How to get the best bee to fuel your boilers.

[Yusunoha]

so I have been testing in my test world to get oily combs from bees that can be refined into fuel and then fuel my HP liquid boiler. I started with an oily bee in an alveary with 16 chocolate frames, the bees died really fast, but the number of oily combs was not that good. so I tried putting the fastest speed serum on my oily bees, because as the wiki mentions "Speed is the attribute, which controls the output of produce per time unit. The faster the speed, the higher the chance to produce something on a product-checking tick.". but sadly, it did not do much, I still did only get 1 oily comb. so I thought it might be because the bee died too fast, so I tried putting the longest lifespan serum on the bee, hoping if the bee would live longer, it'd produce more. but nope, still only 1 oily comb. then I saw that the distilled bee produces oily combs faster, so I put both the fastest speed and longest lifespan serum onto the distilled bee, and I got 2 oily combs. I thought that maybe the amount of chocolate frames could cause problems, so I reduced those to 8, but nope, still only 2 oily combs. I tried the distilled bee in an apiary, maybe that would help, but nope, not really.

so would anyone like to tell me what the best bee would be to get oily combs from, what stats the bee should have to be able to fuel atleast 1HP liquid boiler, and if it should be in an apiary or alveary, and what frames and such it'd need?

 

[plzent3r]

Instead of chocolate frames try using impregnated or proven frames. I would recommend using an alveary, try about 8 impregnated frames and see how that does. Do keep in mind that distilled bees did recently get nerfed to output slower.

 

[Maldroth]

so I have been testing in my test world to get oily combs from bees that can be refined into fuel and then fuel my HP liquid boiler. I started with an oily bee in an alveary with 16 chocolate frames, the bees died really fast, but the number of oily combs was not that good. so I tried putting the fastest speed serum on my oily bees, because as the wiki mentions "Speed is the attribute, which controls the output of produce per time unit. The faster the speed, the higher the chance to produce something on a product-checking tick.". but sadly, it did not do much, I still did only get 1 oily comb. so I thought it might be because the bee died too fast, so I tried putting the longest lifespan serum on the bee, hoping if the bee would live longer, it'd produce more. but nope, still only 1 oily comb. then I saw that the distilled bee produces oily combs faster, so I put both the fastest speed and longest lifespan serum onto the distilled bee, and I got 2 oily combs. I thought that maybe the amount of chocolate frames could cause problems, so I reduced those to 8, but nope, still only 2 oily combs. I tried the distilled bee in an apiary, maybe that would help, but nope, not really.

so would anyone like to tell me what the best bee would be to get oily combs from, what stats the bee should have to be able to fuel atleast 1HP liquid boiler, and if it should be in an apiary or alveary, and what frames and such it'd need?

What I did was work to Distilled bees as they make Oily combs the fastest. Also always use Alvearies as they have the highest production rate. Lengthening the Lifespan of your bees as well as making them Fast or Fastest productivity will also help maximize their output. Lastly you can install Frame Housings into your Alvaries to put frames into your Alvaries to again increase the production. 9 Frame housings is the max you can ever put into one before adding more give you no additional production. Note that only Precious bees require 9 frames to maximize comb production. With Distilled bees you can maximize somewhere between 3 and 6 frame housings.

I kept my setup simple and only have 3 frame housings and have 4 distilled bees dedicated for oil production. Even before other speed enhancements I'm producing more oil than I need for two steam boilers.

Lastly don't use chocolate frames, while they increase production they also drastically reduce the life of the bee. They are better used for crossbreeding projects. make at least impregnated frames in volume and set up some sort of auto filling system with the frame housings, or trade for Proven frames which last much longer.

 

[DoctorOr]

What I did was work to Distilled bees as they make Oily combs the fastest.

Refined is the exact same speed, and provides biofuel as a bonus.

In fact, I'm (trying) to fuel a single 36HP boiler at my bee house with bee produce biofuel. I'm up to 9 bees (fastest, longest) and still a little behind, but I refuse to use frames in alvearies. Plenty of room for more bees though. I have 38 * 27 alveary blocks sitting in the AE system .

The oil then gets set off to a different site for processing and running in diesel generators.

 

[Maldroth]

Refined is the exact same speed, and provides biofuel as a bonus.

In fact, I'm (trying) to fuel a single 36HP boiler at my bee house with bee produce biofuel. I'm up to 9 bees (fastest, longest) and still a little behind, but I refuse to use frames in alvearies. Plenty of room for more bees though. I have 38 * 27 alveary blocks sitting in the AE system .

The oil then gets set off to a different site for processing and running in diesel generators.

Yeah I didn't mention the Refined bees but yeah there is that nice bonus of biofuel as well. Initially I didn't use frames in Alvearies but I added the system to learn if I could. My production is enough that I don't need it but I can turn it on for a while if I need to turbo charge oil production. I have a better plan for the while system when I rebuild my world when the mods I use all update to 1.5.1.

 

[plzent3r]

Yeah I didn't mention the Refined bees but yeah there is that nice bonus of biofuel as well. Initially I didn't use frames in Alvearies but I added the system to learn if I could. My production is enough that I don't need it but I can turn it on for a while if I need to turbo charge oil production. I have a better plan for the while system when I rebuild my world when the mods I use all update to 1.5.1.

