Big Reactors: getting one's feet wet

[Pyure]

At some point this week I'm probably going to look at Big Reactors in the 3rd-party pack I'm playing these days (see my signature)

What would be the simplest Big Reactor design to get started with? Unlike most threads, I'm not looking for "the best." Conversely, I almost want the weakest. Why? Because @Jason McRay hates me and probably made the recipes require absurd things like iridium and chrome and whatnot and I won't be able to afford anything different.

So: noob reactor. Ideas?

PS: I'm not familiar with the mod or the blocks; use full names of things if you expect me to understand

 

[Adrak]

Your starting materials will mostly be Yellorite, Graphite bars, and Steel ingots with a few odds and ends for differing recipes unless modified in configs by other mods.
essentials will be the Reactor Controller, Reactor Power Tap, Reactor Access Port, Reactor Control Rod, Reactor Fuel Rod, and plenty of Reactor Casings with some Reactor Glass if you wish to view inside it. The smallest is a 3x3 cube of casings with a fuel rod in the middle, controller, tap and port on any side you wish and the control rod in the middle of the top face, the control rod must be touching the central fuel rod column in any setup for the block to function.
Slightly bigger is a 5x5 with a 3 block column of fuel rods in the middle giving you room to fill the gaps with a coolant of some form if you so wish.

PS: a note on Reactor glass, it cannot be used in the outer frame of the reactor, all the edges of the structure and the bottom face need to be casings.

 

[Pyure]

Your starting materials will mostly be Yellorite, Graphite bars, and Steel ingots with a few odds and ends for differing recipes unless modified in configs by other mods.
essentials will be the Reactor Controller, Reactor Power Tap, Reactor Access Port, Reactor Control Rod, Reactor Fuel Rod, and plenty of Reactor casings with some Reactor Glass if you wish to view inside it. The smallest is a 3x3 cube of casings with a fuel rod in the middle, controller, tap and port on any side you wish and the control rod in the middle of the top face, the control rod must be touching the central fuel rod column in any setup for the block to function.
Slightly bigger is a 5x5 with a 3 block column of fuel rods in the middle giving you room to fill the gaps with a coolant of some form if you so wish.

This...is fantastic, thanks sir.

I particularly like that you listed the essentials, which will reduce the amount of youtubing I end up doing.

Glad you anticipated the "modified in configs" thing. The modpack author actually uses Minetweaker (a lot) to provide balance.

 

[Adrak]

I'm glad to assist and had to youtube some of it myself when first tinkering in reactor builds, another thing to look into is the Cyanite Reprocessor which can recycle the waste(Cyanite) into Blutonium(usable reactor fuel) at a 2-1 ratio, it needs water piped in and rf supplied to run but well worth making to lengthen fuel efficiency.

 

[Ieldra]

I've made my first Big Reactor just yesterday. It is a 7x7x6 structure with five control rods (with 4 fuel rod blocks apiece since the inner space of the reactor is 4 blocks high) arranged in an X pattern. All empty space was filled with gelid cryotheum (good alternative: resonant ender). Components necessary apart from the control/fuel rods and the casing: Inlet and outlet access ports (one each, though you might be able to get away with one if you don't want to automate fuel/waste ejection/injection), reactor control, power tap.

This reactor generates 12 KRF/t and uses one ingot of yellorium or uranium in 10 minutes while running at full power.

There is a very good Big Reactors tutorial by the MindCrafters which should come up on the first page if you search for "Big Reactors tutorial"

 

[Pyure]

I'm glad to assist and had to youtube some of it myself when first tinkering in reactor builds, another thing to look into is the Cyanite Reprocessor which can recycle the waste(Cyanite) into Blutonium(usable reactor fuel) at a 2-1 ratio, it needs water piped in and rf supplied to run but well worth making to lengthen fuel efficiency.

Got it, will look into that.

Also noted your glass/frame edition.

I've made my first Big Reactor just yesterday. It is a 7x7x6 structure with five control rods (with 4 fuel rod blocks apiece since the inner space of the reactor is 4 blocks high) arranged in an X pattern. All empty space was filled with gelid cryotheum (good alternative: resonant ender). Components necessary apart from the control/fuel rods and the casing: Inlet and outlet access ports (one each, though you might be able to get away with one if you don't want to automate fuel/waste ejection/injection), reactor control, power tap.

This reactor generates 12 KRF/t and uses one ingot of yellorium or uranium in 10 minutes while running at full power.

