Now, I've played on a few new FTB worlds and servers, but I've never really been able to get good power near the start of the game. So, what are the most efficient/easy power sources that can be used early-game? I don't care whether it's IC2 or Buildcraft, as I like the machines compatible with both, and I'm trying to teach myself Power Converters anyway.
Good Starter Power Sources (Ultimate)
- Thread starter Salamileg9
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t5 spawner are great if you use the exploit with the anville further oil in a combution engine you could use and uuhm also lava is really really good kinda laggy though
yeah tree farm is the best i think even more the mfr one its really cheap[DOUBLEPOST=1372861735][/DOUBLEPOST]exually let me come back to that the best tree farm is a turtle one it will work really really really well with the program ultimate wood chopper
first off - turtle with a crescent hammer can crank a quartz grindstone for you - save power on early game ore processings (tends to bug out, and is slower than pulverization but 0 fuel)
blulectric furnace does wonders for early game smelting.
now you are saving fuel on processing and smelting - welcome to midgame where you should have enough resources to do any power source you want
blulectric furnace does wonders for early game smelting.
now you are saving fuel on processing and smelting - welcome to midgame where you should have enough resources to do any power source you want
This, you can make a powered furnace hooked to the farm output easily feed two hobbist steam engines, which are just enough to keep said farm running. Build up a supply build a tiny lp boiler, welcome to early mid game energy-wise.
i find oil and combustion engine to be the most convenient because it avoids complications that can arise from overproduction in treefarm setups. however, this usually requires a minium stone for liquid teleportation and the refinery diamonds so many wouldnt consider it early game. The benefit is you can run for a whole day on 16 buckets of oil once you get it set up, so I tend to rush this tech.
For 1.5.2 ,the TE Steam Engines are really good. They run at 4 MJ/t now, same as the Magmatic engines and use coal/charcoal as fuel.
Magmatic Engines are as good as ever, especially since 1.5.2 enabled a dirt cheap conversion from Blaze Rods into lava.
A tree farm will get you fuel for all kind of engines - wood or char coal for TE steam engines, Biogas for Forestry Biogas engines, Biofuel (Ethanol) for combustion engines or to fire Railcraft Steam Boilers.
The MFR Biofuel Generator is pretty cheap to make and generates 16 MJ/tick, probably the highest output acroos all MJ engines.
For IC2 power you could simply use power converters in the beginning. (The GregTech Thermal Generator has a really decent output, but it's a lot less efficient than a Magmatic Engine.)
1.5.2 also buffed the Railcraft Steam turbines (from 100 EU/tick to 200 EU/tick and still using 320 steam.), now it's actually very efficient to turn the steam into EU instead of MJ.
Magmatic Engines are as good as ever, especially since 1.5.2 enabled a dirt cheap conversion from Blaze Rods into lava.
A tree farm will get you fuel for all kind of engines - wood or char coal for TE steam engines, Biogas for Forestry Biogas engines, Biofuel (Ethanol) for combustion engines or to fire Railcraft Steam Boilers.
The MFR Biofuel Generator is pretty cheap to make and generates 16 MJ/tick, probably the highest output acroos all MJ engines.
For IC2 power you could simply use power converters in the beginning. (The GregTech Thermal Generator has a really decent output, but it's a lot less efficient than a Magmatic Engine.)
1.5.2 also buffed the Railcraft Steam turbines (from 100 EU/tick to 200 EU/tick and still using 320 steam.), now it's actually very efficient to turn the steam into EU instead of MJ.
Dirt cheap? One quarter bucket of lava for 2kMJ Versus netherrack at 12k MJ for a full bucket.
you can easily change powered furnace to induction, and engines to 3-4 generators that are fed with furnace`s output. such farm can easily keep up with 1 36 hp boiler(2 if farming 2x2 trees), which is pretty much a setup for life, if you`re not into GT. you can also sheer part of the leaves and utilize overflow saplings, to swim in biomass.
There are a few different ones.
For starting, there's the standard combustibles. A coke oven is relatively cheap early on, and well worth the cost (coal coke is 4x as powerful as the regular variant, plus you get creosote oil for the rails for your tree farm later). I'll typically hunt out a jungle and spend a bit chopping at those trees. It gets you a few stacks of charcoal for your first few nights.
Beyond that, it's usually down to circumstance. If you get lucky with mob drops (ender pearls/minium shards), you can head netherwards and do the standard pump setup (with endertanks), or you can go hunt out a decent oil-spout. I don't think I've ever had one of those drain before I've moved renewable.
If you manage to hoard IC2 materials, then one very good starting point is actually a low-spec nuke. It can output 35EU/t for a few hours, and not burn when it's not needed (just plonk next to an MFE set to emit when not full), or you can try solar, if you're on a server where you can store power when you're not online. The RP2-powered watermill setup is usually quite popular (deployers, filters and retrivers set to keep watermills stocked with buckets), it nets a reasonable amount of power, is completely autonomous and can be extended with just tin cables.
I've had worlds where I've done steam as the main source, starting with self-powered hobbyists, migrating to a solid-fueled boiler with coal coke, and going that way, although in 1.4.7 I preferred to move to liquid once I have my single-chunk tree farm/biofuel distillery.
I don't think it's possible to use a T5 blaze spawner as proper fuel for a boiler in ultimate, with the heat nerfs, but a wither skele-spawner would probably do the trick (convert to coal coke first for extra points.
I'm sure that there are other fuel sources (let's not touch on the bees for the moment, eh?). The real skill comes from finding your own system.
