Best way to get power??

[snooder]

Yet another person overlooks oil entirely. This must be a lasting side-effect from the days when oil sucked ass generally; the buff to its power output per bucket is actually quite recent.

No, no, don't get me wrong, I love oil. Currently running my base on fuel in boilers. But it's not really a new-guy friendly power source, and it's really more useful for MJ than EU generation.

I'll admit the diesel generator is an interesting idea, and not ridiculously expensive, but it's power output is lackluster. Running the fuel in combustion engines is a decent way to go, but then you have to deal with conversion of MJ to EU (as well as with cooling down the combustion engines) which adds extra steps and danger.

The assumption here is that this is OP's very early power generation so anything that requires a high degree of complexity or multiple machines to build isn't really useful for him right now. The neat thing about geothermals is that you can skip generators entirely and go right for geothermals.

 

[Velotican]

I'd agree with you except that Energy Bridges are stupidly cheap making power conversion realistically obtainable very early on.

 

[Mash]

Oil doesn't really suit my needs because it's a non-renewable power source. Or at least, not to the best of my knowledge.

I am not even remotely interested in setting up a base centered around a source of power that is eventually going to run out. (I know that it's 'technically' infinite, but I'm no more interested in spending the afternoon frolicking around the countryside looking for oil wells than I am in giving myself a root canal.)

 

[snooder]

I'd agree with you except that Energy Bridges are stupidly cheap making power conversion realistically obtainable very early on.

It's not expensive, no. But it's more complicated. You have to make the bridge+MJ consumer+EU producer. The MJ side is relatively straightforward, but the EU side can be tricky and requires advance planning because the EU producers only output specific packet sizes. Plan wrong and you'll be wasting a ton of MJ.[DOUBLEPOST=1367115095][/DOUBLEPOST]

Oil doesn't really suit my needs because it's a non-renewable power source. Or at least, not to the best of my knowledge.

I am not even remotely interested in setting up a base centered around a source of power that is eventually going to run out. (I know that it's 'technically' infinite, but I'm no more interested in spending the afternoon frolicking around the countryside looking for oil wells than I am in giving myself a root canal.)

There are two sources of renewable oil, Bees and Mystcraft. Both are kinda mid-game options though. Personally I like the bee approach since the Mystcraft ocean approach runs into the same problems of scale and having to move the pump as nether lava. Plus, it's less laggy.

 

[Juice57]

Oil doesn't really suit my needs because it's a non-renewable power source. Or at least, not to the best of my knowledge.

Wrong easily renewable with bees

It's not expensive, no. But it's more complicated. You have to make the bridge+MJ consumer+EU producer. The MJ side is relatively straightforward, but the EU side can be tricky and requires advance planning because the EU producers only output specific packet sizes. Plan wrong and you'll be wasting a ton of MJ.

MJs do get wasted no matter what youd really have to be anal to figure out exactly how many engines you need running in a midgame base.

Compared to the flat resources needed to make a Industrial Steam Engine, powercrystals gives you a reason to never build any engines again which is broken IMO. Fix it by disabling steam converters/bc producers those were a silly idea.

 

[snooder]

Compared to the flat resources needed to make a Industrial Steam Engine, powercrystals gives you a reason to never build any engines again which is broken IMO. Fix it by disabling steam converters/bc producers those were a silly idea.

Hands off my steam producers. Those are the best and most awesome thing ever. They aren't actually that OP since they have a 1000mb limit, they're just a significantly more reasonable way of generating power than building a boiler and THEN tacking on a bunch of space wasting engines.

Honestly, i don't see why there isn't an engine that pumps out more than 8MJ/t. That's just downright shameful.

 

[Juice57]

Hands off my steam producers. Those are the best and most awesome thing ever. They aren't actually that OP since they have a 1000mb limit, they're just a significantly more reasonable way of generating power than building a boiler and THEN tacking on a bunch of space wasting engines.

Honestly, i don't see why there isn't an engine that pumps out more than 8MJ/t. That's just downright shameful.

Because there is a resource/balance to Railcraft just like the Steam Generators only outputting 100 EU/t compared to PowerConverters, at least require diamond or some rare resource for the consumers/producers right now the recipes are no better than any of the other energy conversion mods. Then again most (including mine) harder servers disable it or nerf the conversions.

 

[Quesenek]

Yet another person overlooks oil entirely. This must be a lasting side-effect from the days when oil sucked ass generally; the buff to its power output per bucket is actually quite recent.

