Recently I have found that my Steve's Carts treefarm isn't producing as many saplings as I would like. Right now it is at 16X16 in an E design. I usually dont build them quite so large but I have run smaller setups in the past without much trouble. Now this produces more than enough logs to feed one boiler and according to other posts here it could support at least one more so I'm not concerned about the wood. However, it seems that this system isn't producing enough saplings to keep one fermenter running at full speed. I have a good buffer in place I believe, 4k buckets of biofuel, but before I start up my 36HP liquid boiler should I be concerned that the fermenter isn't running round the clock?
SC Treefarm and Making Insufficient Sapplings
- Thread starter Dark0_0firE
- Start date
That's odd, as my farm has 3 fermenters constantly filled using hoppers, a barrel filled with 64 stacks and overflow being recycled.
How are you fuelling the cart? If you are getting the cargo manager to unload cargo, then fill the carts coal engine, it will treat saplings as a valid fuel source. So your cart could be burning through most of your saplings.
Tell the cargo manager to first reload saplings, then fuel, then check the carts fuel reserves, and if it has saplings in there, take them out and replace with the logs. The cart should then never fill up it's fuel with saplings.
How are you fuelling the cart? If you are getting the cargo manager to unload cargo, then fill the carts coal engine, it will treat saplings as a valid fuel source. So your cart could be burning through most of your saplings.
Tell the cargo manager to first reload saplings, then fuel, then check the carts fuel reserves, and if it has saplings in there, take them out and replace with the logs. The cart should then never fill up it's fuel with saplings.
I simply put 3 full stacks of logs in the fuel slots so saplings couldn't get in. Log fuel + solar power for the cart and I have more wood, saplings and apples than I currently know what to do with. I'm sure using logs as fuel is very innefficient but it is simple and the net profit is still good.
Seems odd. I have a smaller farm than that running and with a fermenter blasting full-time, I show a net gain in saplings.
That said...the answer is a math problem. You need one bucket of biofuel about every 101 seconds at full heat (if the numbers haven't changed and my math isn't bad). Since it's a still, and a 10:3 ratio of biomass to biofuel, you need, I think, one bucket of biomass every 30-ish seconds to keep up.
If you can't do that, then you probably can't maintain the boiler.
That said...the answer is a math problem. You need one bucket of biofuel about every 101 seconds at full heat (if the numbers haven't changed and my math isn't bad). Since it's a still, and a 10:3 ratio of biomass to biofuel, you need, I think, one bucket of biomass every 30-ish seconds to keep up.
If you can't do that, then you probably can't maintain the boiler.
Your farm size can easily run three 36HP liquid boilers. I used to run 4 boilers perfectly fine, but since the latest update I've noticed a decrease in my sapling production, and it was having trouble keeping up with 4 boilers - I had to tap into my reserve barrel of saplings, but that is getting low now so I'm not sure my next course of action. But for your question, yea, you can easily run 1 36HP boiler on the saplings.
Switch your carts for carts with fertilizer, t5 wither shard = diamonds + fertilizer
.My SC Tree farm is on the roof of a 17x17 tower, so around the same size as yours and provides enough logs to sustain 2 x 36 HP solid fuel boilers - pairs of steam turbines for EU for the Matter Fabricator
The saplings are fed into a single fermenter at a slightly reduced rate (approx 8 per minute) which generates sufficient biomass to run 10 biogas engines (50MJ/t) and support two stills feeding biofuel into a third liquid 36 HP (144MK/t from 16 industrial steam engines)
So all up, one small tree farm is generating 200 MJ and 400 EU per tick, with steam and biofuel to spare. It was fun to build too. Played around with CC computers in place of RP timers -- wondering which causes the least lag -- and even setup a TE Sawmill alongside the Cargo Manager to feed the cart planks not logs (ensuring the supply to the boilers was always in surplus)
I <3 Steve's carts
The saplings are fed into a single fermenter at a slightly reduced rate (approx 8 per minute) which generates sufficient biomass to run 10 biogas engines (50MJ/t) and support two stills feeding biofuel into a third liquid 36 HP (144MK/t from 16 industrial steam engines)
So all up, one small tree farm is generating 200 MJ and 400 EU per tick, with steam and biofuel to spare. It was fun to build too. Played around with CC computers in place of RP timers -- wondering which causes the least lag -- and even setup a TE Sawmill alongside the Cargo Manager to feed the cart planks not logs (ensuring the supply to the boilers was always in surplus)
I <3 Steve's carts
Golrith the cart is being fueled with logs on a seperate manager system so its not burning the saplings. I am starting to wonder if the dimensions of the farm might be part of the problem. If perhaps I space out the trees more or even the space between the tracks won't I produce less logs but more saplings?[DOUBLEPOST=1361979317][/DOUBLEPOST]
Shouldn't you have 18 Industrial Steam Engines on that boiler?[DOUBLEPOST=1361979385][/DOUBLEPOST]
My SC Tree farm is on the roof of a 17x17 tower, so around the same size as yours and provides enough logs to sustain 2 x 36 HP solid fuel boilers - pairs of steam turbines for EU for the Matter Fabricator
The saplings are fed into a single fermenter at a slightly reduced rate (approx 8 per minute) which generates sufficient biomass to run 10 biogas engines (50MJ/t) and support two stills feeding biofuel into a third liquid 36 HP (144MK/t from 16 industrial steam engines)
So all up, one small tree farm is generating 200 MJ and 400 EU per tick, with steam and biofuel to spare. It was fun to build too. Played around with CC computers in place of RP timers and even used a TE Sawmill with the Cargo Manager to feed the cart planks not logs (to ensure the supply to the boilers was in surplus)
I <3 Steve's carts
Shouldn't you have 18 Industrial Steam Engines on that boiler?[DOUBLEPOST=1361979385][/DOUBLEPOST]
The server I play on has disabled soul shards due to player stupidity. D:Switch your carts for carts with fertilizer, t5 wither shard = diamonds + fertilizer
The only dumb question is the one left unasked.. oh and that one.
