No. That should work, but putting them two blocks down also works.
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[ReactorCraft] ReC Mechanics Thread
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The VDG can target other blocks as well, so if something like a Redstone Block is closer than the Toroid, it'll hit that instead.
As of v15 (I believe) I rewrote the targeting code to be a weighted random as opposed to the old solution, so it can supply power to multiple things and the stupidity of "North, then South, then West, etc" rule is no longer applied.
Ah, that's probably what "RotaryCraft: Improved Van De Graaff behavior" was then. Since he was also giving them about 1,000 times the normal power, it was probably a graphical issue.
Rav: Might I recommend using using WAILA to check charge levels. ( Or, if you don't have/want that, then you can use the dragonapi config to show NBT data. Just hold TAB when looking at a toroid to see charge levels. You need to keep it over 1,000. )
I was using both, neither went anywhere til I put them inside the toroid. Less power (1 gasoline engine) didn't yield any different results, that I noticed.
Did you have anything anywhere near the VDG? I'm loading now to see exactly how it does work in game right now.
Update: Ok, here's what I found:
It works fine from 2 blocks under the toroid.
If a Redstone block ( and I'm assuming anything else it can discharge into ) is next to the VDG, it will always strike the VDG unless the VDG is also touching the toroid block. In that case it strikes them roughly back and forth.
If there are Redstone blocks on either side of the VDG, it will roughly strike them back and forth.
So, it seems it to only discharge to the closest block, and only randomly between multiple blocks if they are the same distance, and nothing else is closer.
There was a minor graphical issue when I tested with Redstone blocks directly next to the VDG, but the VDG was 1 block under the Toroid. According to the above, it should only strike the Redstone, since it is closer than the Toroid. Effectively, that is what happens, but the Charge level on the Toroid flickers between 0 and some charge number. Perhaps a slight client/server desync here where the client thinks the Toroid is receiving charge, but the server says it did not. ( Note: Tested in single player, so it wasn't a latency issue or such. )
So, Rav, make sure your area around the VDG is clear. ( For at least as many blocks as you want the VDG under the Toroid plus 1. ) I can't remember off hand what all it checks for, but I think items with the Iron material might be one. Certainly Iron Blocks. If you want the VDG enclosed, and have a hard time finding a filler material, I can look at the source for all of the different things it affects.
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Hmm...could you try with emerald blocks? I'm away from my desktop for a while, as I'm at uni right now, but the floor of my base is made of emerald blocks (I had a farm and nothing else to spend my surplus on, lol), so it might've been discharging into them...
Bugger. I suppose, in my next world, I'll make my floor out of something a little less ostentatious, lol.
Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor
At last, we come to the newest reactor in ReC: the LFTR, commonly referred to as just the "thorium reactor." Now, I know...very little about this reactor, in practice, so take everything here with a grain of salt. In short, the LFTR uses molten thorium fuel salts and a little neutron flux (w/ some heat) to create its own neutron flux and, thus, making power. Now, the LFTR is logistically more complicated than most any other reactor: simply creating the LiFBe fuel salts to operate the reactor can be somewhat cumbersome and difficult to manage without some help. That's why I'm here!
First off, you'll need a centrifugal fluid extractor, which I discussed earlier in this thread. Place it on and near some lava in the proper conditions in either the Overworld or Hell (Hell is preferred, since it gives more per operation) and power it to begin extracting lithium. This is part one of four of your fuel production.
Next, you'll need some source of emeralds, and preferably in mass amounts. I prefer Magical Crops + AgriCraft emerald farms for this, but a TiCon villager farm would work just as well. You'll need to put these emeralds through a grinder to get emerald dust. This is part two of your fuel production.
After that, you'll need a goodly amount of fluorite. If you've got a regular fission reactor running, already, then you likely have some source of them secured. Once you've got that, put that, the emerald dust, and the lithium thru a uranium processor, the same kind you use to make UF6. From that, you'll get LiFBe, the base for your fuel salt. However, you're not quite done. You've still got one part of fuel production left!
Lastly, you'll need to dip into RoC machinery a bit. Pop down (and power) an fuel enhancer and run the LiFBe through it, as well as thorium dust. Out of that, you'll get your molten fuel salt: LiFBe fuel. To break it down for those who prefer to see things visually:
(Please excuse my poor visual design abilities. I'm not very good with CAD, lol.)