Oil is quite a good Fuel however I would say its a little bit mid game due to the fact you need a source of MJ to turn it into the diesel.

 

[RedBoss]

Once you have copper and Redstone you can make TE steam engines. You can have a xycraft tank filling with oil within an hour of finding your first bit of Redstone.

 

[Quesenek]

Once you have copper and Redstone you can make TE steam engines. You can have a xycraft tank filling with oil within an hour of finding your first bit of Redstone.

Sure you could do it all by hand, but whats the fun of it unless its completely automated. For the record once you have a source of completely automated power I call that mid game.

 

[RedBoss]

-_-

 

[twisto51]

Yet another person overlooks oil entirely. This must be a lasting side-effect from the days when oil sucked ass generally; the buff to its power output per bucket is actually quite recent.

When I start over I roam until I find a large oil spout and build there. That is enough easy energy to bootstrap your industries.

I wouldn't call Geothermal the best for any new player. Nether is deadly for the inexperienced and undergeared. I'd push them towards biomass before geothermal.

Oil is quite a good Fuel however I would say its a little bit mid game due to the fact you need a source of MJ to turn it into the diesel.

If only you had oil to generate MJ to refine oil. Oh wait...

 

[snooder]

I wouldn't call Geothermal the best for any new player. Nether is deadly for the inexperienced and undergeared. I'd push them towards biomass before geothermal

I know the whole "nether lava" thing is what everyone does now, but you can collect quite a bit of lava from the overworld too. Not enough for a long-term energy solution, but more than enough to run a few basic machines and power and mfe. Which then gets you a nanosuit and that's enough to tackle the nether.

 

[DoctorOr]

There's a lot of nikolite in the world- blultric engines and solar panels

Ahh, the beauty of a nikolite free world!

 

[Poppycocks]

Ahh, the beauty of a nikolite free world!

But I like niko . I only wish IC2 windmill were more like RP windmills, as they have a pretty good balance.

 

[Mash]

Yeah, geothermal energy supplied purely from the overworld is enough to keep you going for long enough. It won't be any magnificent power set up, but it's passable until something else becomes available.

 

[seannyyx]

Make a generator. Feed it coal and wood. Makes pulveriser and furnace and compressor.
Make an igneous extruder and recycler.
Use scrap in generator.

One of the best "startup" powers.

 

[Lambert2191]

Wrong. For the needs that OP has outlined, geothermals are the best way.

What is best or not is entirely dependant on his situation. He may have no access to lava, his nether spawn may be in the middle of a netherrack cave miles from a lava ocean. As OP hasn't specified anything, then actually the best way is to spawn in some UH Solars. You cannot say what is "Best" or not with the amount of information that has been given, dispite your efforts to argue the contrary.

 

[Indalor1]

Hmm best way to get power... make lots of money and buy a few politicians, then run for a political seat somewhere. Then try for a seat in the US senate. After that the sky is the limit... literally because by that time your brain is dead and you will be aimlessly staring at the sky while the rest of the world asks you to actually do something....

OH... you meant power in Minecraft? Fastest or best end source of power? The fastest way to power depends on what kind... EU or MJ or Bluetric? Heck steam power, wind or water? You have to be more specific that just asking about... "power".

All of this is of course based on wether or not you are playing with or without spawning things in with admin rights or cheats.

 

[whythisname]

There really is no best power source, someone might have an opinion about a power source but that doesn't make it better or worse. And then there is the stage of the game you're in, in IC2 your first EUs will most likely come from a few generators because most other options need more numbers (solars/wind/water) or depend on specific fuel and are more expensive (lava).

And besides that FTB isn't about getting the best power generation, it's about getting one that fits your needs and wants. A wall of generators fed wood from a tree farm is pretty easy to setup, but is it the best source of power? Oil is a very good power source, even unrefined in early game it will give you a ton of power (at least in a BC combustion engine). But it isn't easy to make renewable and at some point you'll want to setup a factory to refine it or switch over to something more renewable (like Biofuel).

Solars, though expensive, are a good source of power because they're 100% set and forget. Compared to a tree farm you're trading a fairly complicated setup of quite a few machines for a "plop and forget" block. Which is better? Well that depends on what you prefer/like. I personally like tree farms more because they're less repetitive and have some actual challenges to get working (it's not just "craft the blocks, place them and you're done" like solar panels are).

Sooo yeah, look at power sources and pick one that looks interesting and fun to you. In terms of power generation pretty much all forms of power generation can generate more power than you can ever hope to use (if you build enough of them).