Big Reactors : Smallest self sustaining?

[Iluvalar]

So I see people in various threads talking about their giant big reactors running MRF drills and getting enough yellorium ore to keep the reactor running and this got me wondering what the smallest self sustaining reactor design might be.

For own attempt (so far) I followed the 9x9x3 'most efficient' from that spreadsheet that gets passed around (passive cooling, one ring cryo, one ring ender),complete with fuel reprocessor, but the best I have managed so far is 14 blocks of yellorium ore for 64 ingots. Even with factorization processing (running DW20, so that is the best return I know of) that is no where near enough to keep it going.

Is it even possible with a passive cooling setup? Has anyone managed it?

14block in QED or induction smelter + cinnabar = 42 ingots = 42blutonium.
you are good already 84 ingots for 64. Use lime green focus, uranium is more frequent usualy. To make sure, NEI have the laser drill recipes.

I am getting 2.3 to 2.5 yellorium ingots back for every ingot I feed my 13x13x1 passive reactor. So any reactor that outputs 6kRF/mB yellorium or better will generate an excess. So, how small a passive reactor can one design that still achieves this fuel efficiency?

Even this reactor should generate an excess!
Even smaller reactor with sufficient fuel efficiency

meh.. this have 44kRF/mb. And it's not like i'm really trying... I realized that actualy, all you need to do is to keep the reactor at 700 C and you have awesome efficiency. Just set the control bar properly. All the remaining fuzz about the best big reactor design is pretty funny.

 

[ChemE]

14block in QED or induction smelter + cinnabar = 42 ingots = 42blutonium.
you are good already 84 ingots for 64. Use lime green focus, uranium is more frequent usualy. To make sure, NEI have the laser drill recipes.


meh.. this have 44kRF/mb. And it's not like i'm really trying... I realized that actualy, all you need to do is to keep the reactor at 700 C and you have awesome efficiency. Just set the control bar properly. All the remaining fuzz about the best big reactor design is pretty funny.

Sure but this is using default efficiency rather than the very nerfed efficiency from the DW20 pack.

 

[Iluvalar]

Then... I have no choice but to extend to 3x3x3 ? As long as you keep it at 700C it become just more and more efficient.

 

[Gamefury64]

http://br.sidoh.org/#reactor-design...Insertion=12&layout=OEOEOEXGXEOGOGOEXGXEOEOEO

Running two of theese means the right amount of power needed with a small net gain. Assuming you have good ore processing tech, such as a pulveriser, sag mill, or if you can, an Extractor, will probaly be self sufficent. And This is built using the nerfed setting of dw20.

 

[Yusunoha]

I'd personally not use Big Reactors and rather use Big Turbines with a Lava Fabricator from MFR to produce lava, a Fluid Transposer from TE to transfer the lava into buckets, and Steam Boilers from MFR which use the lava buckets to create steam. you'll also need an Aqueous Accumulator from TE to produce water for the Steam Boilers. I use Ender IO conduits to move the items, liquids and power around.

you'll need to kickstart the process first, because the Lava Fabricator needs power to create lava, but as soon as your Big Turbine starts spinning you're good to go.
make sure your Big Turbine is 7x7x17 in size and has atleast 37 blocks of Enderium Blocks.

I did a test in my creative world and it seems 1 lava fabricator is enough to fuel 15 steam boilers.

 

[Ieldra]

OP, if you're playing a modpack where uranium is oredict-ed with yellorium (my impression is that most current packs do that), then I recommend making your reactor fuel renewable not by laser drill, but either by bees or by magical crops. It takes way less power than a laser drill, even if you use all possible production upgrades in several Gendustry Industrial Apiaries. I suspect even a 5x5 reactor with an x-shaped fuel rod layout of 5 and inefficient cooling will be generating significantly more power than you need to make your reactor fuel.

 

[Ieldra]

http://br.sidoh.org/#reactor-design...Insertion=12&layout=OEOEOEXGXEOGOGOEXGXEOEOEO

Running two of theese means the right amount of power needed with a small net gain. Assuming you have good ore processing tech, such as a pulveriser, sag mill, or if you can, an Extractor, will probaly be self sufficent. And This is built using the nerfed setting of dw20.

Thanks for pointing me towards this simulator. Very useful. And....I'm apalled by just how much DW20 nerfed the reactors in his pack. Reduce fuel efficiency by a factor of 10? Ugh.

 

[Bibble]

Thanks for pointing me towards this simulator. Very useful. And....I'm apalled by just how much DW20 nerfed the reactors in his pack. Reduce fuel efficiency by a factor of 10? Ugh.

