. I really hate the clock(=gold) in the Clockwork Engine!
Besides, if you have gold then you probably have the 1x redstone for the Stirling Engine as well...
MJ/t:
Steam Engine: 2.0 / 4.0 in 1.1.3 as noted by MigukNamja
Stirling Engine: 1.0
Clockwork Engine: between 0.5 and 1.5 depending on how much it is wound.
Edit: Added MJ/t table.
And you have to put water in it (duh, for the steam). This is best done by a Aqueous Accumulator.
The best starter without any real resources is a Stirling Engine. (only 'difficult' ingredient is 1x redstone and 1x iron for the piston)
These engines are without much babysitting ánd without gold. I really hate the clock(=gold) in the Clockwork Engine!
Besides, if you have gold then you probably have the 1x redstone for the Stirling Engine as well...
MJ/t:
Steam Engine: 2.0 / 4.0 in 1.1.3 as noted by MigukNamja
Stirling Engine: 1.0
Clockwork Engine: between 0.5 and 1.5 depending on how much it is wound.
Edit: Added MJ/t table.
Stirlings blow up so cannot be left unattended, and worse, since you lack cabling this early they can take the expensive 1st machines and whatnot with them.
I tend to go with the steam engines, and you can keep those around too, as they can be used later on still. A 9x9 planter (jungle trees) + havester + 2x electric furnace = enough charcoal to feed over 10 steam engines and can be automated relatively easy. This does require some logistics piping though.
I tend to go with the steam engines, and you can keep those around too, as they can be used later on still. A 9x9 planter (jungle trees) + havester + 2x electric furnace = enough charcoal to feed over 10 steam engines and can be automated relatively easy. This does require some logistics piping though.
*Shameless self promote* I recommend looking at the spreadsheet in my signature. There is a list of material input and energy output for most mod generators.
My go-to starter setup has always been a steam engine, I always try to get a steam engine, aqueous accumulator and a pulverizer so I can start getting better yield from my ores as soon as possible.
Then I set up a very simple and small (manual, at least in the beginning) tree-farm so I can have charcoal to burn in the engine. Where I go from there varies depending on pack and world and long-term plans. on my current world I have a line of generators being fueled by a looping pipe with insertion pipes and a clay golem to keep an enderchest supplied with coal from a wither skeleton mob grinder (fall trap, some wood golems, and enderchests).
I don't like using oil, I hate using finite resources. Even if they last a very long time, I like knowing that my power will continue forever with no maintenance needed until I get to a point where I am using more power than my system can generate, which almost never happens because I usually generate much more power than I need and let the excess go to something like UU-production.
My suggestion is to figure out where you want to end up later with your power situation, and then pick something that builds into that, doesn't have to mean the machines do, but if you setup MJ power early game, then switching to EU later is going to be awkward and vice versa. Switching from fuel stored in barrels (solid, like coal or blaze rods) to liquid fuel (lava, biofuel, oil etc) is also a big awkward if you didn't plan for it.
If dartcraft is enabled, just use that, I never used it because it is so horribly overpowered, it has the best everything in the game, first tier engine is better than top tier engines from other mods, and it takes no time at all to get. It's kind of lame.
Then I set up a very simple and small (manual, at least in the beginning) tree-farm so I can have charcoal to burn in the engine. Where I go from there varies depending on pack and world and long-term plans. on my current world I have a line of generators being fueled by a looping pipe with insertion pipes and a clay golem to keep an enderchest supplied with coal from a wither skeleton mob grinder (fall trap, some wood golems, and enderchests).
I don't like using oil, I hate using finite resources. Even if they last a very long time, I like knowing that my power will continue forever with no maintenance needed until I get to a point where I am using more power than my system can generate, which almost never happens because I usually generate much more power than I need and let the excess go to something like UU-production.