If you venture to 1.5.2, I could probably recommend liquid force as a good source. The engines are relatively cheap, the gems are plentiful, and they don't explode. With a cow-rancher you can have multiple 10MJ/tick engines chugging away quite happily. I like it so much that I'm using my boiler to supplement my IC2 reastor, rather than to provide MJ.
For starting, there's the standard combustibles. A coke oven is relatively cheap early on, and well worth the cost (coal coke is 4x as powerful as the regular variant, plus you get creosote oil for the rails for your tree farm later). I'll typically hunt out a jungle and spend a bit chopping at those trees. It gets you a few stacks of charcoal for your first few nights.
Beyond that, it's usually down to circumstance. If you get lucky with mob drops (ender pearls/minium shards), you can head netherwards and do the standard pump setup (with endertanks), or you can go hunt out a decent oil-spout. I don't think I've ever had one of those drain before I've moved renewable.
If you manage to hoard IC2 materials, then one very good starting point is actually a low-spec nuke. It can output 35EU/t for a few hours, and not burn when it's not needed (just plonk next to an MFE set to emit when not full), or you can try solar, if you're on a server where you can store power when you're not online. The RP2-powered watermill setup is usually quite popular (deployers, filters and retrivers set to keep watermills stocked with buckets), it nets a reasonable amount of power, is completely autonomous and can be extended with just tin cables.
I've had worlds where I've done steam as the main source, starting with self-powered hobbyists, migrating to a solid-fueled boiler with coal coke, and going that way, although in 1.4.7 I preferred to move to liquid once I have my single-chunk tree farm/biofuel distillery.
I don't think it's possible to use a T5 blaze spawner as proper fuel for a boiler in ultimate, with the heat nerfs, but a wither skele-spawner would probably do the trick (convert to coal coke first for extra points.
I'm sure that there are other fuel sources (let's not touch on the bees for the moment, eh?). The real skill comes from finding your own system.
If you venture to 1.5.2, I could probably recommend liquid force as a good source. The engines are relatively cheap, the gems are plentiful, and they don't explode. With a cow-rancher you can have multiple 10MJ/tick engines chugging away quite happily. I like it so much that I'm using my boiler to supplement my IC2 reastor, rather than to provide MJ.
Small boilers really are underrated.
That said, it's important to understand that generally all the railcraft engines only work well if they never turn off. We see a lot of people make their first engine a hobbyist steam engine. This is almost never the right call beause of its startup/slowdown times compared to how most people use early game power.
For starters, trees are your best friend.
Turn wood to charcoal by burning them, then use them in either IC2 generators or steam engines.
Once you have enough resources, build some infrastructure and automation. Xychorium soil + MFR tree farms will provide you a good source of sapplings and apples. Use them for making biofuel. And don't stop producing charcoal…you can use your stockpile for a HP boiler.
Turn wood to charcoal by burning them, then use them in either IC2 generators or steam engines.
Once you have enough resources, build some infrastructure and automation. Xychorium soil + MFR tree farms will provide you a good source of sapplings and apples. Use them for making biofuel. And don't stop producing charcoal…you can use your stockpile for a HP boiler.
Trees, then go on from there.
Charcoal is your starting place since generators are -relatively- cheap. It'll also get you the rubber you need to start as well. From there it's up to you. Theoretically you can supply yourself with limitless energy from charcoal, just that your EU/t rates will be low. That's fine for starting.
Once you get into the mid game, you should have enough energy generation to follow any path you'd like, whether it be bio, oil, solar, etc.
Lava is a good source, but that's if you are taking advantage of the infinite lava found in the nether. It depends on how you're playing the game. Lava = infinite energy and lots of it too. Magmatic engines and thermal generators produce competitive amounts of MJ/EU. All you have to do is pump it, heh.
Charcoal is your starting place since generators are -relatively- cheap. It'll also get you the rubber you need to start as well. From there it's up to you. Theoretically you can supply yourself with limitless energy from charcoal, just that your EU/t rates will be low. That's fine for starting.
Once you get into the mid game, you should have enough energy generation to follow any path you'd like, whether it be bio, oil, solar, etc.
Lava is a good source, but that's if you are taking advantage of the infinite lava found in the nether. It depends on how you're playing the game. Lava = infinite energy and lots of it too. Magmatic engines and thermal generators produce competitive amounts of MJ/EU. All you have to do is pump it, heh.
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I use peat and peat engines. They use mostly copper, peat is dirt cheap to make. I use a turtle to make the bog earth and a turtle with a shovel (1 diamond) to collect and re-place it. Only catch was I needed to use silk touch on a block of bog earth that had become ready to collect for peat and put that block in the turtle so it could do a compareto on ready bog earth instead of just collecting it all and replacing it all (inefficient).
That tides me over good on energy since peat engines don't explode or need water. And later on with bees I can make that upgraded peat that burns for 2 mj 6000 tics. Regular peat is 1mj 5000 tics.
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I use peat and peat engines. They use mostly copper, peat is dirt cheap to make. I use a turtle to make the bog earth and a turtle with a shovel (1 diamond) to collect and re-place it. Only catch was I needed to use silk touch on a block of bog earth that had become ready to collect for peat and put that block in the turtle so it could do a compareto on ready bog earth instead of just collecting it all and replacing it all (inefficient).
That tides me over good on energy since peat engines don't explode or need water. And later on with bees I can make that upgraded peat that burns for 2 mj 6000 tics. Regular peat is 1mj 5000 tics.
For a Nether lava power station, would a liquid tesseract or enderchest/lava bucket setup be better?