I believe that his point was that they otherwise eclipsed all other forms of generation. They're not exactly expensive (regular iron, and a few stacks of coal), and the fact that MFR can make them self-sustaining, rather than requiring a supply of mined materials means that you would just build one shortly after your first mining trip, and not bother with it from then on in.

If you want to change the value back to something closer to your tastes, you are welcome to do that, but he decided that it was too powerful, in comparison to other things in the pack. His pack, his decision.

 

[Ieldra]

I believe that his point was that they otherwise eclipsed all other forms of generation. They're not exactly expensive (regular iron, and a few stacks of coal), and the fact that MFR can make them self-sustaining, rather than requiring a supply of mined materials means that you would just build one shortly after your first mining trip, and not bother with it from then on in.

If you want to change the value back to something closer to your tastes, you are welcome to do that, but he decided that it was too powerful, in comparison to other things in the pack. His pack, his decision.

I was actually surprised by how cheap the reactors are. They used to be made with steel instead of iron in the packs I played before, which I found much more appropriate. I get the point about being too powerful, but I'd rather make them much harder to build.

As for being made self-sustaining, MFR is, in my opinion, a brute-force approach to this. As I said, I'd rather use bees or magical crops. Takes a little more work to get there, but it's way more satisfying in the end.

 

[Bibble]

I was actually surprised by how cheap the reactors are. They used to be made with steel instead of iron in the packs I played before, which I found much more appropriate. I get the point about being too powerful, but I'd rather make them much harder to build.

As for being made self-sustaining, MFR is, in my opinion, a brute-force approach to this. As I said, I'd rather use bees or magical crops. Takes a little more work to get there, but it's way more satisfying in the end.

The only place I've seen the steel requirement was Agrarian Skies, so I'm not sure whether it was part of the mod, or Jaded making things irritating. The bees are probably closer to what the mod's intended to be, requiring a lot of effort to get to. The point behind the nerf was that the MFR response without it nets you a major surplus of yellorium (plus assorted other materials) for next to no effort.

The decrease in efficiency means that I think you can make it self-sustaining, but you don't get much on top of that, and you need a decent sized reactor to do it, but also that the smaller ones will be able to provide you a major amount of energy for each ingot you mine as a part of the usual day-to-day.

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

The only place I've seen the steel requirement was Agrarian Skies, so I'm not sure whether it was part of the mod, or Jaded making things irritating. The bees are probably closer to what the mod's intended to be, requiring a lot of effort to get to. The point behind the nerf was that the MFR response without it nets you a major surplus of yellorium (plus assorted other materials) for next to no effort.

The decrease in efficiency means that I think you can make it self-sustaining, but you don't get much on top of that, and you need a decent sized reactor to do it, but also that the smaller ones will be able to provide you a major amount of energy for each ingot you mine as a part of the usual day-to-day.

The requirement of steel is part of the mod - one of the config options in Big Reactors, and one which I actually rather like

 

[Ieldra]

The only place I've seen the steel requirement was Agrarian Skies, so I'm not sure whether it was part of the mod, or Jaded making things irritating. The bees are probably closer to what the mod's intended to be, requiring a lot of effort to get to. The point behind the nerf was that the MFR response without it nets you a major surplus of yellorium (plus assorted other materials) for next to no effort.

The decrease in efficiency means that I think you can make it self-sustaining, but you don't get much on top of that, and you need a decent sized reactor to do it, but also that the smaller ones will be able to provide you a major amount of energy for each ingot you mine as a part of the usual day-to-day.

Smaller ones are just as disadvantaged, since it's fuel efficiency that's nerfed. You'll get 90% less out of any single ingot regardless of your reactor's size. If the simulator is right and taking the example from the DW20 LP series, his currently-existing 5x5x6 reactor (ext dimension) produces abour 4 MRF/ingot at 6 KRF/t, which means that an ingot lasts about 667 ticks - or about 34 seconds. You'll end up using up two stacks of yellorium in a single hour. That's extreme.

 

[Ieldra]

The requirement of steel is part of the mod - one of the config options in Big Reactors, and one which I actually rather like

Nice to hear. I like it, too.

 

[neeneko]

14block in QED or induction smelter + cinnabar = 42 ingots = 42blutonium.
you are good already 84 ingots for 64. Use lime green focus, uranium is more frequent usualy. To make sure, NEI have the laser drill recipes.

Hrm. 1.12% vs 0.34%, that does give uranium an interesting edge. I did not know you could do something like that in the QED, that might be an interesting path to look into. I had looked briefly into the cinnabar+induction smelter route, but am not sure about the types of automation I would probably need to pull that off since I am not really into CC or AE2, which is the only way I can immediately picture to only smelt when cinnabar is present.

meh.. this have 44kRF/mb. And it's not like i'm really trying... I realized that actualy, all you need to do is to keep the reactor at 700 C and you have awesome efficiency. Just set the control bar properly. All the remaining fuzz about the best big reactor design is pretty funny.