Now, then! Once you've got all that, you can just dump it into your thorium fuel cores an-okay, I was lying. Its not that simple. Ya see, thorium on its own isn't terribly fissile, not like its brothers uranium and plutonium. Good ol' Thor needs a few things to get going in the morning: neutron flux and heat. Neutron flux can pretty much only come from standard fission cores, as only fission neutrons work, and breeder neutrons are specifically made to not work. As for heat, your thorium fuel cores require at least 400 Celsius to begin operating. Once neutrons from another source start hitting your cores and they get to the requisite level of heat, they'll start generating neutron flux all on their own like big boys! The best part is you can get the hot LiFBe fuel out of the deal, cycle it thru a heat exchanger, and get more steam. If memory serves, you can also use standard boilers with thorium reactors, as well.
While the LFTR does make less waste than a standard fission reactor (and a lot less than an LMFBR), that doesn't mean it makes zero waste. You also want dump valves at the bottom of your thorium fuel cores: if things get too hot, they'll activate and dump everything out. It'll be a bit of a toxic mess to clean up, but it'll also be a lot less of a mess than a complete meltdown. Thankfully, the LFTR's very nature helps minimize risk: the hotter the fuel cores get, past a certain point, the less reactive they become, basically the opposite of a LMFBR. All this works to make a LFTR a lot safer than its cousins the fission and LMFB reactors.
How does this all work in practice? ...I honestly don't know, I've never gotten around to it, alas. At some point, I may experiment some in a creative world to see what the fuss is all about and just how to operate this bugger, but for now, the LFTR is something of a mystery, to me.
Next time, I'll get into some of the precursors for the point of insanity: fusion!
Addendum
I apologize for this taking so long. I've recently started back at school and am going to actual, real university (instead of community college), so I'm having to get used to not only a new campus with new rules, but also new classes on top of it. I have classes every weekday (three on Mo/We/Fri, one of Tu/Th) and I'm pretty much certain things are going to get more involved as time goes on. I'll work hard so, if nothing else, my weekends can remain free, but my non-school time will be drastically cut down for the next sixteen weeks. Again, sorry if I end up being slower than usual...it can't really be helped, unfortunately.
At last, we come to the newest reactor in ReC: the LFTR, commonly referred to as just the "thorium reactor." Now, I know...very little about this reactor, in practice, so take everything here with a grain of salt. In short, the LFTR uses molten thorium fuel salts and a little neutron flux (w/ some heat) to create its own neutron flux and, thus, making power. Now, the LFTR is logistically more complicated than most any other reactor: simply creating the LiFBe fuel salts to operate the reactor can be somewhat cumbersome and difficult to manage without some help. That's why I'm here!
First off, you'll need a centrifugal fluid extractor, which I discussed earlier in this thread. Place it on and near some lava in the proper conditions in either the Overworld or Hell (Hell is preferred, since it gives more per operation) and power it to begin extracting lithium. This is part one of four of your fuel production.
Next, you'll need some source of emeralds, and preferably in mass amounts. I prefer Magical Crops + AgriCraft emerald farms for this, but a TiCon villager farm would work just as well. You'll need to put these emeralds through a grinder to get emerald dust. This is part two of your fuel production.
After that, you'll need a goodly amount of fluorite. If you've got a regular fission reactor running, already, then you likely have some source of them secured. Once you've got that, put that, the emerald dust, and the lithium thru a uranium processor, the same kind you use to make UF6. From that, you'll get LiFBe, the base for your fuel salt. However, you're not quite done. You've still got one part of fuel production left!
Lastly, you'll need to dip into RoC machinery a bit. Pop down (and power) an fuel enhancer and run the LiFBe through it, as well as thorium dust. Out of that, you'll get your molten fuel salt: LiFBe fuel. To break it down for those who prefer to see things visually:
(Please excuse my poor visual design abilities. I'm not very good with CAD, lol.)
Now, then! Once you've got all that, you can just dump it into your thorium fuel cores an-okay, I was lying. Its not that simple. Ya see, thorium on its own isn't terribly fissile, not like its brothers uranium and plutonium. Good ol' Thor needs a few things to get going in the morning: neutron flux and heat. Neutron flux can pretty much only come from standard fission cores, as only fission neutrons work, and breeder neutrons are specifically made to not work. As for heat, your thorium fuel cores require at least 400 Celsius to begin operating. Once neutrons from another source start hitting your cores and they get to the requisite level of heat, they'll start generating neutron flux all on their own like big boys! The best part is you can get the hot LiFBe fuel out of the deal, cycle it thru a heat exchanger, and get more steam. If memory serves, you can also use standard boilers with thorium reactors, as well.