If you use RP2 you could be waiting quite some time....

 

[Yusunoha]

I'll try it out with the other frames, don't really know why I was using only chocolate frames...
I know the refined bee can also make biofuel, but I thought that might reduce the amount of oily combs produced by the bee.
I'll do some testing and see how much I can improve the production in my testing world.

does anyone perhaps know how many bees you need to run a HP liquid boiler, or how many HP liquid boilers you can run on a single bee?

 

[Ako_the_Builder]

I have 1 unframed alveary running a (fastest/longest) refined bee 24/7 and the number of oily propolis in my squeezer slowly goes down, I have a second aveary with a matching bee which I turn on when the squeezer is empty and turn off again once I see oily propolis backed up into my me network.

So, more than 1, less than 2. Or 1 with frames probably.

 

[Technician]

You have chocolate frames in that alveary. Those kill those guys, use impregnated frames or something that helps produce. Not those frames.

Guys he is using alvearies.

 

[Maldroth]

I'd use a pair of bees at first since it is easy to make and you can build a surplus of oil. Using a frame system can be a bit fiddly and if you don't want to be bothered with it then more bees in alvearies is the way to go. Again also depends on your consumption of fuel. I currently run two boilers but I'm pretty sure I can support a third or forth with my current setup. I'm also wasting a ton of MJ since I don't use that much so really I don't need to expand.

 

[MilConDoin]

Regarding frames: Each untreated/impregnated/proven frame doubles the chance to receive a product on each production cycle (550 ticks = 27.5 seconds). A bee can at best produce 2 of each product and 1 of each specialty on such a cycle.
Let's have a look at the refined bee, assuming enough frames for maximum production. 2 oily combs and 1 petroleum comb every 27.5 seconds.
- Each oily comb has a 60% chance to produce oily propolis in the centrifuge and each oily propolis will squeeze to 500mB oil. Averaged over many combs this will be equal to 300mB oil per propolis or 600mB oil every 27.5 seconds. With 600mB fuel per 27.5 seconds you should be able to feed ~6.61 36HP boilers, when they are at max heat.
- Each petroleum comb has a 60% chance to produce petroleum propolis in the centrifuge and each petroleum propolis will squeeze to 500mB biofuel. Averaged over many combs this will be equal to 300mB biofuel per propolis or 300mB biofuel every 27.5 seconds. With 300mB biouel per 27.5 seconds you should be able to feed ~1.10 36HP boilers, when they are at max heat.

Edit: You'll need 4 frames in your alveary to produce at max speed, if you change the speed to fastest. The above calculations didn't take into account, that replacing the princess+drone in the alveary and their breeding takes some time, so the long term average will sink a bit thanks to that. With breeding to longest life, the influence of this can be reduced, but not eliminated.

 

[Quesenek]

Im getting an excess of fuel from two distilled super bees in alvarys with no frame housings powering one HP boiler but im pretty sure that with frame housings and impregnated frames i could easily run two or three boilers.

 

[MilConDoin]

A bee can at best produce 2 of each product and 1 of each specialty on such a cycle.

To be more precise with this:
A bee can at best produce 1 of each product from the primary allele, 1 of each product (with half the chance) from the secondary allele and 1 of each specialty from the primary allele. For pure bees the quoted text is correct, I just wanted to clarify that for the rare case of hybrid bees.

 

[Ako_the_Builder]

wow, 6 boilers off 1 bee, pretty crazy

 

[Technician]

wow, 6 boilers off 1 bee, pretty crazy

Eh.

 

[Ako_the_Builder]

Eh.

I was referring to:

...you should be able to feed ~6.61 36HP boilers, when they are at max heat.

 

[Technician]

Oh.

 

[Yusunoha]

Regarding frames: Each untreated/impregnated/proven frame doubles the chance to receive a product on each production cycle (550 ticks = 27.5 seconds). A bee can at best produce 2 of each product and 1 of each specialty on such a cycle.
Let's have a look at the refined bee, assuming enough frames for maximum production. 2 oily combs and 1 petroleum comb every 27.5 seconds.
- Each oily comb has a 60% chance to produce oily propolis in the centrifuge and each oily propolis will squeeze to 500mB oil. Averaged over many combs this will be equal to 300mB oil per propolis or 600mB oil every 27.5 seconds. With 600mB fuel per 27.5 seconds you should be able to feed ~6.61 36HP boilers, when they are at max heat.
- Each petroleum comb has a 60% chance to produce petroleum propolis in the centrifuge and each petroleum propolis will squeeze to 500mB biofuel. Averaged over many combs this will be equal to 300mB biofuel per propolis or 300mB biofuel every 27.5 seconds. With 300mB biouel per 27.5 seconds you should be able to feed ~1.10 36HP boilers, when they are at max heat.

Edit: You'll need 4 frames in your alveary to produce at max speed, if you change the speed to fastest. The above calculations didn't take into account, that replacing the princess+drone in the alveary and their breeding takes some time, so the long term average will sink a bit thanks to that. With breeding to longest life, the influence of this can be reduced, but not eliminated.

nice math it'll be interesting if I can pull it off, since I like to use boilers as my powersource and want to get as many running as possible