Well, on packs that have the 10x fuel use config, the question gets more interesting. Keeping it at 700C is pretty simple in DW20, but is far from enough to keep it self sustaining as put out in the original question. Though getting lots of interesting ideas on how to bend things here.

In general I have started playing with the turbines, but so far the numbers I have been coming up with seem kinda off, esp in terms of moving such large amounts of steam around (various liquid moving system seem to be designed with a rather different scale in mind) and number of turbine blades required (< 200) for even my fairly small reactor (13x9x1). So now I am trying to figure out if I am doing something really wrong or something.

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

Hrm. 1.12% vs 0.34%, that does give uranium an interesting edge. I did not know you could do something like that in the QED, that might be an interesting path to look into. I had looked briefly into the cinnabar+induction smelter route, but am not sure about the types of automation I would probably need to pull that off since I am not really into CC or AE2, which is the only way I can immediately picture to only smelt when cinnabar is present.



Well, on packs that have the 10x fuel use config, the question gets more interesting. Keeping it at 700C is pretty simple in DW20, but is far from enough to keep it self sustaining as put out in the original question. Though getting lots of interesting ideas on how to bend things here.

In general I have started playing with the turbines, but so far the numbers I have been coming up with seem kinda off, esp in terms of moving such large amounts of steam around (various liquid moving system seem to be designed with a rather different scale in mind) and number of turbine blades required (< 200) for even my fairly small reactor (13x9x1). So now I am trying to figure out if I am doing something really wrong or something.

I'm pretty sure anything over 80 blades per turbine is pointless as turbines have an upper limit of 2000 mb/t of steam, and each blade "uses" 25 mb/t; 80 x 25 = 2000. Also, you're right about the liquid transport; tesseracts were, at least, the best way to transport water as they lacked the upper limit that most pipes had.

 

[neeneko]

I'm pretty sure anything over 80 blades per turbine is pointless as turbines have an upper limit of 2000 mb/t of steam, and each blade "uses" 25 mb/t; 80 x 25 = 2000. Also, you're right about the liquid transport; tesseracts were, at least, the best way to transport water as they lacked the upper limit that most pipes had.

Ah, I was not aware of that upper limit. So I guess this reactor, which produces somewhere between 5k and 6k needs 3 independent turbine housings, each with a stack of 10 8 blade turbines. Hrm. That might not fit within the space I have constrained myself to.

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

Ah, I was not aware of that upper limit. So I guess this reactor, which produces somewhere between 5k and 6k needs 3 independent turbine housings, each with a stack of 10 8 blade turbines. Hrm. That might not fit within the space I have constrained myself to.

I have a similar issue - a great passively-cooled reactor, which when converted to active will produce LOADS of steam - my problem is that I don't have enough cyanite to make enough turbines to take advantage of that!!!

 

[Pyure]

Ah, I was not aware of that upper limit. So I guess this reactor, which produces somewhere between 5k and 6k needs 3 independent turbine housings, each with a stack of 10 8 blade turbines. Hrm. That might not fit within the space I have constrained myself to.

Bingo. I'm still hoping that a future version of BR will provide the possibility of larger steam quantities in a single turbine.

If horizontal-space specifically is an issue, you can always orient your turbines vertically. These look pretty badass in an underground base too.

my problem is that I don't have enough cyanite to make enough turbines to take advantage of that!!!

Hopefully you have yellorium at least; you can convert it straight to cyanite with sand I believe. Alternately you can just run a very inefficient passive reactor so that you convert it as fast as possible whilst still getting power at the same time.

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

If horizontal-space specifically is an issue, you can always orient your turbines vertically. These look pretty badass in an underground base too.

Or as part of a Helicarrier-esque build if you use the reactor glass!

Hopefully you have yellorium at least; you can convert it straight to cyanite with sand I believe. Alternately you can just run a very inefficient passive reactor so that you convert it as fast as possible whilst still getting power at the same time.

Indeedy, I heard about this on another thread recently - that's now on my To Do list. Actually, both of those are - I figure the minimum-size reactors are probably pretty inefficient?

 

[Pyure]

I figure the minimum-size reactors are probably pretty inefficient?

As a general rule, efficiency scales proportionately with size. Any reactor can be made more efficient cheaply by adding 3 layers of moderation between the walls and the cores.

The same 3x3 as above can be made vastly more efficient for instance, no new cores added, same arrangement. 120k rf/mb instead of 75k rf/mb.

But that doesn't really help us if we're looking for "smallest" self sustaining.