T1 Steam Engines - TE or RC?

[Darkrain]

Hey there, happy new year

I wonder, what T1 Steam engines are the most efficient, the TE "Steam Engines" or the RC "Hobbyist's Steam Engines". Can someone do the math? I didn't find much on google, but it seems to me, that the TE ones are using waaaay more fuel (using coal or coalcoke) than the RC ones. If this is the case, is there any use for the TE Steam Engine? The power output seems to be the same when they are heated up, but if they use less resources for the same amout of MJ/T, well.. you get the point..

 

[SilvasRuin]

Most efficient? The Hobbyist Steam Engines by far. It seems to me you'd have to use a Boiler to get anything more solid-fuel efficient.

Hobbyist Steam Engines only reach a top speed of 1.6 MJ/t whereas the TE Steam Engines get 2 MJ/t, and the Hobbyist Steam Engine is a just a little bit slow to warm up, so it won't get nearly as much mileage out of only a single charcoal, for example. What this means is that the TE Steam Engine is the faster on-demand engine and the Hobbyist Steam Engine isn't likely to meet its potential unless you're running machines constantly or for long stretches. Basically you have to treat it like a miniature Boiler. Once you do have a Boiler to feed the Hobbyist Steam Engine, though, it matches the TE Steam Engine's speed and outclasses it even more on efficiency.

 

[Peppe]

They are both better than the basic sterling engine. I believe it runs about 1600 MJ per charcoal.

TE's steam engine is about 3200MJ per charcoal.

Hobbyist used to beat TE even from a cold start single fuel. I believe that has been tweaked in recent patches. It now takes a hot hobbyist to be more efficient -- which is about 4 charcoal. Every charcoal after getting it to 500 degrees is worth 8-10k or so MJ.

So a TE engine burning 5 charcoal will give you 16k MJ over about 6 minutes.
The same 5 charcoal in the hobbyist will get you 20-22k... stretched over about 10 minutes.

So if you can store the MJs in an energy cell it can be better to run the hobbyist for as long as you have fuel + storage room. Or have a renewable fuel system and always keep your hobbyists hot.

Biolers continue the efficiency trend. Taking a single charcoal from 9k to almost 15k in the largest biolers.

 

[Rikki21]

Read this thread. Been discussed already.

Hobbyist is best over time, to save fuel.
TE Steam is best for a quick run.

 

[Skyqula]

Also cant the hobbyists one explode where as the TE steam engine simply "gets stuck"?

 

[Darkrain]

Thank you very much So I think I might stick to the TE one for mow, as I only have a temporary little base.. and expand with RC later