Thermal Generators, Power, and why I need it.

[rungok]

So I've been looking at the generators and I saw a few people on my server have these banks of thermal generators in their bases, generating tons of power (I saw one had a nuclear reactor. omg) and I was wondering, why would I need power like that?

I have made everything up until this point with vanilla or self sufficient resources. The new spawners I want to put in my blood temple are going to be powered though, but I haven't gotten enough XP to make them yet so I'm looking into getting the power for them in the meantime. Do I need that much power? What would you NEED a nuke reactor for anyways?

 

[Padfoote]

AE can get fairly power hungry when it's automating nearly everything, or when you start messing with quantum link chambers.

 

[rhn]

Because automated mining, automated crafting, ore processing etc. requires more power at increased speeds/bandwidth/throughput. If you are happy playing it vanilla, then you don't need power at all(but can't see why you would want to play modded MC either then). But almost all tech mods and many other mods requires power in some way or another. And the further you delve into them, the more power you need.

 

[Loxinnightwalker]

Well 6 quarries don't just power themselves... and before someone asks why I have setups that big I'd just like to say greed... a lot of it has to do with greed.

Edit: And to tell you the truth the most reactors I've had going at once was 6 I think each going into its own power network, and having a mix of bees and magic crops feeding them to keep them going.

 

[rungok]

Oh okay!

Perfectly acceptible answers, from all of you!

I'm going to have to get into the power thing to run my 2-4 powered spawners. What would be a relatively cheap, use and forget it source of power that would work for them? Thermal Generators?

 

[rhn]

Oh okay!

Perfectly acceptible answers, from all of you!

I'm going to have to get into the power thing to run my 2-4 powered spawners. What would be a relatively cheap, use and forget it source of power that would work for them? Thermal Generators?

Power is not just power. There are different kinds that work differently across different modpacks. What kind of spawners are we talking about? Minefactory autospawners?

 

[Loxinnightwalker]

Oh okay!

Perfectly acceptible answers, from all of you!

I'm going to have to get into the power thing to run my 2-4 powered spawners. What would be a relatively cheap, use and forget it source of power that would work for them? Thermal Generators?

Lots of solars if you are going Ic2 for power, tree farm feeding dynamos if you go for TE power.

 

[rungok]

Power is not just power. There are different kinds that work differently across different modpacks. What kind of spawners are we talking about? Minefactory autospawners?

Oh jeez, I don't know, let me check which modpack it comes from.

Okay it's from Ender IO

 

[rhn]

Lots of solars if you are going Ic2 for power, tree farm feeding dynamos if you go for TE power.

IC2(E) EU:
Solars are indeed a very nice "set and forget" solution, but it is very expensive in materials. I would argue that you might want to consider the following during the early game instead:
Wind mills: If your base is at high altitude(as close to 148 as possible but not above), you get really good value from wind mills.
Geothermal Generators: If you have access to the nether and materials for endertanks/tesseracts, lava is a really easy/cheap source of power for early game.[DOUBLEPOST=1408743922][/DOUBLEPOST]

Oh jeez, I don't know, let me check which modpack it comes from.

Okay it's from Ender IO

That would require BC MJ or TE3 RF.

To get started you better try out the TE3 dynamos. They are rather simple to use and the power network is also fairly easy to understand.

 

[rungok]

If lava is a good power source, I have the Serenade of the Nether ritual that makes perpetual lava source blocks at the cost of LP, since the spawners would be powering the LP farm as long as it turns me a profit it should be okay right?

 

[pizzawolf14]

If lava is a good power source, I have the Serenade of the Nether ritual that makes perpetual lava source blocks at the cost of LP, since the spawners would be powering the LP farm as long as it turns me a profit it should be okay right?

Yes, that ritual is a lot more server-friendly, and if your blood farm is the same as described in your other thread, then it'll easily keep up.

 

[rhn]

If lava is a good power source, I have the Serenade of the Nether ritual that makes perpetual lava source blocks at the cost of LP, since the spawners would be powering the LP farm as long as it turns me a profit it should be okay right?

Yeah, i guess. You could use the lava in Magmatic dynamos. But I would think(hope) the mods are balanced so that you don't get a profit out of the system.
You would be much better of using one of the many renewable power sources available.[DOUBLEPOST=1408744290][/DOUBLEPOST]

Yes, that ritual is a lot more server-friendly, and if your blood farm is the same as described in your other thread, then it'll easily keep up.

Nvm then, guess you can run it at a profit

 

[rungok]

Yes, that ritual is a lot more server-friendly, and if your blood farm is the same as described in your other thread, then it'll easily keep up.

Yeah that's the same blood farm! I really need to update pictures since I did some remodeling and got things set up a little bit better.

[Edit] Magmatic Dynamos? Okay thanks for the tips! I appreciate the suggestions!

 

[RJS]

Another fairly server-friendly way to get lava is using the Ender-thermic pump from Extra Utilities in the Nether. It'll only ever keep 2 chunks loaded and will replace any lava blocks it pumps with stone to prevent flowing lava lag. From what you've put up, I'm guessing you're playing on Unstable, so you have access to this. All you need to do then is get the lava out of it using conduits or just a tank of sorts on top, divert some lava off to a lava generator/magmatic dynamo to power the pump, and then bring the lava back to the overworld either by manually moving the tank or by using tesseracts/dimensional transceivers to transfer the lava to your dynamos in the overworld. If you don't manage to turn a profit, or if generating the lava slows your LP generation down more than you'd like, then this could be a half-decent backup