Big Reactors, adding turbines not very helpful?

[LeoWhiteLion]

Hello everyone,
Alright, so I have been playing Agrarian Skies. I built up a Reactor, and now I'm to the point where I want to add in more power. So I decided to learn about Turbines, to add to my reactor. After crafting some of the stuff, I decided to go into creative and build it in a test world. So i knew more of what I was doing and how it worked. My conclusions at the end of my test build...shows a much smaller amount of increase in power than I had expected, and seems like it wouldn't be worth doing, and instead just building a new reactor or something.
The Reactor I built, is a 7x7 and 10 tall, 5 yellorium rod's in the x pattern (something I've seen other's do)
It uses resonant ender stuff as its liquid. Probably not the most efficient, best one, but that's what i built up..lol
It's figures are: 1463 C, 18.1 ki/rf, .265 mb, 422%

Then I added the turbine (actually added 2) they are 7x7 and 17 tall.
The Reactor's figures became 2263 C, 4000 mb, .380 mb 294%
The water/steam are set to not vent so its self sustaining
The 2 turbines are only different, 1) in that one is set up through tesseracts, and one is hooked up directly(just for testing to see if there was a difference, there was not that I found) and 2) one of them has one more Enderium block in it than the other one.
The first turbine (36 blocks of Enderium) and 80 rotor blades its figures are: 1846.8 rpm, 23698 rf, 100%
The Second Turbine (37 blocks of Enderium) and 80 rotor blades, its figures are: 1797 rpm, 24071 rf, 100%

So end math, i have about 48000 RF from 1 reactor/2turbines.
If I had built 3 Reactors instead my RF output would be around 54000. Which is more power, in addition to having needed less materials to get (since the reactor is almost half the size of turbines, its ALOT cheaper to make, especially considering it doesn't need all those enderium blocks)

So I figure that I must be doing something wrong here, and I've come seeking help.
My Apologies, for the lengthy post, I have screenshots as well, that I was going to use...but since I don't use forums usually...I have no idea of a site to upload images, so that I can link them or what have you to get them into the post.

Thank you for your time.
Take care
~Leo

 

[GreenZombie]

It would seem you are under utilizing the available steam capacity. It was mu understanding that switching to actively cooled should yield 7x the power.

 

[MacAisling]

The benefit is in fuel efficiency, not construction costs. If you use 3 reactors (or 1 3x bigger reactor) you use 3x more fuel.

 

[MigukNamja]

Your reactor setups are waaaaay too hot. Need to keep it under 1000 C. Also, your steam (actively cooled) reactor is under 300% fertilization while your passively cooled is over 400%. Over 400% is good. Under 300% is not.

Flat reactors (3 high) are the most efficient.

Finally, and most importantly, actively-cooled are primarily more fuel - to - power efficient and definitely *not* building material-to power efficient. You are absolutely right on this point.

AgSkies is biased towards straight passively-cooled reactors since Yellorium is infinite and dirt cheap (literally). The Steam Turbine shines in other packs where Yellorium is much more scarce.

The Steam Turbine also pairs *very* nicely with other steam producers like RC boilers.

 

[LeoWhiteLion]

Your reactor setups are waaaaay too hot. Need to keep it under 1000 C. Also, your steam (actively cooled) reactor is under 300% fertilization while your passively cooled is over 400%. Over 400% is good. Under 300% is not.

Flat reactors (3 high) are the most efficient.

Finally, and most importantly, actively-cooled are primarily more fuel - to - power efficient and definitely *not* building material-to power efficient. You are absolutely right on this point.

AgSkies is biased towards straight passively-cooled reactors since Yellorium is infinite and dirt cheap (literally). The Steam Turbine shines in other packs where Yellorium is much more scarce.

The Steam Turbine also pairs *very* nicely with other steam producers like RC boilers.

Mmk, so for AgSkies...for me at least, I will probably be building more reactors when I want more power, as fuel is certainly not a problem, I have an over-abundance of it..and its cheaper to make, resource-wise. But I do want to build at least one turbine, since I already constructed a bunch of the pieces.

So I think what I'll do is build a new reactor for the new turbine as well. What is the best way of going about this? I have already made 80 rotor blades, so i'd like to use them if possible. Obviously in this scenario, I want more power efficiency than fuel efficiency since fuel is near infinite. Honestly I don't mind testing things out myself..but since it takes a REALLY long time for a turbine to get going, its annoying to test for me ...lol So please just lay it out for me, what should i build? lol

Also for my other reactor, you said it is too hot...how do I get it to run at a lower temperature? Does a lower temperature just give me less fuel consumption/less power? if that's the case, I'm fine with it being to hot lol
Anyways, thanks again for your time, and help

Take care
~Leo

P.S. for future reference also, what size reactor should I make for added power in the future, i'd like them to be about 20-21k, or 40-41k power for each addition.

 

[MigukNamja]

Mmk, so for AgSkies...for me at least, I will probably be building more reactors when I want more power, as fuel is certainly not a problem, I have an over-abundance of it..and its cheaper to make, resource-wise. But I do want to build at least one turbine, since I already constructed a bunch of the pieces.