My suggestion is to figure out where you want to end up later with your power situation, and then pick something that builds into that, doesn't have to mean the machines do, but if you setup MJ power early game, then switching to EU later is going to be awkward and vice versa. Switching from fuel stored in barrels (solid, like coal or blaze rods) to liquid fuel (lava, biofuel, oil etc) is also a big awkward if you didn't plan for it.
If dartcraft is enabled, just use that, I never used it because it is so horribly overpowered, it has the best everything in the game, first tier engine is better than top tier engines from other mods, and it takes no time at all to get. It's kind of lame.
Unfortunately this is currently the only 'correct' answer. They're dirt cheap, the fuel is abundant and they have a huge power output for early game. So objectively this is the 'best' early game power source.
Stirling's no longer blow up, they just overheat, then can't do anything until they cool down. Clockwork are alright, but take a fair amount of gold, which always put me off (if you're going the TE route, gold is valuable). TE steam are good, and offer more power than stirlings. Hobbyists are usually my go-to first engine, as they run longer on fuel, when heated up (which takes 2 pieces of charcoal). They give 1.6MJ/tick, less than TE steam, but more than stirling.
The fact of the matter is that it's down to personal preference. You can run off oil if you find a spout early enough, and are fine with the inefficiency thing (otherwise, you need to wait for a refinery, etc).
Force engines are good (especially if you have cows nearby, as they increase the output of the engines), but the ingots can be pricey.
It also depends on what you're wanting it for. If you're looking for early ore-doubling, you could go the Tinker's Construct route, which requires no valuables, just a large amount of sand, gravel and clay. That's a very efficient way of using surface lava early on.
If you happen to luck into a lot of copper to begin with, you could also go the IC2 nuclear route. It uses the uranium that you otherwise have no use for, and powers for ages.
The fact of the matter is that it's down to personal preference. You can run off oil if you find a spout early enough, and are fine with the inefficiency thing (otherwise, you need to wait for a refinery, etc).
Force engines are good (especially if you have cows nearby, as they increase the output of the engines), but the ingots can be pricey.
It also depends on what you're wanting it for. If you're looking for early ore-doubling, you could go the Tinker's Construct route, which requires no valuables, just a large amount of sand, gravel and clay. That's a very efficient way of using surface lava early on.
If you happen to luck into a lot of copper to begin with, you could also go the IC2 nuclear route. It uses the uranium that you otherwise have no use for, and powers for ages.
If you have no advanced resources --> can't make energy, you need at least some redstone for any form of power
If you have redstone but not much else --> Buildcraft stirling engine (MJ) or IC2 generator (EU)
--> Bonus: If you also have access to lava --> IC2 geothermal generator (EU) is very much worth it
If you have Dartcraft installed --> Force engine (MJ), then try not to feel dirty
Advanced resources:
If you have silver --> Thermal Expansion steam engine (MJ)
If you have gold --> Railcraft hobbyist's steam engine (MJ)
--> What if you have both? --> TE if you need high output, Railcraft if you are short on fuel (or can't afford an aqueous accumulator yet)
The following are possible, but not optimal choices:
- TE magmatic engine (lava MJ option, but requires existing power infrastructure to build unless you run GregTech)
- Buildcraft combustion engine (extremely efficient, but requires either coolant or babysitting)
- IC2 nuclear reactor (actually possible early-on, and powerful, but very expensive)
- Forestry clockwork engine (you could be building three Railcraft engines with the gold)
- Forestry peat-fired engine (other engines can run on peat too, but this one can't run on coal/charcoal)
Doesn't work at all:
- Buildcraft redstone engine (can't actually power anything but pipes and pumps)
If you are short on fuel, making some bog earth and plopping it down by the lake is never wrong.