While the LFTR does make less waste than a standard fission reactor (and a lot less than an LMFBR), that doesn't mean it makes zero waste. You also want dump valves at the bottom of your thorium fuel cores: if things get too hot, they'll activate and dump everything out. It'll be a bit of a toxic mess to clean up, but it'll also be a lot less of a mess than a complete meltdown. Thankfully, the LFTR's very nature helps minimize risk: the hotter the fuel cores get, past a certain point, the less reactive they become, basically the opposite of a LMFBR. All this works to make a LFTR a lot safer than its cousins the fission and LMFB reactors.
How does this all work in practice? ...I honestly don't know, I've never gotten around to it, alas. At some point, I may experiment some in a creative world to see what the fuss is all about and just how to operate this bugger, but for now, the LFTR is something of a mystery, to me.
Next time, I'll get into some of the precursors for the point of insanity: fusion!
Addendum
I apologize for this taking so long. I've recently started back at school and am going to actual, real university (instead of community college), so I'm having to get used to not only a new campus with new rules, but also new classes on top of it. I have classes every weekday (three on Mo/We/Fri, one of Tu/Th) and I'm pretty much certain things are going to get more involved as time goes on. I'll work hard so, if nothing else, my weekends can remain free, but my non-school time will be drastically cut down for the next sixteen weeks. Again, sorry if I end up being slower than usual...it can't really be helped, unfortunately.
A Quick Aside: Radiation/Neutron Shielding
Any good nuclear engineer can tell you that shielding against neutrons and radiation is extremely important. It keeps your environment safe and makes working with your reactor less painful. Certain blocks work better than others when it comes to being a good neutron/radiation shield. Below is a list of radiation/neutron shields that I've found, as well as their properties:
As you can see, bedrock ingot blocks provide the best protection, even a single layer can almost totally shield you from both neutrons and radiation. However, they are exceptionally expensive except under certain extreme circumstances. Your best bet will, more than likely, be HSLA steel blocks, as they have the next highest chances on both ends and are relatively easy to produce. Typically, 2-3 layers will be enough to keep things safe enough to work with.
Any good nuclear engineer can tell you that shielding against neutrons and radiation is extremely important. It keeps your environment safe and makes working with your reactor less painful. Certain blocks work better than others when it comes to being a good neutron/radiation shield. Below is a list of radiation/neutron shields that I've found, as well as their properties:
- HSLA Steel Block - (RotaryCraft) - 90% chance per block to absorb neutrons - 95% chance to deflect harmful radiation
- Concrete - (ReactorCraft) - 60% chance per block to absorb neutrons - 70% chance to deflect harmful radiation
- Water - (Minecraft) - 30% chance per block to absorb neutrons - 10% chance to deflect harmful radiation*
- Bedrock Ingot Block - (RotaryCraft) - 97.5% chance per block to absorb neutrons - 100% chance to deflect harmful radiation
- Lead Block - (OreDict:blockLead) - 75% chance per block to absorb neutrons - 50% chance to deflect harmful radiation
- Obsidian - (Minecraft) - 50% chance per block to absorb neutrons - 80% chance to deflect harmful radiation
- Blast Glass - (RotaryCraft) - 80% chance per block to absorb neutrons - 20% chance to deflect harmful radiation
As you can see, bedrock ingot blocks provide the best protection, even a single layer can almost totally shield you from both neutrons and radiation. However, they are exceptionally expensive except under certain extreme circumstances. Your best bet will, more than likely, be HSLA steel blocks, as they have the next highest chances on both ends and are relatively easy to produce. Typically, 2-3 layers will be enough to keep things safe enough to work with.
Ravynous, do you (or anyone else) know if the Insulation mechanic also varies from block to block (when trying to insulate, say, an HTGR)
I think certain blocks can alter temperature, like lava or ice, but as far as non-ice solids go, I don't think there's any effective difference between, say, steel blocks and obsidian as far as insulation is concerned.
Perfect, good to know (on the insulation). Thanks kindly.
I know people are often insulating with odd items that permit access to the underlying ReC blocks. Ideally I'll identify a decent block that is both thematically appealing but permits logical access to the ReC component.
Trapdoors were my usual choice, though since 1.6 I have just gone above/below and looked through the conduits.
I'm currently using these myself, although for purely aesthetic reasons I'm hoping to find something else (trapdoors would singe/burn)
This reminds me: did you tighten the hit-boxes of your blocks? I notice I can look/work past your blocks more effectively now. Its awesome. Or maybe I'm just mis-remembering.