So I think what I'll do is build a new reactor for the new turbine as well. What is the best way of going about this? I have already made 80 rotor blades, so i'd like to use them if possible. Obviously in this scenario, I want more power efficiency than fuel efficiency since fuel is near infinite. Honestly I don't mind testing things out myself..but since it takes a REALLY long time for a turbine to get going, its annoying to test for me ...lol So please just lay it out for me, what should i build? lol

Also for my other reactor, you said it is too hot...how do I get it to run at a lower temperature? Does a lower temperature just give me less fuel consumption/less power? if that's the case, I'm fine with it being to hot lol
Anyways, thanks again for your time, and help

Take care
~Leo

P.S. for future reference also, what size reactor should I make for added power in the future, i'd like them to be about 20-21k, or 40-41k power for each addition.

Keep it 3 high external, 1 high internal. Fertilization occurs on the X and Z axis only, not the Y axis. Checkerboard pattern with fuel rods with cryotheum between the fuel rods is very efficient. Liquid ender around the fuel rods between rods and wall. This means 7x7x3 (external) uses:

5 fuel rods
4 cryo
16 liquid ender*

*The ender can "flow". You can use 4 and be fine

The above 7x7x3 is a small reactor with this pattern. 15x15x3 with this pattern will make enough steam to drive several (around 5) turbines. 15x15x3 requires 121 total fuel rods and cryo.

 

[LeoWhiteLion]

Keep it 3 high external, 1 high internal. Fertilization occurs on the X and Z axis only, not the Y axis. Checkerboard pattern with fuel rods with cryotheum between the fuel rods is very efficient. Liquid ender around the fuel rods between rods and wall. This means 7x7x3 (external) uses:

5 fuel rods
4 cryo
16 liquid ender*

*The ender can "flow". You can use 4 and be fine

The above 7x7x3 is a small reactor with this pattern. 15x15x3 with this pattern will make enough steam to drive several (around 5) turbines. 15x15x3 requires 121 total fuel rods and cryo.

Ok, so i built those up in creative first. The 15x15x3 one has a temp of 1360'ish, you did say earlier that under 1000 was better, but i'm assuming that this is still fine, or i did something wrong again lol, but it is pulling 32k RF, which is great
I'll definitely be building those in my actual game, although I did tweak it a little bit, I then made it 16x17x3 which pulls 41k power now at 1420'ish temp, and 515'ish % reactivity
Since I only want to build the 1 turbine atm, I built the small reactor you mentioned, and you didn't say anything about turbine size, so I just used my 7x7x17 turbine. It appears that, that size reactor didn't function very effectively with my turbine size...so I tweaked the small reactor and made it an 8x8x3, adding in 3 more fuel rods that way (and a temp of 1030'ish and 395% reactivity) and the turbine was able then to get to 1843.5 rpm and 23701 RF

So I think I've got my reactor setup, and my reactor/turbine setup figured out now (at least for AgSkies lol)
Thank you so much for your help, you've been amazing!

now to try to get that much cryotheum lol

Take care, and thanks again
~Leo

 

[MacAisling]

You use the control rods on top to adjust the core temp. Getting the temp down will make it more fuel efficient for now, but I hear they are ready to add the chance for explosions in the 1.7.10 update.

 

[LeoWhiteLion]

You use the control rods on top to adjust the core temp. Getting the temp down will make it more fuel efficient for now, but I hear they are ready to add the chance for explosions in the 1.7.10 update.

Well, that'd be an interesting concept...proly make it more difficult for learning the "proper" setup's though.
And thanks, I'll play around with the control rods and see what that does for my future builds.

Take care
~Leo

 

[midi_sec]

I hear they are ready to add the chance for explosions in the 1.7.10 update.

 

[MigukNamja]

Well, that'd be an interesting concept...proly make it more difficult for learning the "proper" setup's though.
And thanks, I'll play around with the control rods and see what that does for my future builds.

Take care
~Leo

To make it run cooler, you can use this pattern:

W = wall
. = liquid ender
* = cryotheum
R = fuel rod

WWWWWWWWW
W.......W
W.R*R*R.W
W.*****.W
W.R*R*R.W
W.*****.W
W.R*R*R.W
W.......W
WWWWWWWWW

This should run very cool, but still fertilize well.

 

[GreenZombie]

You mean

WWWWWWWWW
W.......W
W.......W
W..###..W
W..#.#..W
W..###..W
W.......W
W.......W
WWWWWWWWW

 

[MigukNamja]

You mean

WWWWWWWWW
W.......W
W.......W
W..###..W
W..#.#..W
W..###..W
W.......W
W.......W
WWWWWWWWW

No. I've tried that, it's hotter than my previous pattern, and you don't gain any fertilization. The fert. range is 5.

 

[GreenZombie]

You do gain extra capture, but that is not relevant to actively cooled reactors. I need to make some reactors and try and test their steam throughput...

 

[MigukNamja]

You do gain extra capture, but that is not relevant to actively cooled reactors. I need to make some reactors and try and test their steam throughput...

Ah...right. Actively *cooled* might indeed have different *cooling* mechanics. My design had passive in mind.

I used that for an active setup my previous world, and it made tons of steam, but I didn't test it against other, similar setups with different core configurations.