If you have redstone but not much else --> Buildcraft stirling engine (MJ) or IC2 generator (EU)
--> Bonus: If you also have access to lava --> IC2 geothermal generator (EU) is very much worth it
If you have Dartcraft installed --> Force engine (MJ), then try not to feel dirty
Advanced resources:
If you have silver --> Thermal Expansion steam engine (MJ)
If you have gold --> Railcraft hobbyist's steam engine (MJ)
--> What if you have both? --> TE if you need high output, Railcraft if you are short on fuel (or can't afford an aqueous accumulator yet)
The following are possible, but not optimal choices:
- TE magmatic engine (lava MJ option, but requires existing power infrastructure to build unless you run GregTech)
- Buildcraft combustion engine (extremely efficient, but requires either coolant or babysitting)
- IC2 nuclear reactor (actually possible early-on, and powerful, but very expensive)
- Forestry clockwork engine (you could be building three Railcraft engines with the gold)
- Forestry peat-fired engine (other engines can run on peat too, but this one can't run on coal/charcoal)
Doesn't work at all:
- Buildcraft redstone engine (can't actually power anything but pipes and pumps)
If you are short on fuel, making some bog earth and plopping it down by the lake is never wrong.
While this is very true, I still think this is the best starter engine. You can put the engine next to the device you want to use and just put in enough (char)coal to let it run. Remember, it is not a (, and my favorite,) large-scale, long-term engine.
I did not read the 'unleased mod pack' first time around, so I guessed the Direwolf20 1.5 pack I am using right now so I did not know about the Force Engine before. The question is how common and easy are the fuel sources? In the table I see is that the fuel sources are all liquid (oil, fuel, lava, biofuel, ethanol, liquid force) so how good is it really as a starter engine?
You may want to re-read wiki's.
"Previously, it had been stated that Stirling Engines would not blow up and would simply stop operating when heated too much. In recent versions it is accepted that they WILL blow up."
Source of this statement, click here.
I do not have a source from the author though. I couldn't find anything in the change logs that the will or will not explode/blow up in the last few versions.
Really? I'm fairly sure it was a change across all BC engines, in line with the changes to the power system. If they do, then I apologise for the misinformation.
Stirling engines only blow up if they have nowhere to send their power AND run for a long time in that state. In other words, if you attach it to a powered furnace, dump in a stack of 64 coal and then go AFK for an hour.
And in that case, you honestly deserve it.
And in that case, you honestly deserve it.
TE's steam engines provide 4MJ now.
Force engines can provide a lot of power, but require a (at early game) finite resource that doesn't last as long as it used to (I think 10,000 ticks). So they're good at early game if you don't leave them unattended.
Once you've got a MFR tree farm going with fertilizer, you only need a single square planted to provide all the fuel you'll ever need for mid game. And the only mod without addon mods that can grow force trees is Forestry, which means a multifarm if you want the most energy from a force engine.
I can easily top a few force engines with just base MFR if you're worried about it being overpowered later in the game.
Force engines can provide a lot of power, but require a (at early game) finite resource that doesn't last as long as it used to (I think 10,000 ticks). So they're good at early game if you don't leave them unattended.
Once you've got a MFR tree farm going with fertilizer, you only need a single square planted to provide all the fuel you'll ever need for mid game. And the only mod without addon mods that can grow force trees is Forestry, which means a multifarm if you want the most energy from a force engine.
I can easily top a few force engines with just base MFR if you're worried about it being overpowered later in the game.
Just to note, steve's carts can also gather force trees with an exotic plant upgrade
If you add water as a throttle (just a simple Aq Accumulator does the trick) the power output doubles. So you get 80,000 MJ out of a single bucket of force, and you get 1.5 buckets out of a single crystal using a squuezer. You can easily have 3 engines powering a quarry and have that quarry dig up a LOT more crystals than is used to power it.
MFR farms with oaks and fertilizer are completely rediculous currently. I have 20 36 HP boilers running off of 1 oak, 1 birch and one rubber tree farm currently and the oak tree is supplying most wood by far. I currently have 10 furnaces only processing oak wood and I still have a surplus. It seems oaks are currently 'bugged' or something because they grow much faster and right next to each other (unlike other trees that need space).