There is a very good Big Reactors tutorial by the MindCrafters which should come up on the first page if you search for "Big Reactors tutorial"

Awesome

I might be pessimistic, but I have serious doubts I'll be able to assemble a medium-sized Reactor just yet. In fact I'll be a bit surprised if I can assemble a tiny one (I haven't checked his recipes yet but they've got to be prohibitive considering how much power is generated)

In GregTech terms, I'm just getting into the Chrome age: I've managed to hoard together around 10 chrome dust, and haven't so much as sniffed Iridium.

 

[Ieldra]

Awesome

I might be pessimistic, but I have serious doubts I'll be able to assemble a medium-sized Reactor just yet. In fact I'll be a bit surprised if I can assemble a tiny one (I haven't checked his recipes yet but they've got to be prohibitive considering how much power is generated)

In GregTech terms, I'm just getting into the Chrome age: I've managed to hoard together around 10 chrome dust, and haven't so much as sniffed Iridium.

I didn't find the recipes for the reactor components prohibitively expensive, except for the cryotheum for which you'll have met and safari-netted a Blizz, but you can just use water for a start. My world has been running for a while so I'm not lacking resources, but still I would've noticed it if it had required more than a handful of diamonds. It didn't require any, as far as I recall. The limiting factor for younger worlds is the yellorium which is rather rare, and if you don't have IC2 installed you won't have the more common uranium as a substitute.

 

[Pyure]

I didn't find the recipes for the reactor components prohibitively expensive, except for the cryotheum for which you'll have met and safari-netted a Blizz, but you can just use water for a start. My world has been running for a while so I'm not lacking resources, but still I would've noticed it if it had required more than a handful of diamonds. It didn't require any, as far as I recall. The limiting factor for younger worlds is the yellorium which is rather rare, and if you don't have IC2 installed you won't have the more common uranium as a substitute.

Just for clarity, as noted in the original posts, I'm playing a rather-heavily-tweaked GregTech (IC2) game (InfiTech, in the Third Party Modpacks section)

The author has very painstakingly tailored the game so that there are no easy exploits or ways to bypass large chunks of progression. This includes non-GT mods that have been added in.

Some resources, such as Iridium, are used in particularly expensive recipes for the more powerful machines. If BigReactors is as powerful as I'm given to believe, then there's no way its going to lack Iridium recipes.

And I have zero iridium
Edit: He also uses substances from other planets via GalactiCraft, which I'm also nowhere close to starting

 

[Adrak]

The author has very painstakingly tailored the game so that there are no easy exploits or ways to bypass large chunks of progression. This includes non-GT mods that have been added in

I have no knowledge of gregtech's interaction with BigReactors so unless you can give details/screenshots it'll all be on assumption

 

[Pyure]

I have no knowledge of gregtech's interaction with BigReactors so unless you can give details/screenshots it'll all be on assumption

As far as I know, there's no explicit interaction, other than whatever each author has done with Yellorium/Uranium friendliness.

MineTweaker has been used by the author to remove many recipes and replace them with ones tailored for the balance in the pack. So, theoretically, I may find your Reactor casings require, say, Iridium Alloy Plates (which require a lot of power and infrastructure to make) instead of Steel.

 

[Adrak]

that would be quite the bother, as even casings require a bit of Yellorite to make some and the casings are used in the crafting for practically all other components of the reactor

 

[Pyure]

that would be quite the bother, as even casings require a bit of Yellorite to make some and the casings are used in the crafting for practically all other components of the reactor

Yes, but if I could manage it within a week of play, it would undermine every other early-power source in the game. BigReactors strikes me as almost a competitor for ReactorCraft. As such its going to essentially deprecate every other power source available if/when I get it running.

 

[Adrak]

well reactorcraft is a whole different beast, a fair bit more complicated but once managed can make so much power you'll drown in drool just watching it go

 

[Golrith]

Just for clarity, as noted in the original posts, I'm playing a rather-heavily-tweaked GregTech (IC2) game (InfiTech, in the Third Party Modpacks section)

The author has very painstakingly tailored the game so that there are no easy exploits or ways to bypass large chunks of progression. This includes non-GT mods that have been added in.

Some resources, such as Iridium, are used in particularly expensive recipes for the more powerful machines. If BigReactors is as powerful as I'm given to believe, then there's no way its going to lack Iridium recipes.

And I have zero iridium
Edit: He also uses substances from other planets via GalactiCraft, which I'm also nowhere close to starting

Couldn't resist
Although I like that idea of needing resources from the planets for advanced stuff. There's not really much reason to go to the Moon/Mars.


I do agree about balancing, I personally use Steel in the recipe, and disable the Charcoal to Graphite ingots. Not a major change compared to what you are dealing with, but makes it a bit more difficult.

 

[Pyure]

well reactorcraft is a whole different beast, a fair bit more complicated but once managed can make so much power you'll drown in drool just watching it go

See my various ReactorCraft threads sometime Hence why I have a hard time transitioning to BR.