Oak of course. That does raise an interesting point though. Perhaps I should try one of the new multiblock farms? Or maybe try to breed up a tree that drops more saplings. Even though I haven't messed with tree breeding at all yet.
Hmm, you should be getting loads of saplings then. Best thing to do is to double check your entire setup. Make sure the saplings are definitely going where they should be, not accidently being voided, sent to a wrong location, or stuck in a machine somewhere.
Steves Carts will only work with vanilla trees.
Steves Carts will only work with vanilla trees.
Nothing with my set-up has changed - running fine for two weeks, slowly generating a small surplus of bio-fuel, then update and not producing enough bio-fuel. Either I'm not getting enough saplings, or enough apples anymore. It is hard to tell which, since I didn't really keep track of numbers before. Or maybe I'm having a string of bad luck on the RNG on sapling drops. Worse case scenario, I plan to set up a small underground wheat farm tended by golems to add supplemental items to be fermented.
Well I can go into more detail on my setup. Cargo manager on top of cargo distributor. Sorting machine pulls from distributor right into an item tesseract which delivers into a basement chest. Another sorting machine pulls from the chest and sorts the items into barrels for logs, saplings and apples. Yet more sorting machines pull out of the barrels into item tesseracts which deliver the goods to the destinations, fermenter, squeezer and sawmill. No voiding of anything. I'm sitting on a barrel of about 300 stacks of logs, about 50 stacks of apples (havent started squeezing yet) and an empty barrel for saplings. When sapplings come in they get pulled out they immediately pass through the barrel and into a hopper on top of the fermenter. Is it possible the tesseracts might be destroying some of the saplings?[DOUBLEPOST=1361981330][/DOUBLEPOST]
Ya Minosha I'm definitely getting the impression that the recent update changed the rates at which sapings are produced.
Ya Minosha I'm definitely getting the impression that the recent update changed the rates at which sapings are produced.
Must admit I've not noticed any difference, because I'm not able to use up all my biogas, so my machines are stuffed and excess saplings are being recycled. But if the drop/harvest rate has been reduced, eventually I would notice it. Be worth checking Steves Carts change logs (can't do it myself atm, being sneaky while at work ), perhaps a % of all harvested saplings are destroyed now at a "balance" attempt?
), perhaps a % of all harvested saplings are destroyed now at a "balance" attempt?Well I checked the SC2 wiki and didn't see anything in the changelog about saplings or the treecutter at all. I don't suppose Sengir may managed to change vanilla sapling droprates through Forestry? I can't seem to find the changelog for that atm.
God damn it with these sneaky updates.
Seriously though, Forestry is a good bet. The nerf-bat-fu is strong with that one.
Seriously though, Forestry is a good bet. The nerf-bat-fu is strong with that one.
Well if I were to make one of the multi-block farms which one would it be? I haven't been able to do much research on them and Sengir's wiki is a little vague. If anyone could direct me to a non-video tutorial or wiki about the different types and functions of the farms that would be great. I know that it starts off as a managed arboretum and I'm sure I could handle that, but will it produce enough saplings to fuel a boiler or two? Does anyone know how large I would need to make it to produce enough saplings?
For multifarms, the basic managed arboretum will provide wood, saplings, and apples when you supply it with water, power,dirt, fertilizer and saplings. The multifarm is smart enough to keep saplings till it's full (6 stacks) before outputing them through the farm hatch. I wouldn't deviate from the base function unless you want to farm other stuff at the expense of smaller returns on wood, saplings and apples.
I had a 4x4x4 multifarm structure with the maximum diamond size farmland layout and sapling production has been steadily losing ground to my 2 ferementers -> 2 stills -> 1 liquid 36HP boiler.
I haven't tried a 5x5x4 yet but I might go SC2 instead.
I had a 4x4x4 multifarm structure with the maximum diamond size farmland layout and sapling production has been steadily losing ground to my 2 ferementers -> 2 stills -> 1 liquid 36HP boiler.
I haven't tried a 5x5x4 yet but I might go SC2 instead.