Although I like that idea of needing resources from the planets for advanced stuff. There's not really much reason to go to the Moon/Mars.

I do agree about balancing, I personally use Steel in the recipe, and disable the Charcoal to Graphite ingots. Not a major change compared to what you are dealing with, but makes it a bit more difficult.

Agreed all around. I keep wanting to do something and realize...there's no Desh on Minecraftia? Dammit.

And since BR is probably the most powerful thing in the pack, well, I don't expect this to come cheap.

 

[Ieldra]

Just for clarity, as noted in the original posts, I'm playing a rather-heavily-tweaked GregTech (IC2) game (InfiTech, in the Third Party Modpacks section)

The author has very painstakingly tailored the game so that there are no easy exploits or ways to bypass large chunks of progression. This includes non-GT mods that have been added in.

Some resources, such as Iridium, are used in particularly expensive recipes for the more powerful machines. If BigReactors is as powerful as I'm given to believe, then there's no way its going to lack Iridium recipes.

And I have zero iridium
Edit: He also uses substances from other planets via GalactiCraft, which I'm also nowhere close to starting

Hmm.. I'm not seeing that modpack in my ftb launcher. Which launcher has it? Anyway, probably not my cup of tea. I don't mind *some* things being hard, but most of the time "balance" is just an excuse to add more grinding.

 

[GreenZombie]

A really simple tiny big reactor would follow this reactor interior:

..cc..
..cc..
ccxxcc
ccxxcc
..cc..
..cc..

c = coolant
x = fuel rod
. = glass

Build it as an 8x8x? - if the coolant is cryotheum or ender, each layer should contribute about 1.5-2kRF/t.
Its small. Only two blocks of coolant between the core and frame so will only harvest about 50-60% of the radiated energy. Each fuel rod has two faces exposed to coolant so it has good cooling characteristics.
You can build it as a 10x10x? for an extra 25% more power.

For something larger, I point you too: http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/the-little-big-reactor-that-could.46481/ a thread, ironically, you already contributed to

A simple 1 core big reactor can be made as a 5x5x?:

.c.
cxc
.c.

Using resonant ender for coolant. Should output ~500RF/t per layer as long as its not made too high.

 

[Pyure]

Hmm.. I'm not seeing that modpack in my ftb launcher. Which launcher has it? Anyway, probably not my cup of tea. I don't mind *some* things being hard, but most of the time "balance" is just an excuse to add more grinding.

I can tell you straight off the bat that you would not like this pack; you get irritated enough just at RoC stuff. Don't waste your time unless you're desperate for a change of pace

A really simple tiny big reactor would follow this reactor interior:

..cc..
..cc..
ccxxcc
ccxxcc
..cc..
..cc..

c = coolant
x = fuel rod
. = glass

Build it as an 8x8x? - if the coolant is cryotheum or ender, each layer should contribute about 1.5-2kRF/t.
Its small. Only two blocks of coolant between the core and frame so will only harvest about 50-60% of the radiated energy. Each fuel rod has two faces exposed to coolant so it has good cooling characteristics.
You can build it as a 10x10x? for an extra 25% more power.

For something larger, I point you too: http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/the-little-big-reactor-that-could.46481/ a thread, ironically, you already contributed to

A simple 1 core big reactor can be made as a 5x5x?:

.c.
cxc
.c.

Using resonant ender for coolant. Should output ~500RF/t per layer as long as its not made too high.

Thx Chris Becke. I was half-hoping you'd contribute your thoughts.

I thought your little reactor was still not-the-smallest-possible, and hence didn't give it much thought.

 

[madnewmy]

You can usualy calculate 400-500 rf/t/rods with cryothium/resonant ender

A typical and easy design in 7x7x? With 5 rods in x pattern

If you make it 9x9 or 11x11 you get closer to the 500 per rods

 

[Pyure]

Hmm.. I'm not seeing that modpack in my ftb launcher. Which launcher has it?

Occurs to me I accidentally ignored part of your response.

This is the thread. Its FTB 3rd-Party. But, again, going by my massive knowledge (sarcmark) of your likes and dislikes, I suspect it won't be to your taste.[DOUBLEPOST=1404747403][/DOUBLEPOST]

You can usualy calculate 400-500 rf/t/rods with cryothium/resonant ender

A typical and easy design in 7x7x? With 5 rods in x pattern

If you make it 9x9 or 11x11 you get closer to the 500 per rods

This looks suspiciously like response to a "howmuch powerz cani get?!? give me tha best dezines plz!!!" thread.

I desperately tried to frame my question so I'm not one of those people!!

If that actually applies to tiny reactors however, then OOPS, and sorry!